sprinklefingers

Found on the Bon Appétit blogs - the 4 most common mistakes made when cooking bacon. I thought you’d like to know…

click on the photo to learn all about it…



And then, for your continued reading-about-bacon pleasure, a supermarket bacon taste-off also courtesy of the fine folks at Bon Appétit! Just click below to read all about it.

a few weeks ago an enormous slab of bacon showed up at work. weighing in at approximately 13 lbs, i’ll admit right now it was the most bacon i’ve ever seen in one place at one time. it took two of us only a few minutes to break the entire slab down into manageable lardons - then just a few minutes more to package and label them all for storage in the freezer. 

having 13 lbs of bacon around was kind of inspiring for me. i worked out a recipe for bacon & fig compote. i created a new candied bacon scone. i made tarts filled with creamy spinach and bacon. but most importantly i had all the bacon i needed to figure out the best possible way to cook bacon for all of my baking needs.

what i don’t like about simply dropping bacon in a frying pan and setting it on the heat is that the pieces of bacon get smaller and smaller while cooking - and if i’m including the delicious morsels in a baked good, i’d like them to keep their shape. for a while now i’ve been reading that cooking bacon in water is one way to achieve this. so why not try it out? i did - and the results were perfect. not only does the bacon only shrink a tiny bit, but cooking it in water also gives it a great texture. perfectly chewable.

here’s how you do it:

• add the bacon (whether in strips or lardons) to your pan.
• pour enough water over the bacon to just cover it.
• turn the heat to medium and cook until all of the water evaporates.
• once the water evaporates, the bacon will begin to get crisp.
• from this point, simply cook the bacon until it reaches your desired level of doneness.
  for a tart i prefer slightly less crisp bacon since it will continue to cook once it’s inside the tart. for scones, i cook the bacon until crisp but still chewable. 

this method works well for any bacon - whether it’s strips of bacon for breakfast or for a late summer blt (yum!), you should try it!

bacon!
 

i’m not going to complain about how busy i am. i’m not. i’m just not. but i will tell you this: i miss my kid. i’m eating too much. i haven’t worked out in for-ev-ah. the laundry is piling up. i keep crying for no reason. i feel totally scattered. and (did i mention this yet?) i miss my kid.

our new bakery opens in less than two weeks and busy doesn’t really begin to describe my life right now.

still, i can’t complain because i have help. a lot of it. most of our employees are amazing and are working just as hard as i am to get the new store open. this is a huge change for me -  when we opened our first bakery we did it with three people: i baked everything and my husband and best friend handled the cash register. crazy days indeed. thank goodness for great employees!

here’s a delicious meal, perfect for busy people like you. and me. the whole thing comes together in the time it takes to boil pasta. and, it’s delicious. did i mention that already?

bacon & asparagus pasta
serves 2 with leftovers for one

you need:

• 1/2 lb bacon, preferably smoked and hopefully nueske’s or beeler’s, chopped into 1/2” pieces
• 1 bundle asparagus, washed with ends trimmed then cut into 1” pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed then diced super fine
• a few pinches of dried herbs (i use an italian mix)
• a few dashes of freshly grated nutmeg
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt
• pepper

• half & half
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

• 10 oz pasta - some kind of noodle that holds sauce well - penne or farfalle

make the pasta:

