Red Wine & Bacon Braised Kale and Endive

I'm not sure what happened here. I was on a real roll this year, posting every single week and so proud of myself! Somehow, life got a little busy and in the way of things I enjoy doing for myself, like this blog. And cooking, for that matter. I feel like there has been way more Trader Joe's frozen Indian food in my life than I would truly like to admit.
This recipe is something my husband and I enjoyed a few weeks ago for brunch, and while, (hold your breath for a very-un-southernly admission,) I don't normally enjoy greens, I love the light bitter taste of the kale with the tangy vinegar and salty bacon. With a fried egg on top, it's pretty great! 

Red Wine & Bacon Braised Kale and Endive

Ingredients:

1/4 Pound of Bacon

2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1/2 Onion, Minced
3 Cups of Kale and Endive, Roughly Chopped
1 Cup Chicken Stock

1/2 Cup of Red Wine
1 Tablespoon of Chili Flakes
Salt to Taste
Splash of Red Wine Vinegar


Cooking:

In a large frying pan, cook your bacon on medium heat. Remove the bacon once it's crispy and cooked to your preferred crunch. Pour out all but 3 tablespoons of bacon grease, and reserve for another recipe if you desire, like some fried sage baconnaise. Add in the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent. Add the kale, endive, stock, wine and chili flakes to the pan. Continue cooking for 35 minutes on low heat until the kale is wilted and soft and the sauce is reduced. Chop 2-3 pieces of bacon into bits and stir into the wilted greens. Add your salt to taste and a splash of vinegar. I think this is perfectly served with a fried egg over the top, and your remaining bacon on the side!

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.

Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John is my favorite meal to have in the beginning of the new year. Since we were on vacation on New Year's day, I wasn't able to make the spicy, black-eyed pea goodness as usual. Back in town, I just couldn't stop craving it, so...I made a GIANT batch for just my husband and I! I had enough for lunches and still some to freeze for later.  If you Google Hoppin' John, you will find loads of recipes. My recipe isn't ground-breaking, but is simple, fresh and can easily be cooked in a crock pot. It's a great Sunday night meal which will stretch into weekday lunches.

Hoppin' John

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

4 Strips of Bacon, Chopped into 1/2" Pieces
1 Ham Hock
3 Sticks of Celery, Diced
2 Green Bell Peppers, Diced
1 Orange Bell Pepper, Diced
1 Red Bell Pepper, Diced
1 Onion, Diced
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Jalepenos, Minced
2 28 Ounce Cans of Diced Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
2 14 Ounce Cans of Chicken Stock
2 Cups of Soaked Black-Eyed Peas (or Canned Black-Eyed Peas)
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tablespoon of Paprika
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon of Cayenne
4 Cups of Cooked Rice, For Serving

Cooking:

In a large saute pan, toss in your bacon pieces. Cook on Medium-High heat until they begin to render grease and are starting to brown just on the edges. Add in the garlic and jalepenos. Saute for 30 seconds, stirring, then add the celery, onion, and bell pepper. Cook until the onion goes translucent and the vegetables are just softened. In a large stock pot, or in a crock pot, place your ham hock. Add in the cooked vegetables and bacon, along with the tomatoes, stock, peas and spices. Simmer on low for 2 hours in the stock pot, or until the beans are cooked through. (For the crock pot, you could leave it on low for 6-8 hours.) Serve with the cooked rice and your favorite hot sauce. I like to stir in the rice and save the leftovers for lunch the next couple of days.

Apple and Smoked Bacon Salmon Patties

Growing up part of a large southern family, you learn to cook for many, rather than few and the recipes shared are always budget-friendly. I can remember going to my grandparents house, helping to make drop biscuits and salmon patties for twenty people, while busily catching up on the weekly gossip. Sometimes when I'm feeling especially nostalgic, picking the bones from a can of salmon, squishing the mixture between my fingers and hearing the sounds of grease spattering soothes the longing for days past. 

