the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Cheesy Brisket Peppers w Shallot Vinaigrette

I don’t know about you, but this time of year we’re feasting three or four days every week on delights from the grill or smoker.

We had a rainy and surprisingly cool May and early June here in North Texas (northward of 17 inches of rain in about 5 weeks in our neighborhood), but full on Texas summer has arrived in its hot-as-blazes glory over the past ten days or so.

These hot, steamy days were made for grilling or smoking proteins outside, and we’re forever on the hunt for nifty side dishes to serve alongside.

Having lived for many years under the bright Texas sun, my wife and I have a deep and abiding love for great Tex Mex, but dammit, it’s not the healthiest cuisine on the planet by a long shot. I in particular enjoy a great chile relleno though haven’t eaten the deep fried, classically prepared version in years.

A few weeks back I was basically whining to my friend Chef Libby in Austin about that very thing when she fired me a pic of a commercial grill covered with over 100 of these Cheesy Brisket Peppers she’d recently cooked for an event in Austin. Libby’s advice was that they can play either as the main event for a dinner, or make a great side dish when there’s a grilled or smoked protein as the centerpiece.

She’d sourced the recipe concept from Bon Appetite, and readily admitted their shallot vinaigrette was amazingly good on the roasted peppers (and lots of other stuff), though the addition of some smokey, chopped Texas brisket to the peppers was her call.

And what a great call that simple addition of a few tablespoons of brisket was.

Libby does these over live fire or in the oven; having just added a pellet grill to our home arsenal, I’m doing a batch of these on the Traeger on Saturday for friends coming over, though the peppers imaged in the post today were done in the over (easy peasy to do by the way).

These provide a ton of taste and visual appeal for the minimal effort involved, and you’ll want to make extra shallot vinaigrette too – it’s damned good.

2 medium shallots, sliced thinly lengthwise
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp kosher salt, more to taste
1/4 cup EVOO or avocado oil

4 Anaheim or New Mexico chiles, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and inner membranes removed
1 tbsp EVOO or avocado oil

1/2 cup (more or less) chopped brisket or protein of your choice (optional)
1/2 pound pepper Jack cheese, cut in to 1/2-inch cubes
Fresh ground pepper

Optional:
2 garlic cloves, grated fine
Chopped pickled jalapeño pepper slices, diced fine

Combine the first five ingredients for the vinaigrette and set aside.

Prep the chiles and preheat the oven to 475 or fire the broiler (or even the grill). Drizzle the peppers with a tbsp of oil, dust with good salt and fresh ground pepper, and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake/broil until skins begin to blister and the peppers soften, 5 minutes under the broiler and perhaps 6-7 in the hot oven.

Remove from the oven, turn over (tongs!), and spoon in a tbsp or so of the optional protein or chopped jalapeños if you’ve chosen to use them (we used chopped brisket in the pics there), then divide the cubed cheese among the peppers. Top with the grated garlic if desired.

Return to the oven/broiler and bake/broil until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown (4-5 minutes in the oven, 3 or so under the broiler).

Remove from the oven, plate, and drizzle the shallot vinaigrette over; season to taste with more good salt and fresh ground pepper.

Enjoy.