1. set a large pot of water to boil.
2. while the water is coming up to a boil, cook the bacon over medium heat until starting to turn golden. add the asparagus and let cook for a few minutes.
3. check your pasta water. boiling? good. add the noodles with a pinch or two of salt.
4. back to the bacon/asparagus: by now your asparagus is bright green and the bacon is cooking along. if your bacon is golden and looking good, go ahead and add the garlic, herbs, nutmeg, red pepper flakes and the tiniest bit of salt and a good grind of pepper. stir very well until fragrant and then add a small (small!) ladle-full of pasta water. the water will allow you to scrape the browned bits up off the bottom of the pan - which you should do.
5. once you’ve scraped up the browned bits, add about 3/4 cup of half & half to the pan along with a good, big handful of the grated cheese. stir until the cheese melts then reduce the heat to low and let the ‘sauce’ cook until it thickens a bit.
6. TASTE IT. if it needs more seasoning, add it. but before you add salt, make sure you have a bite with a piece of bacon in it - the last thing you want to do is over-salt your dish. or something like that.
7. the noodles are cooked! drain them, then add them to the pot with the sauce and give everything a big stir to coat the noodles and distribute the asparagus and bacon.
8. portion and top each dish with some additional cheese.
9. dinner!

notes:

this dish would be equally as delicious with the following substitutes for the asparagus:

• zucchini (or another summer squash,) cut into half moons
• 1 bundle of kale, stems removed and cut into manageable pieces

• it would also be a very delicious idea to add 3-4 green onions to the dish: wash the onions then cut the white parts and an inch or so of the green parts into 1/4” pieces - add them after the bacon begins to render its fat - before you add the asparagus (or zucchini or kale.)

• and, if you wanted to get really crazy and raise the deliciousness level of this dish even more, add a fried egg with a runny yolk to the top! but don’t eat the egg on its own. serve the individuals dishes of pasta with a fried egg on top of each, then mix the egg into the pasta - the runny yolk will add to the sauce and the white will taste delicious with the bacon.

i’ll be the first to admit i’m taking great liberties with the word ‘salad’ lately.
it all started around easter when i decided we’d eat nothing but salad for dinner and call it a diet. of course, the majority of our salads have contained salami or bacon. hell, i even managed to work pâté into a ‘salad’ one night. i apparently have a very wide grey area when it comes to salad. and i have to say, that’s probably a good thing or my husband wouldn’t still be agreeing to sit down to a bowl of lettuce and vegetables each night.

he’s from bend. bend, oregon. it’s an interesting place. one that i have a love-hate relationship with. (i mean, seriously, no matter how many times you tell me that the smell permeating the air is in fact juniper or sage or whatever, i’m STILL gonna think a cat pissed all over my jacket.) but he loves bend, and his entire family still lives there, so we go to bend. (but, to be honest, it’s kind of hard to enjoy myself while i’m there because i’m concentrating so hard on not breathing in through my nose.)

but enough about me.
he was raised by two lovely people. he grew up on a lot of land with a pony and with tons of encouragement to be whatever he wanted to be. while his father owned a paving company that literally paved more than half of bend back in the day, my husband decided to study musical theater. at college. and while he has always been in a band, has always been in the theater and loves really whiney songwriters, he also does stuff like go hunting, bomb down rivers in a kayak and bike 40 miles in one day. for fun. (i should explain now that i learned the word ‘bomb’ from him and would never really talk like that unless making specific fun of his hobbies.)

feeding a man who is equally comfortable attending the symphony as he is drinking whiskey and shooting guns* can sometimes be tricky. while i tend to shy away from serious meat at meal times, i know his gun shooting side definitely craves the stuff. so when i declared that we’d be eating nothing but salad for dinner for the foreseeable future, it’s only understandable that he looked somewhat disappointed.

and then a giant box of meat arrived from nueske’s. granted, the box really only contained pork products, but it was enough meat for my hybrid mountain man/renaissance man to accept his future of salads for dinner. here’s one of his favorites:

nueske’s bacon-wrapped asparagus salad
serves 3-4 as a dinner salad, more as a side salad

you need:

• 1 bundle (not thin but not thick) asparagus, washed and trimmed
• 1 lb bacon, best you can buy
• mixed greens for all - i usually measure out 3-4 large handfuls of lettuce per dinner salad
• 1 carrot, shaved into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 1 avocado, cut into small chunks
• 1 small chunk blue cheese, preferably this one
• delicious salad dressing - preferably something mustardy, like this one

make the salad:

