The Fort is an award-winning Denver western restaurant southwest of Denver, Colorado featuring fine beef, buffalo, game and seafood. We had a chance to talk to the proprietress, Holly Arnold Kinney, and we asked her if she could share a recipe she thinks best represents the summer season.
Holly Arnold Kinney from The Fort Restaurant in Morrison Colorado
FriendsEAT: Tell us a little bit about The Fort. What makes it special?
Holly Arnold Kinney: The Fort is a very special place for me, my family, everyone who works here, and for our guests.When you walk through our impressively large, hand-carved wooden doors, you are overcome with a warm, magical, feelingsomething I have experienced since I was a small girl living above the restaurant on the mountain-rimmed plains outside Denver, Colorado.
The Fort is a full-scale replica of Bent’s Fort, a well-known nineteenth century fur-trading post in southwest Colorado.When my mother and father decided to build the Fort, they made sure to do so following age- old techniques for adobe buildings.The result is as authentic as you can get” a reddish brown beauty that glimmers in the setting sun and beckons hungry diners.
FE: Why do you love this recipe for Summer?
Holly: Lucy Delgado, who was well known in the 1960s as a traditionalist New Mexican cook, taught my father to stuff peanut butter into peppers.”These are the best appetizers I know,”she told Dad during one of their recipe swaps. True to her word, Lucy’s recipe WAS the best appetizer that Sam had ever tried. At The Fort, we pickle fresh jalapeños and stir a little mango chutney into the peanut butter. It’s sure to wow at any barbecue; just advise that friends pop the entire pepper into their mouths. Otherwise, you might be left with a mouth full of too much hot jalapeño and too little creamy peanut butter!
How To Make Holly Arnold Kinney’s Peanut Butter-Stuffed Jalapeños
Peanut Butter-Stuffed Jalapeños
INGREDIENTS:
The Fort-Style Pickled Jalapeños
1 pound small to medium-sized fresh jalapeños
3 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp pickling spice
3/4 cup coarsely chopped yellow onion
3/4 cup coarsely chopped carrot
3 cloves garlic, peeled, whole
Note: You can substitute a 12-ounce can of pickled jalapeños for the homemade ones. The hand-pickled are far better, but if you don’t have time to do it yourself, buy Faro brand jalapeños!
Peanut Butter-Stuffed Jalapeños
1 pound Fort-style pickled Jalapeños
3/4 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
2 tbsp mango chutney
PROCEDURE:
The Fort-Style Pickled Jalapeños
1. Rinse the jalapeños and trip off the woody ends from the stems.
2. In a four- to six-quart stainless steel or enameled pot, combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, sesame oil and pickling spice.
3. Add the jalapeños, onion, carrot and garlic. Cover and bring to a simmer over high heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
5. While still hot, transfer the jalapeños and pickling juice to a sterilized two- to three-quart canning jar or other glass container.
6. Cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one week before using.
Peanut Butter-Stuffed Jalapeños
1. Slice the pickled jalapeños in half, lengthwise (but not all the way through!), leaving the two halves attached at the stem end.
2. Using a knife or spoon, remove and discard the seeds and ribs.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and chutney.
4. Stuff the chiles with the peanut butter mixture and press the halves back together.
5. Arrange on a platter and serve!
The Fort is located at 19192 Highway 8, Morrison, CO 80465
Nearby Landmarks: Willow Ridge Manor
Phone Number: (303) 697-4771
Hours of Operation:
- Mon ” Fri 05:30PM to close
- Sat & Sun 05:00PM to close