And now for something completely different…

We interrupt this Baconfest to bring you this important recipe for Chicken and Dumplings. It’s cold outside, raining, and snow is probably on the way…again. Life in the Mid Atlantic part of the Eastern Coast of Nor-tay Americano. With no St. Bernard, complete with keg of whiskey hanging from the collar, we needed food, soon, and it needed to be tasty and hot. Not one, not the other. It had to be both hot AND tasty. What to do???

Chicken and Dumplings, based on a recipe from Gina Neely from Food Network fame. Don’t just try it – live it!

Step 1:
1 whole chicken, cut up. Don’t even think about throwing out the skin!
6 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon thyme
1 Bay leaf

In a stock pot, simmer all of the ingredients for at least 20 minutes, until the biggest piece of chicken reaches an internal temperature of 185 degrees. No reason to poison anyone so soon… =8>)
When the chicken is done, remove the bird to a different pan, to cool. Remove the bay leaf plus any hunks of skin or bones remaining in the stock pot. Set remaining broth aside.

Step 2:
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/8 inch disks
2 celery stalks, chopped, just the green part, no base and no leaf bits, please.
1/2 white onion, chopped.
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup oil

In a sauce pan, saute the vegetables, garlic, and S & P in the oil until onions are translucent.
When done, add to the broth.

Step 3:
Chicken should be cool enough to shred the meat away from the skin and bones. I use two forks to do this. I do the same thing when making shredded pork barbeque, but that’s a different post. Add the chicken bits to the broth.

Step 4:
Turn up the heat on the broth just a bit. You need to get the mixture back up to a slight simmer again.

Step 5:
Time for the dumplings
In a large bowl, mix the following:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Salt and pepper to taste. Put more in than you think necessary. Really, it’ll be alright.

Step 5 1/4:
In a sauce pan, heat up 1 cup of heavy cream and two tablespoons of butter.
Stir well, you don’t want the cream to scald (turn black and fuse to the pan…)
Add thyme, oregano and black pepper to taste. Don’t be stingy. You can buy more later.

Step 5 1/2:
Take the cream off the heat. Add the flour mixture to the cream sauce. Stir with a spatula until a dough blob forms.

Step 6:
Using a small spoon, piece off little bits of dough, about the size of a golf ball, no bigger. These are your dumplings! One at a time, add them to the now simmering broth. Simmer 20 minutes.

Step 7:
Wait. Your 20 minutes aren’t done yet, are they?

Step 8:
Okay, NOW they are done. Ladle some in a bowl. Eat when it is cool enough for your tastebuds!

We now bring you back to your normal Baconfest programming.

Happy Eating!

Baconfest 2010 – Bacon Pimento Cheese Burgers (with a twist)

The Bacon Pimento Cheese Burger

The snow has pretty much stopped falling, but the temperature has continued its downward slide, causing the streets to become slick with ice. My fellow drivers in Virginia Beach are skill-challenged enough in good weather – poor conditions just bring out the best of the worst. Time to light a fire in the fireplace and enjoy a hearty meal of traditional modern American fare: the cheeseburger.

Zingerman’s (remember, this is a baconfest based on the book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon,) has a recipe for homemade pimento cheese. Where’s the pig, you ask? On top of the pimento cheese burger, of course. I added a few things to spice the burger up a little, but the pimento cheese recipe is straight from the book. My esteemed photographer, Mr. Roostre, had one and he loved it, too! Try this recipe and you’ll never go back to golden arches again. And is that such a bad thing? Really. Have you seen the movie Super Size Me?

Pimento Cheese
8 oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise (use real mayo, not “salad dressing”")
1/2 cup roasted red pepper, diced into small little squares
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
dash of sea salt

Directions (you’ll love this…)
Mix well.
Eat. Make sure you save some for the burgers!

The Burger
8 oz. ground beef – use good quality beef, don’t go for anything too lean.
1 teaspoon minced garlic mixed into the beef – this is the twist!
Black pepper, put on both sides of the patty as it cooks
- cook the patty until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

2 slices bacon, cooked separately, until crispy

1 slice tomato
lettuce (optional)

Putting it all together – from the bottom to the top:
Lower bun
Lettuce
Tomato
Cooked beef patty
Pimento cheese – the heat from the burger will warm it up just enough!
Bacon
Top of bun

The cayenne comes through but is very unobtrusive. Just the right amount of zing.

Perfect for a snowy, Winter night. Pairs well with a glass of Cabernet Franc from the Chatham Winery on the Eastern Shore. I put a link to the winery over on the side – check it out!