1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. set a metal cooling rack inside a rimmed sheet tray.
3. slice the pound of bacon in half so that you now have twice as many slices as you started with.
4. working one spear at a time, wrap the bacon around the asparagus and place it on the cooling rack in the sheet tray, loose ends down. no need to worry about pinning the bacon down with a toothpick or anything - as the bacon shrinks it will stick with the asparagus.
5. roast the bacon-wrapped asparagus for 20 minutes or until the bacon reaches your desired level of doneness.
6. meanwhile, layer the lettuces, carrot ribbons, avocado and blue cheese in a large salad bowl. drizzle dressing over top.
7. when the bacon and asparagus are finished, remove them from the sheet tray to a cutting board. slice the spears into manageable pieces and add them to the salad. don’t worry if some asparagus slips out of the bacon. once you toss the salad they’ll do that anyway.
8. top the salad off with a bit more dressing, toss and serve with salt & pepper.

* he promises me he does not do these two things simultaneously.

it’s an easter miracle. we went to church and my four year old (hopped up on jelly beans and the ears of a chocolate bunny) lasted the TWO HOUR service without having a complete freakout. i feel rather accomplished.

after the service we rushed home and i set about making brunch for a few close friends. on the menu: french toast, bacon, sausages, fruit salad and (hello!) mimosas. [as an appetizer we had about 45 chocolate easter eggs. apiece.]

generally when i have people ‘round for brunch i’ll plan a menu that’s as do-ahead friendly as possible. but not this time. i had two loaves of cinnamon bread in the freezer that were just screaming to be made into french toast, so i was determined to make it work - even if our lovely guests had to wait for me to griddle the toast.

delivering french toast to the table hot is made easier by an electric griddle. i’m not one for excessive amounts of kitchen equipment, but i would be lost without my electric griddle. i use it for breakfast (pancakes! french toast! bacon! eggs!), lunch (grilled cheese! quesadillas!) and dinner (veggie burgers!) - because it’s so much larger than a frying pan, an electric griddle allows you to, basically, griddle up the first round of french toast for the table and then (as you’re enjoying the first round with your guests) the second round can be frying up all golden brown. genius!

the other trick to getting this french toast on the table in a timely manner is that the bread is not soaked in the custard. while the custard is whipped together the night before, the bread is simply dipped in the custard before it goes on the hot (and buttery) griddle. really quite easy, even when cooking for a crowd.

orange & vanilla bean-infused french toast
serves 6 big eaters or 8 wimpy eaters

you need:

• 2 loaves cinnamon bread 
• 2 cups half & half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 9 eggs
• 6 T light brown sugar
• 3/4 t kosher salt
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• zest of one orange

to make the custard:

1. crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk to combine.
2. add the half & half, milk, brown sugar, salt, vanilla bean pod & seeds and the orange zest to the eggs whisking until frothy.
3. cover the custard bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. leaving the custard to sit overnight allows the flavors of the orange & vanilla to fully infuse the custard…the results are delicious.

make the french toast:

1. cut the ends off each loaf and then slice the loaves into slabs approximately 1 1/4 ” thick.  
2. heat the griddle to medium-high heat and add a few tablespoons of unsalted butter. 
3. pour the custard into a 9x13” pan and remove the vanilla bean pod. working with three slabs of bread at a time, plop the slabs into the custard and then press down lightly on them so that they’ll absorb some of the custard. flip the slices and press them down again. lift them out of the custard and wiggle them a bit to shake off the excess, then transfer them to the hot, buttered griddle.
4. repeat the soaking of slabs in custard and placing them on the griddle until your griddle is full.
5. cook the slabs until golden, approximately five minutes per side. 
6. repeat this process until your bread has all been dipped & griddled.

serve the french toast with butter and warm maple syrup. and maybe some bacon. and sausage. and probably some champagne and orange juice. and perhaps even a few chocolate eggs.

