Pimientos al Revés

Step 1: Prep the roasted garlic in advance. Preheat your oven to 375F, and cut off just enough of a whole bulb of garlic so that all the cloves show. Place it on a piece of foil, drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, wrap the foil into a wadded ball around it and toss it into the oven, right on the rack. Back for 45 minutes, then allow to cool. Squeeze roasted garlic pulp out of the papery husks with your fingers.

Step 2: Mix the roasted garlic with the goat cheese, olives, and seasonings in a small ball of your food processor and pulse until smooth.

Step 3: Cut out the tops and scoop out the seeds from the peppers. I used a tomato shark which does a fabulous job.

Step 4: Using a knife, fill the cavities of the peppers with the cheese mixture and wipe off excess. I suppose you could use a piping bag. It’s really not that big of a deal either way.

Step 5: Grate the manchego finely. I used a microplane grater for this, but hey. Whatever works! Press the cheese onto the tops of the little filled peppers.

Step 6: Place the ready to go peppers in a mini muffin pan. If they tip a little bit, you can prop them up with a tiny bit of foil. If you don’t have a muffin pan, crinkle up some heavy duty foil on a cookie sheet in such a way that the peppers will stand up on it.

Step 7: Bakes these little babies at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until the Manchego is golden. If any of the cheese has tried to slide, use a small knife to push it back up before the cheese cools. It is much easier doing that while the cheese is warm.