Great BBQ Sides: Grilled Yellow Hot Peppers with Prosciutto & Cream Cheese

We have an ongoing feature of looking at great side dish ideas for the summer BBQ grill.Last week, we looked at the Argentinian grilling Chimichurri Sauce.

Yellow Hot Peppers

Today we will be doing grilled stuffed Yellow Hot Peppers.Larger jalapenos can also be used. Yellow hot peppers are widely available and are a good size though. Those who do not want it spicy, or as a substitute for the kids, can use Cubanelle Peppers which are very mild.

Prepare the grill as usual. (For tips of charcoal grilling you can visit our post on the topic.)
 
Cut off the top of the pepper. Set the tops aside. With a knife you want to gently remove all the seeds from inside the pepper. Try to get as many as possible. The seeds are very hot, and while one or two left inside will add kick, in any quantity they will make the dish basically impossible to eat, even for spicy food fanatics such as myself.

Until you are used to the "seeding" I strongly recommend wearing kitchen gloves while doing this. Touching the seeds with bare skin is very unpleasant and it leaves oils that, if you then touch your eyes or other body parts, will cause a truly awful burning sensation that one need only experience once to not make the same mistake again.

Prosciutto

After having seeded the peppers, take a slice of prosciutto and fit it to the inside of the pepper. Then take a cream cheese of your choosing, (for grocery store bought I like Western Dairy) and fill the pepper with it.

Put the top back on. If it will not stay on you can secure it with a toothpick. 

Put the peppers on the grill. I do them a few minutes a side around the edge of the grill, so they are not directly over the charcoal, until the cream cheese begins to melt. Then I put them right over the red hot coals to char the peppers, turning constantly, for another minute or two a side or so. You want the pepper to char and its texture to change, but you do not want it to burn.

This nice summer treat can be served with just about any main or as an appetizer. As a vegetarian option, simply do not use the prosciutto. In this case I recommend using a cream cheese  with chives, or adding some chives or sliced green onion yourself.

Enjoy!