Tag Archives: bacon

Gourmet Poutine

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There’s a little poutine place called La Belle Patate on Davie Street in Vancouver and every time I walk past it I have to resist the urge to go in for a huge portion of their delicious fries with gravy and melted squeaky cheese. They don’t just have traditional poutine but lots of add-ons like Montreal smoked meat, bacon, and jalapeno peppers just to name a few.

Today I almost went in, the urge was strong, but instead I thought, why not make my own fancy poutine? The grocery store was only a few feet away. I picked up a bag of frozen fries (I had thought about making them from scratch but that would just take longer and I was STARVING), canned gravy, shredded mozzarella cheese (sadly the store did not have cheese curds), and a package of bacon. And once I got home Jay suggested I add some of the dried mixed mushrooms his parents gave us this weekend. These mushrooms come from places like Chile, Serbia, and Montevideo and then packaged in France and then shipped to the Costcos of North America – crazy!  After cooking the bacon I sauteed half an onion and the already soaked and boiled mushrooms together in the bacon grease and once the fries and gravy were ready I put it all together and congratulated myself on my decision to make my own yummy poutine.

 

Breakfast Pizza

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About three and a half years ago I was in Paris with Jay and it was in a very touristy area that we found a pizza place – don’t ask why we ate Italian food in France but it’s what was available. I ordered for myself a pizza with two fried eggs and fresh cream drizzled on top. Since then I’ve wanted to cook an egg on a pizza but never got the nerve to try. Until now.

Breakfast Pizza

Pizza dough, fresh, ready made or store bought, your choice

Eggs, the number you use depends on the size of the pizza, I used 5 eggs on mine

Shredded mozzarella, lots if you love cheese like I do

Sour cream

Cooked bacon bits, I know I’m all into the whole veggie thing but I gotta have my bacon!

Baby spinach

Fresh dill

Start by preheating the oven to about 375-400F (I’m sorry I can’t remember what setting I used). Spread sour cream over the prepared pizza dough, then add spinach and bacon and other toppings you might like and then crack the eggs – gently so the yolks don’t break – on top. Add the dill and lastly sprinkle cheese over everything and bake for about 30-40 minutes, depending how soft you want your yolks.

Jay showed obvious suspicion and doubt when he asked what was for breakfast but upon his first bite he literally ate his own words. I loved that this only took minutes to put together (it helped that the dough was ready to go of course). Waiting for the pizza to bake meant I could go back to bed and laze until it was ready. Delish!!

Imitation Costco Chicken Bake

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Years and years ago I actually owned a Costco membership card. I’d go with my then boyfriend and buy vats of feta cheese and bulk-size cans of soup. Eventually we realized the amount of food we were buying was obscene for only the two of us. However, we kept the membership because during our lunch breaks at work we’d drive over to the nearest Costco to get a hot and delicious chicken bake. I could never resist the gooey cheese and crispy crust.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a Costco and even longer since I’ve had a chicken bake, as not all Costco stores carried them. And the last few weeks I’d been having intense cravings for a chicken bake so I did a quick Google search and discovered that all you really need is pizza dough, chicken, bacon, onions, mozzarella, and Caesar salad dressing.

For the pizza dough I went through my previous posts in search of the thin and crispy dough I liked – which also doesn’t take long to make. The recipe can be found here.

Chicken Bake Ingredients – For two people

Ready made pizza dough, store bought, your favourite recipe or the one mentioned above.

1 chicken breast, approx 6oz cut into small pieces

4 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces

1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped

approx 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, or more if you love cheese the way I do.

Caesar salad dressing, I used about 3 tbsp but that’s a matter of preference I think.

Spices of your choice for the chicken, I used garlic powder and cayenne pepper.

Preheat oven to about 450F. Heat a bit of oil in a pan and cook the chicken. Add seasonings and once it’s cooked through set aside in a bowl. Add the bacon pieces to the pan and cook until done and then add them to the chicken. Stretch your pizza dough to a rectangle about 11 inches by 7 or 8 inches. Spread desired amount of Caesar dressing over surface and then sprinkle onions, chicken and bacon, and the majority of the mozzarella cheese (leave some aside to sprinkle on top of the chicken bake). Fold the pizza dough over and seal the seams and then place in the oven for about 7 minutes.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and put back in the oven for another 8 minutes or so or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly and melted.

Was it as awesome as the original Costco chicken bake? Well, to be honest…I don’t really remember what the Costco chicken bake tasted like except that I remember loving it. But this version has completely wiped the memory of a Costco chicken bake from my mind.

Valentine’s Day Dinner

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Yesterday when I asked Jay what he thought we should make for our V-day dinner he said, “Pizza?” I immediately shook my head. To me, V-day is a special occasion that deserves hard work and sweat in the kitchen. When I suggested bacon-wrapped pork loin all thoughts of pizza flew out of Jay’s head. “Wow, yeah that sounds amazing,” he said. I continued listing the other items on the menu: artichokes or asparagus with Hollandaise sauce (“Oh! Oh! Can I make the sauce?” he interjected at this point and I nodded), cheese-stuffed mushrooms for appetizers, white chocolate creme brulee for desert, and the best part (for me) non-alcoholic red wine. Yes, that’s right, we are expecting! In about six months we’ll have a little addition who will get to enjoy our kitchen creations.

Now, when I’m making somewhat elaborate dinners I like to prepare things ahead of time and get all my ingredients ready so I’m not scrambling around looking for the white wine while the garlic burns in a pan. First, I sliced the pork loin and laid it out on a piece of plastic wrap. For a video on how to butterfly a pork loin go here. Next, on another piece of plastic wrap, I made a lattice with the bacon by first laying down six strips vertically and then lacing bacon horizontally through the strips. The other thing I made several hours ahead of time was the creme brulee as that needed to chill in the fridge for at least four hours. And if you’re like me and don’t own a fancy brulee torch, then remember to bring out the creme brulee to sit for a few minutes at room temperature before broiling it in the oven.

