Bacon Avec Bacon’s First Anniversary

26 Jun

Well it’s been one year since I started this blogging journey.

I haven’t posted as much as I had planned to, and there were many recipes that were attempted but never made the cut (for various reasons) but overall, I’m happy with where I’m at. I hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve posted so far and I look forward to sharing another year’s worth of recipes with you!

As a recap, the five most popular recipes of the past year have been:

baconavecbacon.com | Cheesy Taco Pasta

  1. Cheesy Taco Pasta
  2. Salsa Fresca
  3. Smores Pudding Cups
  4. Pork Wrapped Pork
  5. Easy Baked Cannelloni

Can’t say I’m really surprised as these are all favourites in our house too.

Thanks everyone!

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Recipe: Best Ever Steak Marinade

18 May

It’s FINALLY summer which means it’s time to break out the BBQ. All winter long, one of the summer treats I crave the most is a nice grilled steak.

While there’s nothing wrong with a nice rib eye seasoned with some Montreal Steak spice and grilled to medium rare, Mr. Bacon prefers steak with a bit of a flavour kick so we wind up making steaks with this marinade more often. I use top sirloin steaks. They often go on sale in a ‘club pack’ of two for around $12-$14. That’s a lot of decently tender beef for the price so keep an eye out!

Best Ever Steak Marinade

Best Ever Steak Marinade | baconavecbacon.com

3/4 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cups tomato juice (I buy the small six pack of cans so I always have tomato juice handy without having to open a giant can)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Pour all of the ingredients into a large ziplock bag. Throw the steak in and prick it with a fork to let the marinade seep into the meat. Seal the bag up and marinate for 24 hours or overnight.

Grill the steak basting with the reserved marinade.

Let the meat rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

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Recipe: Baked French Toast With Strawberry Sauce

11 May

Spring has sprung and I’m starting to crave all of the fresh flavours of summer. One of my favourites is this lovely strawberry sauce that my mom used to make when we were camping. You can also make this with fresh strawberries but I find the frozen ones work just as good.

Baked French Toast with Strawberry Sauce | baconavecbacon.com

Strawberry Sauce

1 bag frozen strawberries (whole or sliced)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup juice (apple is good)

In a large glass bowl, defrost the strawberries for a few minutes in the microwave. They should be slightly soft but not fully defrosted. When ready throw them into a blender or food processor with the sugar. Create slurry from the juice and the cornstarch and throw that in as well. Blend until smooth.

Place the mixture back into your big glass bowl and microwave on high for approximately 6-8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

The sauce can be reheated (you may need to thin with a little more juice) and kept in the fridge for a week or so. Try it on pancakes, ice cream or other desserts.

 

Baked French Toast
1/2 loaf of bread
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Rip the bread into bite sized pieces and arrange in a greased 8×8 or 9×9 dish. Beat the remaining ingredients and pour over top of the bread. Cover and store overnight in the fridge.

The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle the top with a bit more sugar and a pinch of cinnamon if you’d like. Bake uncovered for about 60 minutes and serve warm.

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Food Finds: Peanut Butter Cheerios

20 Apr

Despite having decidedly juvenile tastes in breakfast cereals, before this month I hadn’t had a Cheerio in decades. That is until I saw that Cheerios had come out with a peanut butter flavour. I just couldn’t resist, being a sucker for anything peanut butter flavoured.

Peanut Butter CheeriosWhen I picked up the box, I didn’t know just how good they’d be. Turns out they were so good that the ‘limited time’ flavour has become really difficult to find and General Mills’ Facebook page is swamped with consumer requests to keep the cereal coming!

It’s not too sweet, with just a nice hint of peanut butter. Stays nicely crunchy in milk. (God I hate soggy cereal.) My next experiment will be mixing the peanut butter Cheerios with a box of chocolate ones. Just try to stop me.

Long story short, try to find yourselves a box before they disappear. Or, if you live close to the border or are making a trip there, bring back a box. Turns out those Americans have had this flavour for a while and have been hoarding it.

 

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Recipe: Greek Spiced Rack of Lamb

6 Apr

Rack of lamb is one of those cuts of meat that isn’t cheap, but it’s pricey for good reason. It’s tender, flavourful, quick cooking and looks incredibly impressive when cut into chops after roasting. Serve this as a main course for a dinner party, or when cut into individual ‘meat lollypops’ and served with a mint yogurt dipping sauce, it would also make a great appetizer.

Greek Spiced Rack of Lamb

Greek Seasoned Rack of Lamb | baconavecbacon.com

1 rack of lamb, frenched
2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons Cavender’s greek seasoning blend
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse and dry the rack of lamb. Slice the garlic in two and rub the meat well with the garlic pieces. If you’d like, you can slice the garlic thinly, cut a few slits in the meat and stuff them with garlic. Next sprinkle the Greek seasoning liberally over all of the meat, back and front and rub into the meat.

In an oven safe frying pan, heat a few teaspoons of oil on medium high. When it’s hot, add the meat and sear on all sides until a nice brown crust forms. When all sides have been seared, place the pan into the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes or until the lamb reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees (for medium rare).

Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

 

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Recipe: Baked Buffalo Wings

1 Apr

I LOVE chicken wings. Good ones at least.

There’s a lot of bad chicken wings out there. Ones that are all bones. Ones that are so overdone that the meat is chewy. Ones with no flavour. Ones drowning in sauce. Ones that will literally sear your face off with their hotness but have zero flavour.

These are a dry style buffalo wing that are baked, not fried but are still lovely and crispy with excellent flavour and just enough fire.

Baked Buffalo Wings

Baked Buffalo Wings | baconavecbacon.com

1 pound chicken wings, split and tips removed
1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce
1/4 cup butter, melted
salt & pepper

Set your oven to broil and allow it to preheat.

