Fried Garlic and Sage Baconnaise

A few weeks ago, I tried going on this diet called, The Paleo Diet or The Caveman's Diet. I very quickly realized that there was no way that I could keep it up. It was just way, way too much meat for me, and I already had a bit of green guilt over the meat that I currently include in my diet. I did have an awesome take-away though. Baconnaise! I have been wanting to try my hand at homemade mayonnaise and adding bacon to the mix sounded even more delicious. This recipe is fantastic on sandwiches, or another idea and my husband's favorite, sweet potatoes.

Fried Garlic and Sage Baconnaise


Ingredients:

2 Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup of Bacon Grease
1/2 Cup of Olive Oil
3 Sage Leaves
1 Clove of Garlic, Peeled
1 Teaspoon of Whole Grain Mustard
Juice of 1 Lemon
Pinch of Salt, to Taste

Preparation:

Heat the bacon oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Place the garlic cloves and sage leaves into the oil. Fry the garlic and sage until the sage leaves are crispy and the garlic is just turning light golden brown. Chop the sage and garlic, then set aside. Let the grease come back to room temperature, then add in the olive oil. In an electric blender, whisk the egg yolks, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and the mustard on low speed. Once the mixture is smooth and incorporated, slowly, slowly start adding the oil mixture. Add something like a teaspoon at a time, wait until it is completely incorporated, then repeat until the oil is completely incorporated. As the baconnaise starts to thicken, you can add the oil a little bit faster. Once the oil is mixed in, add the remaining lemon juice and the chopped garlic and sage. Add salt to taste. It will be thinner than regular mayonnaise at first, but refrigerate and it will thicken to normal consistency.

(Really Important) Note - Don't cheap out on the bacon. The oil, therefore the baconnaise, will be fairly flavorless if you use cheap bacon for the grease. I recommend using Applegate Farms Smoked Organic Bacon. It's pretty delicious on its own and the grease is very flavorful.

Art for the Kitchen Walls

This week, I have been thinking about dressing up my cubicle at work with a little art, but I keep coming across pieces that I would love to have in my kitchen. I wanted to share a few of my very favorites.

This mushroom print is pretty fabulous. I love the organic botanic style. It's called, Mushrooms, by Wendy MacNaughton on one of my favorite go-to sites for good and affordable art, 20x200. 

 I have such a hard time picking a favorite from this artist, Joel Penkman. All of his paintings are stunning! And you can buy his prints of them on Etsy! 

This is such a great modern shot! I always think that pastry tips are such lovely sculptural objects and this photo, titled Cake, by Bomobob, is on another great art site, Society 6.

These two prints are by the super awesome Stanley Chow! I love the humor and bold, graphic style. (I love his stuff so much that Michael Caine, may, or may not be, hanging in my living room!) You can buy Stanley's prints on his iphone app, as well as his site here.

Vanilla Simple Syrup

One of my favorite treats when I'm out and about are those delicious tea lattes from that ubiquitous coffee chain, but I also love recreating the experience at home for a fraction of the cost. This is the secret ingredient, and it's super easy to make. You could also use this syrup in coffee, hot chocolate, or even in a cocktail recipe! 

Vanilla Simple Syrup

Ingredients:

3 Cups of Sugar
3-1/2 Cups of Water
1 Vanilla Bean

Cooking:

Take the vanilla bean and slice it in half, lengthwise. With the tip of a paring knife, scrape the seeds from the flesh. In a saucepan, pour in your water and sugar together, then add the vanilla bean halves and the seeds. Whisk over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the bean halves and pour into a resealable container. It will be good for a week or two, but if you have a sweet tooth in the morning, like I do, it will be gone before then! 

Chicken Stock

Making stock from scratch is dead simple and it's such a good way to use every bit of the chicken. I very often will buy a whole organic chicken, remove the meat for use in other dishes, then use the carcass for amazingly fragrant stock. Once the carcass is cooked, you can pull off the extra meat for a small helping of chicken salad. I make a huge batch of the stock, then freeze in smaller containers, pulling it out as needed, until it's time to make more. You can put just about anything edible in the pot for extra flavor. This batch had radish greens and tops and some cauliflower stems in addition to the other ingredients. It's so easy and a great way to save a few extra pennies!