Ok, Ingredients:

Stuffed Mushrooms:

6 to 8 white mushrooms

oil, I used canola

about 6 cloves of garlic, more or less depending on your taste

1 8oz pkg of cream cheese, softened

about 3tbsp Parmesan cheese

fresh ground pepper, to taste

cayenne pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350F. Carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms but don’t throw them away – finely chop the stems and set aside. Mince the garlic and heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Throw the garlic and mushroom stems into the oil and cook for about 5 minutes and remove from heat. Add the cream cheese to the pan and stir until smooth and then add the Parmesan cheese, ground pepper, and cayenne pepper. With a small spoon, stuff each mushroom with the filling – there will be a lot of filling, don’t worry, the rest will be in the pork. Dab a bit of softened butter on the bottom of the mushrooms and place them on a baking sheet. Pop the mushrooms in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until juices are flowing.

Pork Loin:

I used a 760g/1.6lb pork loin

approx 12-16 strips of bacon

Leftover cream cheese filling from stuffed mushrooms

Kitchen twine

A generous splash of Guinness to keep the pork moist while cooking.

Turn oven heat up to about 400F. With the pork all ready to go, all you need to do is spread the cream cheese mixture over the top and then roll it and tie it with string. Place the pork in the centre of the bacon lattice and with the help of the plastic wrap, carefully cover the pork and press the bacon down. Place it in a baking pan (one preferably with a lid) pour some Guinness around the sides and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes to an hour. You can remove the lid halfway through, depending on how brown you want your bacon to be. I think we may have overcooked our pork – the bacon was a little crispy but the meat was amazing inside.

The sides:

2 russet potatoes, unpeeled, washed, and quartered

a bunch of asparagus – sadly our local store did not have artichokes

Hollandaise sauce

While the pork is doing its thing in the oven, boil the potatoes. And while that’s happening you can make the Hollandaise sauce. I would rather just tell you to Google Hollandaise sauce because one recipe and instruction may work for one person but it may not for another. The first and only time I successfully made Hollandaise sauce I used Laura Calder’s recipe but when Jay tried it, he wasn’t as successful. Last night, he used Julia Child’s version and the sauce turned out really well. In Jay’s opinion, it helps if you have another person reading out step by step instructions while you work on the sauce.

For the asparagus, place the stalks in a steamer basket and then over the simmering pot of potatoes. When the pork is ready to be cut, the potatoes will be ready and so will the asparagus as the stalks only need about 5 minutes or so to steam.

Creme Brulee:

For recipe and ingredients go here. As I mentioned before, I don’t have a torch so I used the broiler to burn the sugar coating. Unfortunately my broiler takes FOREVER to heat up and time was a-wastin’ so the sugar did not fully melt and did not have that crackly effect. However, the custard…oh the custard. Please make this. You don’t even really need the crackly sugar on top – the custard is like heaven in a ramekin.

This turned out to be a happy coma-inducing dinner where all we could do was say, “Wow, that was amazing.”

And in case you’re wondering – the non-alcoholic wine tasted like almost unsweetened grape juice. Oh the sacrifices we make.

International Cuisine Day Two: Münsterland Tomato Soup with Bacon

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Before making this dish I did question the origin of the classic tomato soup. I still don’t have a specific answer so I’m just going to assume that tomato soup has been around since Jesus broke bread at the Last Supper. I’m also going to assume it’s a dish known everywhere with different variations depending on the location. In this case it’s a German version of tomato soup.

Tonight’s tomato soup comes from another cookbook my dad gave me last Christmas called The New German Cookbook. When I first started cooking this soup I thought it would only take half an hour to make but of course if I had read the instructions prior to cooking I would have realized it would take nearly two hours. It was a very easy soup to make, it just took a fair bit of time to complete. By the time it was ready I was very hungry. Surprisingly the soup was incredibly filling and despite my hunger I felt full and satisfied long before I managed to finish half my serving.

 

Recipe for 6 servings:

2 oz double-smoked slab bacon (not too lean), cut into 1/8 inch cubes (about 1/2 cup bacon cubes)

2 large yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1 large whole bay leaf

1 tsp dried leaf marjoram, crumbled

1/2 tsp dried leaf thyme, crumbled

3 1/2 cups coarsely chopped, peeled, cored, and seeded very ripe tomatoes (5 to 6 medium tomatoes), or 3 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes

2 cups rich beef or chicken broth (preferably homemade)

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp unsalted butter or margarine

2 tbsp snipped fresh chives or minced flat-leaf parsley

Sauté the bacon over moderate heat, stirring often, in a medium-size heavy pot until all drippings cook out and only crisp brown bits remain – about 5 minutes. Remove bacon bits and reserve on paper towel. Add onions, shallots, bay leaf, marjoram and thyme to pot and sauté 5 minutes, stirring often until onions are glassy. Reduce heat to its lowest point, cover, and steam 20 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, raise the heat to moderately low, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring often. Mix in the broth and sugar. Bring to a boil, adjust heat so the soup bubbles gently, then simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Remove and discard bay leaf. Cool the soup 15 minutes, then puree in batches in a food processor for 15 to 20 seconds.

Return soup to pot, add the salt, pepper, cream and bring slowly to serving temperature, stirring now and then. Add the butter and, as soon as it melts, stir the soup well and ladle into soup plates. Sprinkle the chives and reserved bacon bits over each portion and serve.