i’m not shy about my love for mr. hugh fearnley-whittingstall. and his column from last weekend’s the guardian isn’t helping.

subject: bacon.
yes, i’m swooning.

the column includes recipes for chops, soup & a strata. all with bacon.

the strata includes leeks, bacon and cheddar - sounds like an outstanding candidate for your next brunch. the recipe can be found here.

and to quote the wonderful mr. hugh:

It’s amazing how many dishes are improved by the addition of even just a little bit of salty, porky brilliance.

amen to that.

i’m so tired to two things:

1. people suggesting i add bacon to any of my baked goods. you know, because bacon is “everywhere” right now.
2. people suggesting i take part in the abomination that is cupcake wars. you know, because cupcake wars is “everywhere” right now.

i won’t put bacon in my baked goods. period. stop asking.

and i don’t need to be on cupcake wars. i didn’t start my life in food so i could participate in that kind of total crap. so, no cupcake wars for me. period. stop asking.

wow. did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? did i start writing before i had enough coffee? actually, no. i’m just really sick of bacon and cupcake wars being the only two things people want to talk to me about. think up some new stuff, will ya?

speaking of bacon, i have no problem cooking with it. obviously. bacon brings so much delicious flavor to just about any recipe (it’s just that i’m not going to top a cupcake with it. so stop asking.)

anyways. bacon. i don’t know why i didn’t think to do this. (we’ve got the pastry queen to thank for it.) wrapping bacon around bundles of green beans is pretty much the best idea, ever. add a marinade of butter and garlic - and roast til perfect - and you’ve got yourself a true winner.

marinated & bacon-wrapped green beans
adapted from rebecca rather
serves 10 with enough for a vegetarian adaptation*, plus a few leftover bundles

note: there’s a bit of do-ahead to this recipe. you must prep the beans to the marinating stage at least a day in advance. the extra marinating time is worth it, trust me.

you need:

• 3 lbs green beans, washed and trimmed
• 8 oz unsalted butter
• 1 t dry mustard powder
• 1 T packed light brown sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground pepper
• dash or two of cayenne pepper
• 24 oz bacon

to make the bundles:

1. working in batches, blanch the beans in boiling water for 3 minutes. after 3 minutes, cool the beans down in an ice bath. repeat until all beans have been blanched and cooled down in the ice bath. (you can make an ice bath in a large mixing bowl - just fill with ice and water and plunk the beans down into it until cold. remove the beans with a spider or kitchen tongs.)
2. spread the beans out on clean kitchen towels to dry. to speed up the process, gently blot them with paper towels.
3. once the beans are dry, spread them out in a shallow ovenproof casserole dish or on a rimmed sheet tray.
4. melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
5. stir in the mustard powder, brown sugar, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. let the mixture sit over medium heat, stirring all the while, until combined and fragrant.
6. pour the butter mixture over the beans, cover the casserole or sheet tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight at a minimum, two nights maximum.
7. preheat the oven to 375.
8. slice your bacon in half cross-wise so that you have double the amount of slices than you started with.
9. make a tight bundle with 9 beans. wrap half a piece of bacon (somewhat tightly, without tearing the bacon,) around the bundle and secure with a toothpick.
10. repeat until you’ve used all of your beans.
11. place the bundles in the same casserole or sheet tray that you used for marinating. 
12. roast for 45 minutes or until the bacon is completely cooked.

the bundles can be served warm or at room temperature and really are the ideal dinner party food. or any party food for that matter!