Chicken Stock

Ingredients:


1 Whole Chicken, Breasts, Thighs and Wings Removed
8 Cups of Water
1 Lemon
1 Carrot
1 Celery Stick
1 Peel and Outer Skin of an Onion
2 Garlic Cloves (Leave the Peel On!)
3 Bay Leaves
1 Tablespoon of Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Whole Cumin Seeds
Any Other Clean Vegetable Scraps!

Cooking:

In a very large stockpot, put in all of your ingredients and bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to low heat and simmer, covered, for approximately 2 hours. Strain the stock and store. DONE! It's that easy!

Lemony Kale Salad

Greens are so good for you, but I have such a hard time eating them. It's that bitter dirt taste that turns me off. After tasting my friend, Paul's, kale salad recipe, I realized kale is very different from its collard cousin. The bitterness is less intense and can be cut with lemon juice and salty Parmesan. Now, when I make a giant bowl of this, it doesn't last longer than the one meal. One step closer to Pop-Eye!

Lemony Kale Salad

Ingredients:

20 Stems of Kale
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1/8 Cup Shaved Parmesan
1 Clove of Garlic, Minced
1/8 Teaspoon of Salt
1/8 Teaspoon of Chili Flakes

Cooking:

Cut the stems away from the leaf of the kale and discard. Roughly chop the leaves and place into a steamer. Steam the leaves for 6-8 minutes until just softened. Meanwhile prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Once cooked, drop the kale into the ice bath. Once the kale is cooled, strain and pat dry excess water or spin in a salad spinner. Place the kale in a large mixing bowl and stir in the other ingredients with tongs until thoroughly combined. I like to put this salad into the fridge and let it marinate overnight, since the flavors seem to age well together, but it's great straight away, too!

Vanilla Pecan Pancakes

The first year my husband and I moved into our house, I very ambitiously tilled up a 400sqft bit of earth to grow vegetables in our tiny backyard. Next, I carefully transplanted about 40 plants which I had babied from little tiny seeds into delicate seedlings. Somehow, though, I failed to  pay attention to the giant pecan tree which prevents the backyard from getting enough sun to ever produce a lovely tomato or pepper. I gave up on the vegetable garden out back and moved it to our even smaller front yard. While I have accepted that my vegetables are going to be in a more non-traditional location, I kept waiting for the pecan tree to actually produce. Two years went by, but we finally have pecans this year; a gorgeous, giant bowl of pecans (the squirrels were good enough to leave us a few) that came from our own pecan tree.
I have been making pancakes from the Joy of Cooking recipe since I was 4 years old. The recipe is so simple and adaptable. You can include almost any item into the batter: nuts, fruits, etc. This local pecan version might be my favorite yet, but maybe that's the locavore excitement I'm tasting.

Vanilla Pecan Pancakes

Ingredients:


1-1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

3 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1-1/2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
1/2 Cup of Chopped Toasted Pecans
1/8 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/8 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
1-1/2 Cups of Milk
2 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Paste (or Vanilla Extract)

3 Tablespoons of Melted Butter
Butter for the Griddle/Pan


Cooking:

Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, spices and pecans in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla paste and melted butter together, then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Don't over stir. On a griddle or a saucepan, greased with butter, on medium heat, pour 1/2 cup of batter per pancake. You may be able to do more than one at a time with a griddle. Cook until the center of the pancake's bubbles pop and lift the edges to see if the center is golden brown. This may take around 5 minutes or so. Slide a spatula underneath the pancake and flip it. The second side will take much less time. Remove the pancake when both sides are lightly browned. Serve with syrup and more butter!

Seeds, Seeds, Seeds!

At this time of year, my brain starts whirring with ideas for the year's garden. I gather my seed catalogs, Seed Savers Exchange and Territorial Seed Company winning favorites for this year, along with my boxes of leftover seeds from last year. I carefully catalog what I have and then I get to shop for new fun things that I might be missing. I cannot wait to try some rhubarb plants this year. I know they don't do very well in the hot south, and that my space in the garden is so limited, but I just can't resist the idea of having that gorgeous fruit in my very own yard! I'm also so excited to grow some fava beans this year. From the moment I watched Jamie Oliver crush raw favas, fresh from his garden, on Jamie at Home, I've longed to repeat the experience. So, now that I have placed the orders for the new stuff, the fun begins...I have to figure out where to squeeze everything in! I find a glass of wine helps!