Gianni Ola

A beautiful pie from Pizzaiolo with dry cured pepperoni, mushrooms and of course, bacon, makes Mondays a little easier to swallow.

Happy Friendsgiving! – Slow-braised lamb shanks with pancetta pan sauce

This weekend was an annual Holiday dinner with my best friends. Each year around the big holidays we come together at someone's house and celebrate a "Friends" version. Mostly it's an excuse to all get together, pig out on ridiculously fantastic food and maybe drink a little too much wine.

This year's Friendsgiving (Friends-Thanksgiving) was hosted by the fabulous Ms. Dinning and held in conjunction with the American holiday. Cheese plates held us over until the main event. Two standout cheeses of the night: a smoked cheddar that honest-to-god tastes like bacon; and another that was creamy yet firms and involved caramelized onion.

And for the main event: Slow-braised lamb shanks with a pan gravy that flavoured was with some pancetta; creamy roasted garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

And to cap off the night, two homemade pies: a traditional, yet insane, cung-ping pie (Pumpkin pie for those of you who don't speak "friendsgiving") and a beautiful cream cheese apple pie (pictured above), that was heavenly. If I concentrate hard I can still taste it; silky, tangy, sweet, cinnamon-y, with a crisp buttery crust...it was by far the hit of the night and a revelation as far as I'm concerned.

All in all, another legendary Friendsgiving for the books!

In the spirit of unabashed gluttony...

...and American Thanksgiving, a couple of bacon-ridiculous dishes that simultaneously activate my salivary glands, and make my arteries hurt. Enjoy.

The Bacon Explosion and the TurBaconEpic Thanksgiving...which also made national news on the Globe and Mail's Hot Button Blog.

Thanks friends for sending these in.
Please keep the links, ideas, suggestions, stories and videos comin!

Mussels in Beer Broth with Bacon

One of my purchases at the Food & Wine Expo was this beer for my brewer-wannabe bf. Lug Tread by Beau's All Natural Brewery, a new discovery for both of us.

Last night I used it as the base for a broth for steamed mussels, and it was pretty good! I have to say, I do prefer a more traditional white wine sauce, but I thought this would be fun and seasonally tummy warming.

Of course I began with the bacon...rendered that off, and used the fat to sweat shallots and garlic until translucent. Then added in about a cup and a half of beer, a handful of Italian flat leaf parsley and the mussels. They steamed with the lid on for about 5 to 6 minutes while I warmed delicious sesame flatbread in the oven. Once done, I tossed in the crispy bits of bacon, scooped the mussels into a pasta bowl with as much broth as could fit and garnished with some chopped chives for that fresh onion-y bite.

Gourmet Food & Wine Expo 2010

This weekend, after a delicious brunch at our old neighbourhood fave The Old York (I had Eggs Britney – essentially Eggs Benedict but with a red pepper salsa as well as the Hollandaise...) some girlfriends and I attended Toronto's Gourmet Food & Wine Expo at the Metro Convention Centre. Having never been before I was really excited to see what was in store.

Upon entering, we knew we were in for a good time, the tagline "The city's best cocktail party" was definitely accurate. Essentially they transformed a large conference room into a marketplace of delicious food and flowing booze. The room was more or less divided into Wine, Beer, and Food.

We (obviously) hit the wine section first, spending our sample tickets on Californian, Chilean, and Spanish wines. We later strolled over to the food section where my compadres wisely got a chorizo on a bun and a panini respectively, for some reason I thought it would be wise to opt not to eat...not so wise it turns out...

We ended the afternoon in the beer section, sampling delicious local craft brews (Mill St, still one of my favourite local micro-breweries, the Coffee Porter is deliciously strong and smooth and sweet) and specialty imports (Innis & Gunn is a fave of the bf, they age their brews in whisky and scotch barrels making a fragrant and flavourful brew that definitely packs a punch).

Spaghetti & Bacon-Beef Meatballs

It all started with a few slices of old-fashioned thick cut, naturally smoked bacon...

On the walk home from brunch, and after much debate, we settled on Spaghetti & Meatballs for dinner. Never one to pass up an opportunity to incorporate bacon into a meal, I diced up some of that gorgeous thick cut bacon and slowly rendered out the fat.

To make the meatballs I used one pound of freshly ground lean beef, 1 egg, a handful of bread crumbs, 2 cloves of minced garlic, sea salt & black pepper, chopped fresh sage and thyme and of course, the bacon bits (I meant to add parmesan cheese as well but totally forgot until I was about halfway done rolling the meatballs...oh well). I rolled little balls and browned them in shifts in the bacon fat and a little olive oil and set aside.

Using the same pan I sweated an onion and lots more garlic until translucent, then tossed in a few leftover sliced button mushroom. Sizzle, sizzle...deglazed with some white wine and reduced by half. Then I splashed in some chicken stock, a bottle of strained tomatoes, 2 bay leaves and brought the liquid to a simmer. I gingerly placed the meatballs in to finish cooking and let them get acquainted with the sauce for about an hour. And tossed in some sprigs of thyme in the last 10 minutes while the pasta boiled.

Served over whole wheat spaghettini with fresh shaved parm... Mmm. Hearty and comforting, the mushrooms add texture to the smooth, thick sauce, and the meatballs are meaty yet light with an herbacious quality and the bacon adds a nice depth of flavour without taking over.

The Riverside

Behold, the Riverside from BQM on Ossington.

Bacon, Mozzarella, Spicy BBQ Sauce (house-made), Crispy Onion Ring and Garlic Aioli all on a ground Angus patty. If you've never been to BQM, I strongly suggest you go.