*vegetarians joining you for dinner? simply skip the part where the beans get wrapped in bacon! in a separate oven-safe dish simply pile in some marinated green beans and roast them along side their bacon-wrapped friends (you may need to reduce the roasting time by a few minutes.) if you don’t want your vegetarian beans sharing an oven with bacon, simply roast the non-meat beans before or after the meaty ones.

it’s cold here. and i have a lot of beans in my freezer. so, i made soup. or stew. [note to rachael ray fans: i refuse to say stoop. or steup or whatever it is she says.]

anyways, like i said, it’s cold here. and i spent the entire day in a strange fog. i managed to make a grocery list and hit the market, but that’s really about it. i’m hoping a delicious dinner turns me around. fingers crossed.

speaking of delicious dinner, make this now!

white bean, sage & bacon soup/stew

you need:

• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 8-10 sage leaves, left whole
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2” piece of parmesan rind
• 8 cups white beans, divided
• 4 cups bean cooking liquid OR water
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1/4 t ground white pepper

to make the soup/stew:

1. fry the bacon over medium heat until crispy but not burnt. add the sage leaves and saute until fragrant.
2. next add the onion, garlic and carrot. saute until the onion is golden.
3. meanwhile, puree 5 cups of the beans with 1 cup of the cooking liquid or water.
4. to the onion mixture add the parmesan rind, pureed beans, remaining beans, remaining bean cooking liquid (or water,) chicken stock, salt and pepper.
5. bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes until thick and flavorful.
6. fish out the sage leaves and cheese rind then serve with salt & pepper for individual seasoning.

i completely forgot to take photos of the finished product. i told you i was in a fog today.

meatloaf!
[this is an old post that i spruced up with a fresh bit of formatting. of course it makes mention of christmas trees…so now you know exactly how old it is!]

this meatloaf makes use of a very awesome kitchen gadget - the grating blade of your food processor. and, i do have to say that i did all of the prep for my own meatloaf several hours before i planned to bake it - i just refrigerated it on the same sheet pan i planned to bake it on. then we went to get our christmas tree. then i put the lights on the christmas tree. THEN i baked the meatloaf. so, the combination of the food processor trick, combined with the do-ahead factor made me realize it’d fit right in here.

you should make this meatloaf tonight. but i should warn you, the glaze smells soooo good while it’s baking that you might attempt to dab it on your pulse points like perfume.

one delicious meatloaf

you need:

• one large yellow onion
• 2 large carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 10 oz package frozen, chopped spinach - thawed and drained.
• 2 whole wheat english muffins (4 halves,) cubed
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 16 oz ground turkey - not lean (very important! this is not a lowfat dish!)
• 12 oz ground pork
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• salt - around 1/2 tablespoon or to taste
• pepper - 2 teaspoons or to taste
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons ground mustard (powder, Coleman’s is good)
• 8 oz bacon

make your meatloaf:

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. grate onion and carrots in food processor using grating blade - or grate with box grater (seriously, use your food processor for this - it makes it so easy.)
3. heat some olive oil in a large pan. add grated onion, carrot, minced garlic and drained spinach. cook until fragrant and somewhat dried out. put in large bowl. allow to cool.
4. put cubed muffins in bowl. pour milk over. allow to sit while veggies cool.
5. mix bread & milk, both meats, egg, dijon mustard, salt and pepper into the veggie mixture. It’s gross, but it will help here if you use your hands. you want to make sure you mix the meats evenly so you don’t end up with big turkey chunks or big pork chunks throughout.
6. dump meat mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet. Form into a tight loaf approximately 5” by 11”.
7. mix tomato paste, brown sugar and ground mustard in a small bowl. add hot water, a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches a glaze-like consistency.
8. brush entire loaf with 1/3 of the above glaze.
9. cut bacon slices in half. weave them over the glazed loaf, making sure to cover the sides of the loaf. you don’t want any of the loaf showing.
10. glaze bacon-covered loaf with another 1/3 of the glaze.
11. reduce oven temp  to 375, put loaf into oven. 
12. bake for 25 minutes, then brush loaf with the remaining glaze.
13. bake for 25-35 minutes longer, until the inside of the loaf reaches 170 degrees.
14. remove loaf from oven, tent with foil and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

we like meatloaf with tater tots at our house. but that’s just us.

*this recipe is my adaptation of a meatloaf from a book called Kitchen Playdates.*