Cover a cookie sheet with aluminium foil and place a cooling rack on top of the foil.

Season the wings well with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a large microwaveable bowl. Add the hot sauce and stir. Add the wings and coat well.

Place the wings on the cooling rack. Broil for 15 minutes on one side, flip the wings over, baste with additional hot sauce and broil for another 15 minutes.

Remove, flip and baste again and place the wings in for another 5 minutes. Repeat process one more time for another 5 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

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Recipe: Crock Pot Red Wine & Garlic Braised Lamb Shanks

5 Mar

Oh lamb. You’re so cute and so delicious. For those of you who think eating the fuzzy little critters is evil, please stop reading now. For those of you who are salivating, please read on.

This is my ‘go to’ for gourmet when you don’t have time for gourmet. Unlike most crock pot recipes that call for ‘fake’ ingredients (like canned soup or velveeta), this one is pretty much all natural and the results are impressive enough for company. The best part is whether you make it ahead or all in the same day, it really only takes two 15 minute intervals of effort. It’s a great option for a weeknight dinner party or a ‘dine-in’ date night. You’ll even have half a bottle of red wine left over to enjoy with it.

Crock Pot Red Wine & Garlic Braised Lamb Shanks

Crockpot Lamb Shanks | baconavecbacon.com

3-4 lamb shanks, defrosted
1 onion, quartered
10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
olive oil
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 packet of pot roast spice (you’ll find this in the spice mix aisle)
1 packet of beef base
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf

In a frying pan, heat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil. Season the shanks well with the salt, pepper and Worcestershire and then sear well on all sides. Dump the remaining ingredients  the bottom of the crock pot and stir. (If you want to be fancy, you can deglaze the bottom of the frying pan with the wine.) Add the seared meat and then add water to the top of the shanks. Cook on low for 8 hours.

If you’d like, you can refrigerate the shanks (in the crock) overnight and skim the fat before reheating. If you’re going to eat them immediately, ladle two cups of the broth into a measuring cup and let the fat settle to the top. Pour the fat off carefully and then place into a small saucepan with 1 packet of beef base and some freshly ground pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then whisk in a slurry of a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch and water. This will form a rich gravy to serve with your lamb.

I like to serve the shanks on a bed of mashed potatoes. All the better to enjoy the gravy with.

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Taste Test: Baconnaise

3 Mar

I was at our local Sobey’s grocery store last month and there amongst the other condiments was something I’d been itching to try for years: baconnaise. Yes, an unholy union of bacon and mayo invented by the geniuses at J&Ds.  

What’s it like? Well, it’s pretty much exactly what you think bacon flavoured mayo would taste like. It’s the best of both worlds: the rich tangyness of mayo and the salty savouryness of bacon. Best of all, it’s actually kosher and vegetarian. Spreadable bacon for everyone!

It’s been fantastic on turkey sandwiches, so much so that I’ve made more turkey sandwiches in the past month than I have in the past three years. This morning I went out on a ledge and put it on a bacon, egg & cheese breakfast sandwich instead of a bit of butter and it really beefed up the flavour quotient.

There are a bunch of things I still want to try it on:
– Fries
– Club sandwich
– Chicken burger
– Burger

Long story short, baconnaise is now a staple condiment in this house. You should pick some up and try it yourself!

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Recipe: Buttermilk Tea Biscuits

22 Feb

Tea biscuits are one of those things that’s just better fresh out of the oven, all warm and fluffy. They’re fantastic sandwiched around some eggs, sausage and cheese like they do at Tim Horton’s. They also make a great side for soups or a topping for turkey pot pie. My mother even claimed to have made tea biscuits with butter and jam for dinner when she lived alone as a young woman. Not a bad plan…

Buttermilk Tea Biscuits

Buttermilk Tea Biscuits | baconavecbacon.com

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening (the colder the better)
1 cup buttermilk*

Stir together the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut the shortening in until the mixture is crumbly. Gradually pour in the buttermilk, stirring with a fork until the ingredients form a loose dough. Don’t overmix. Scrape onto a well floured surface and pat the dough into 1″ thick circle.

Use a biscuit cutter, or a glass or the lid from the peanut butter to cut the biscuits. Make sure to flour the cutter and don’t twist the implement you’re using – just press straight down and lift. If you twist, this can affect how high the biscuits rise.

Bake on a floured sheet at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes.

*A note on buttermilk… Yes, buttermilk is expensive and is kind of a pain because it really only comes in a 1 litre carton. You use 1 cup then you have to figure out what to do with the rest unless you have a crazy family member who likes to drink buttermilk. This is why I buy DRY buttermilk powder at the Bulk Barn. I throw 3 or so tablespoons into a 1 cup liquid measuring cup and reconstitute it with 1 cup of regular 1% milk. Works great!

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Recipe: Traditional Apple Crisp

10 Feb

When I do make apple crisp, I inevitably make a second one as soon as the first is done because it’s so good and seems to go so quickly. Something magical happens when the warm, tart apples and crispy and sweet oat topping combines with melting vanilla ice cream.

This is an adaptation of a recipe from the ‘All New Purity Cookbook’ originally printed in 1967. It’s a classic Canadian cookbook and reprints are readily available. Check it out if you’re looking for a how-to for basic comfort foods.

Traditional Apple Crisp

Traditional Apple Crisp | baconavecbacon.com

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
4 Large McIntosh apples, peeled and sliced

In a large bowl, add the flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon and mix thoroughly. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the texture becomes crumbly. Prepare the apples and place them in a greased 9″ glass pie dish. Pour the crumble evenly over the top and place in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Let sit for 10 minutes before serving with ice cream. And maybe a drizzle of maple syrup or caramel sauce.

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