Bacon Bookmarks

Today's internet wanderings led me to two new bookmarks for my computer. Behold a couple of crucial websites for the bacon fan:

bacontoday.com is "The Daily News on the World of Sweet, Sweet Bacon"...couldn't have said it better myself. I particularly enjoyed the Periodic Table BaCoN pillow, Want!

baconfreak.com is the hub for all your bacon gifting needs, they even have a Bacon of the Month club! Talk about the perfect gift for the Holidays...hint, hint...

Not quite bacon...

While I'm aware that proscuitto and bacon are not the same thing, I do consider them close cousins, so Chicken Saltimbocca stuffed with garlicky wilted spinach, and paper thin slices of salty proscuitto totally qualifies in my opinion.

For my spin on this Italian classic I first wilted a few handfuls of baby spinach in butter and oil with a little minced garlic. Once that was done I put it aside to cool while I pounded out my chicken and divided it into 4 "cutlets" (actually this is all from one chicken breast, the butcher at the top of my street in Little Portugal has the best, freshest meat for ridiculously good prices). Once the chicken was ready I layered the proscuitto and spinach over each cutlet and rolled from pointy end to wide end, securing with a toothpick.

I quickly tossed some potatoes and carrots in olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh thyme and popped them in the oven with a couple of garlic cloves (maybe this blog should have been called Sarah Loves Garlic?). While those did their thing I browned the chicken rolls in a hot pan with a touch of olive oil, transfered to a plate and deglazed the pan with chicken stock and lemon juice and reduced by half.

Then I added the rolls back in, reduced to a simmer and covered for about 10 mins. While the rolls finished cooking I tossed some whole mushrooms in with the roasting veg and impatiently waited...

Once the rolls were done I reduced the pan sauce and added a little cornstarch to thicken.

Et voila! Served with roasted carrots, baby red potatoes and mushrooms. The perfect late fall cozy weeknight meal.

Bacon & Egg Cups

There's nothing better on a rainy Sunday morning than the smell of bacon in the air, and a hot cup of coffee in your hands. I had a friend over for brunch today so I decided to make bacon and egg cups (should be pancetta but there seems to be a shortage in the GTA this weekend...), adapted from Donna Hay's Pancetta Baked Eggs from No Time to Cook. 


Instead of whisking the ingredients together with the egg and creating an quiche-like filling, I simply cracked the eggs over the bacon-lined cups, layered some scallions, fresh ground pepper and topped with parmesan. 

Baked in a 400 degree oven for about 12-15 mins. Served with Chuck's Day Off's smashbrowns and freshly baked italian bread for dipping.

Bacon News

Clearly I'm not the only one with strong feelings about bacon.

Bacon-flavoured soda? Definitely delicous...

I can't believe I missed International Bacon Day! Next year I'm having a party in honour if this most special day.

Time for me to buy shares in Prairie Orchard... any company that can make healthy bacon gets my backing.

Never!

Am I the only one who finds this adorable?

Refrigerator Pasta & Caesar Salad

Last night's meal began as an effort to clean out our incredibly full fridge. Obviously there were a few slices of bacon hanging around, so I decided to make the most of them. With that I tossed the leftover half of an onion, garlic, cremini and oysters mushrooms in a saucepan, deglazed with the last splash of chicken stock, and topped it off with the end of a bottle of stewed tomatoes and the end of a bottle of vodka sauce. The sauce was then tossed with fresh whole wheat pasta and topped with sage and crispy bacon. Served with Caesar salad, spiced olives, marinated eggplant and garlic bread (not shown).

Here's the final product:

Refrigerator Pasta (a.k.a. Bacon Mushroom Pasta in a Tomato-Vodka sauce with Sage)

My Famous Caesar Salad

Slow-braised smoked pork belly

Sunday's adventure consisted of a large chunk of pork belly slow-braising in my crock pot. A perfect Sunday dinner...minimum work, maximum pay off.

Per my usual style when I'm not totally familiar with an ingredient or a recipe, I did a ton of research, reading as many recipes as I could get my hands on, and then, with a basic understanding of temperature, timing and the flavours I want to achieve, throw it all out and wing it.

I took this glorious piece of smoked pork belly, and let it bathe in the crock pot for 6+ hours with the following:

one onion, roughly chopped
4 whole cloves of garlic
2 huge spoonfuls of grainy mustard
apple juice
chicken stock
a splash of cider vinegar
generous amounts of salt and coarse black pepper

When I took it out of the braising liquid, here's what I got. A juicy, succulent piece of bacon, with beautifully melted fat and tender meat just waiting to be pulled off.

I then cut it into two portions and popped it into a 400 degree over for about 10 minutes to crisp the top and further render out a little more of the fat.

Et voila!
Tender and decadently rich. The smoke definitely came through and the sweetness from the apple juice penetrated to balance the saltiness of the meat. Served with roasted garlic and parmesan white beans and pan-roasted carrots with crispy sage. All in all a great success!

Welcome to my kitchen

Anyone who knows me well knows that bacon is considered sacred in my household. Salty, smokey, crisp, and sometimes sweet, bacon is all things to this cook. It has been noted, more often that I care to admit, that my house smells like bacon at least 3 days a week. That's because whether it is as a garnish, artfully hidden in a sauce, or front and centre as the main ingredient, most of the time I'm trying, somehow, to work bacon into the dishes I make. I am a firm believer that bacon makes everything better.

This goes beyond my own kitchen too. I am not one to resist when I see that most succulent of ingredients on a menu. My reputation is such that I've had friends gift me with bacon-related presents, such as a bacon storage case (as if it ever lasts that long), bacon bandaids, a bacon air freshener (which did not do any justice to the intoxicating aroma of the real thing), and even a heavenly maple bacon cupcake.

My mission: to master bacon in all its iterations and honour the noble pig in all of my culinary endeavours... and try to hit the gym a couple of times along the way.