De-bone each dove breast, rinse off in tap water and place in salt water brine solution using a large plastic type Ziploc bag for 3 to 4 hours in refrigerator.  Remove Dove breast lobes from salt water brine solution and dry off each dove breast (lobe) using paper towels.  Apply a light sprinkling of Wild Bill’s Meat Rub and let set about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat charcoal grill.

Cut the ends off each jalapeno pepper, split in half length wise and scrape out the seeds and the white membrane.  If you want the jalapeno very hot, leave part of the white membrane on them.  It might be a good idea to wear disposable gloves to prevent the jalapeno juice from getting into the pores of your hands.

Using a butter knife, fill each jalapeno half with a generous portion of the cream cheese.  Top each of the jalapeno "sleds" with a dove breast lobe.  Wrap each of the dove breast lobe topped jalapenos with a half slice of bacon.  Secure the wrap by inserting a toothpick straight down through the overlapping edges of the bacon all the way through.

Place on grill for 5 to 7 minutes,  turn and continue to grill until bacon is crisp.  Remove from grill and season with salt and freshly ground black peppercorns to taste.  Do not overcook dove breast since there is no fat in the breast and they should be cooked medium rare.  Top with optional orange marmalade and Sweet Chili Sauce if desired.  Serve as an appetizer.

YIELD: 6 servings of 4 Jalapeno Dove Poppers each

Alternate method if you want to kick the cream cheese up a notch or two:  In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, 2 teaspoons of paprika and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. 

Click on thumbnail sequences pixs below for a larger screen view:

This is a fairly generic recipe from the internet for grilled dove breast and added my own twist to the recipe.  Check out my Atomic Buffalo Bites which is similar to this recipe except using little Smokies instead of dove breast lobes.

The above were prepared on 10-25-14 and were excellent.  Not my favorite wild game bird but an easy way to use up those doves harvested.  My hunting buddies didn't come through supplying me with a "mess" of doves so had to pick off one or two at a time until I got an even dozen. 

Web published on 09-23-13 by Bill aka Mickey Porter and pixs added on 10-25-14.