Apple and Smoked Bacon Salmon Patties

Ingredients:

1 Can of Salmon

4 Slices of Smoked Bacon

1 Small Apple, Diced

1/2 Red Onion, Diced

2 Tablespoons of Water

1/2 Cup of Whole Oats

1/4 Cup of Flour

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon of Salt and Black Pepper, Each

Cooking:

Carefully pick the bones from the salmon, and then wash the salmon in a fine mesh strainer to remove most of the fishiness. Fry the bacon in a large pan and reserve the grease for frying the patties. Remove the bacon and chop. Toss in your onions and apples into the bacon pan. Add the water to degrease the pan, be sure to scrape up the brown bits from the bacon. Once the onions are translucent, pour them into a large mixing bowl with your salmon, bacon, oats, flour, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir until combined. In the same frying pan, pour a tablespoon of grease back into it, and bring it up to medium heat. Take a ball of mixture about 2 inches in diameter and flatten into a 3/4 inch disk. Place into your frying pan. You can add multiple patties, but there should be about an inch around each patty for even frying and maneuvering. You will probably need to do this in several batches, adding more grease as needed. Fry each patty until golden brown on each side. Remove and place on a baking sheet. Once all patties are fried, finish them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. 

The classic preparation for a salmon patty is in a drop biscuit with yellow mustard, but you can eat them in any way. In the picture above, I used a dijon mustard with capers and honey.

Bacon Corn Chowder

 

With fresh summer corn almost disappearing for the season, I felt I should make some corn chowder. After tasting a version of this recipe in a Williams-Sonoma store, I wanted to give it a go. The sweet, creamy corn lends itself perfectly to pairing with salty, crunchy bacon!

Bacon Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
1/2 Red Onion, Diced
6 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
4 Strips of Bacon
3 Large Ears of Un-Shucked Corn
6 New Potatoes
64 Ounces of Chicken Stock
1 Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
3 Sprigs of Thyme
2 Cups of Milk
Salt and Pepper

Cooking:

Fry your bacon until crispy on medium-heat. Reserve the bacon strips and pour 2 tablespoons of bacon grease into a large stock pot or dutch oven. Turn the pot to medium heat and add your onions and garlic. Saute until the onions are translucent. Meanwhile, turn your oven to broil and place your ears of corn on the racks. Turn until the husks blacken a bit on all sides. This will steam the corn on the inside of the husk and add a smoky flavor. Remove the corn from the oven and discard the husks. Take a knife and cut the kernels from the cob. Add the potatoes, thyme, cayenne, stock, milk, cobs and kernels to your pot once the onions are translucent. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes. Remove the cobs and sprigs of thyme from the pot. In a blender or food processor, puree all of the potatoes with half of the soup mix. Stir the blended mix back into the soup pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chop your reserved bacon into bits, pour the soup into bowls and sprinkle the bacon on top!

The Joys of Having Awesome Neighbors

The other night, our wonderful neighbors came over to join us for a one of our patented "what do you have in your fridge?" dinners. I LOVE these dinners! They're creative and usually very local, but best of all, they're casual and cheap. There's not a lot of pressure and it's lovely to enjoy home-cooked food with fun people. This last dinner, we were swimming in our local, organic butternut squash, and since we also had some leftover risotto (arborio) rice and bacon, I decided to make some Butternut Squash Risotto. It's a lot of stirring, but so worth it.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Ingredients: 1 Butternut Squash, Peeled and Cubed
3 Strips of Bacon, Chopped
6 Garlic Cloves, Minced 1 Onion, Diced
2 Tablespoons of Honey
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon of Paprika
Salt and Pepper
2 Cups of Risotto or Arborio Rice
6 Cups of Stock (Your Choice, but I like Chicken)
1-1/2 Cups of Pecorino Romano Cheese, Finely Grated (You could substitute Parmesan)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Cooking:
Throw your squash into a pot of salted boiling water. Cook until fork tender, meaning when a fork slides easily into the squash, approximately 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a big pot, toss in your bacon, garlic and onion and saute until the onion is translucent. After the squash is done, strain and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle the honey and olive oil over the squash, then sprinkle with the paprika and some salt and pepper. Toss to coat and throw it in the oven at 400 degrees until the squash starts to brown slightly on the edges. Into the pot, add your rice. Stir until the rice is glossy and almost translucent. Smash your squash into a mash, then add to the rice. Add 1/2 cup of stock. Stir until the liquid is absorbed. Repeat with stock and stirring until the rice is cooked through. This is usually about 30 minutes. You may need less or more stock, it's all about how al dente you like your rice. Finally, once the rice is cooked to your liking, add the grated cheese, of which you could reserve a little for topping. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve and top with the remaining cheese.