BBQ in the Rain & BACON WRAPPED JALAPENOS ~ RECIPE

It was a dark and stormy night. No this isn't some cheap novel, this was my dining experience about a week ago. Ribs and meat that sat in the fridge were near their expiration date and they had to be cooked. But I just couldn't bring myself to bake the ribs. I had been looking forward to bbq and gosh darn it, I had to do it.

I went out and there was a light rain. The bbq pit on the balcony was not covered up at all (I thought the wooden trellis went over but I was wrong). The rain wasn't heavy enough to put out my charcoal fire, and because I had a lot of wings and a lot of ribs, I used a lot of briquettes and man, was it a big fire. It wasn't long before the meat was on the grill.


It also wasn't long before the sun went down and the darkness filled the patio. I forgot there was only one light out there, and I was grilling in the dark. I had to use the flare ups to see how done the wings and ribs were. It was a very zen moment. The rain, darkness, the fire, the meat. Ok maybe more my primitive roots than zen. But it was a moment.





The ribs, rubbed, grilled, then sauced with the PC Smokin' Stampede Beer & Chipotle Barbecue Saucemixed with Siracha sauce. The meat itself didn't taste so great, but the sauce mixture was. The wings were good, and I did a sauce review HERE with them. On the side was some garlic mashed potatoes I whipped up earlier. But there was one special addition to the meal:

BACON WRAPPED JALAPENOS
Ingredients:

• Jalapenos, sliced lengthwise, seeds/ribs removed
• cream cheese
• bacon

Instructions:

1. Fill emptied jalapeno shell with cream cheese
2. Wrap shell with bacon (use toothpick if necessary)
3. Grill (or bake) until bacon is crispy
   
   

I had 2 jalapenos leftover from another appetizer dish I had made for an event I attended, so there were only 4 halves. I had no idea how long the bacon would take to cook, so they were close to the heat and on first the grill. Of course, it was quite difficult to check on the progress of the bacon because of my lack of light, but it came out well. When finally eating, the crispy bacon and the cream cheese were a dream, but the jalapeno was neither hot (we took out the seeds after all) and just tasted like a green bell pepper. I could have made ATOMIC BUFFALO TURDS, which is basically the same thing, just add Little Smokies (which appear to be some sort of smoked sausage cocktail weenie) and maybe some hot sauce. That would kick these up.

The appetizers, the ribs, the wings, the mashed potatoes - it was a good little feast. Although I got wet, the whole experience of being outside with the elements made the meal that much more special. "You chose a hell of a night to bbq" shouted a man passing the patio into the building. He was right, it was a hell of a night.