Baconfest 2010 – American Fried Bread – Yum!

So simple, yet so awesome!

This week’s tantalizing taste test involved traditional Tuscan bread, baked on a hot stone, then sliced and fried in bacon grease. If you are following along in the book. Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, go to page 162 and look at the top of the page. There it is, in big enough letters, one of the easiest recipes in the book. Easy yes, but don’t let that fool you. It’s one of the tastiest, too!!

I opted to pull a ringer into service. Collecting dust on top of the hosier in the kitchen was one of my all time favorites, The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Chapter five has a nice little recipe for low salt Tuscan bread. A classic bread, non pretentious, delicious all on its own, when fried in bacon grease it took on a new life in a parallel universe, the universe in the center of the Awesomeness Galaxy! Try it – you’ll like it!

Tuscan Bread

Starter:
1/2 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon of unbleached flour
1/16 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup water, room temperature

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients and stir until mixed. Chef Rudolf would insist on using a wooden spoon, so I shall, too! Go ahead, no one is watching.
Once the dough is sticky, cover the bowl with plastic film (you know, that cellophane stuff that never unrolls the way you want it to…)
Set aside in a semi dark, cool place for at least three hours, preferably 12 to 24 hours. I used our wine cellar, also known as the walk-in pantry.

Later, back at the ranch…

Once the starter has appropriately aged, it’s time to make the dough! You will be very popular once this step is completed. Get ready for i!

Dough
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
the starter (duh…gotta have it in there somewhere, you know)
2/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

In a mixer bowl, add the flour, yeast and starter. With the mixer on low, blend for about three minutes, adding the water in a little bit at a time. Once everything is combined and you have a basic dough blob, cover the bowl with plastic film and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Go watch American Idol or something.

After the dough has had its nap, uncover and sprinkle with the salt. Mix a bit more with a low setting; you are really just kneading at this point. Seven minutes is about all you need to knead (like that?) so now let it rise for about three hours. The dough should expand if everything worked right. Fingers are crossed for you if you try this. =8>)

Lightly dust the dough with a little bit of flour. Then carefully place on a baking sheet. I put a piece of parchment on the sheet first, but that’s your choice. With the oven pre-heated to 425 degrees, place the dough laden baking sheet directly onto the baking stone. Use a low rack if you don’t have a baking stone. On an upper rack, place an oven safe shallow pan with a few ice cubes added. This will help make for a nice, crispy crust, in my opinion at least.

20 to 25 minutes in the oven should be enough. If you thump it and it sounds hollow, you got a winner!

Let it cool for a while. Eat it plain…..or…

American Fried Bread

Take a few hearty slices of your Tuscan bread and fry them in some bacon grease. Man, what a great flavor!

If you do this outside on the grill, use a cast iron pan. Your neighbors will be soooo jealous!

Happy eating!

Baconfest 2010 – Bacon Cheese Waffles

Okay, so if you read the book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, you would see that the next recipe up for testing would be “Grits and Bits Waffles.” Looked promising.

However, after the near mutiny in the household from the oysters last week, grits seemed just beyond comprehension. (And we are supposedly a southern family – it’s almost a law that we have to like grits.) So instead, I went with the intent of the recipe and used a regular waffle recipe from Betty Crocker’s cookbook.

With the whole herd to feed, I increased many of the ingredient quantities. The verdict follows the recipe. Here’s what I did:

Ingredients
For Waffle Batter:
4 eggs
4 cups flour
1 cup butter, melted
2 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar
8 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Extras:
8 – 10 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs until frothy.
Mix in the rest of the waffle batter ingredients.
Continue mixing with hand mixer until batter is smooth.

Now carefully pour the batter onto your pre-heated waffle pan.
Top with cheese and bacon. Make sure you cover the entire waffle.
Close the waffle iron lid.
Wait.
This is the hard part, in my opinion…

When the light goes out, comes on, the buzzer buzzes, the dinger dings, how ever your waffle iron signals that you waffle is done…wait.

Give the waffles an extra 30 seconds or so to finish cooking. Of course, different waffle irons have different cooking times, so you may have to adjust. You’ll know.

Serve to the hungry masses as the waffles come off the iron. Goes well with pure maple syrup from Vermont or Canada.

Our verdict? Good. More cheese and more bacon would have made it even better so next time we are goin’ whole hog! Sorry about that, couldn’t resist!

Happy eating!

Baconfest 2010 – Hangtown Fry

Since the origin of this recipe dates back to a time and a place where the noose swung freely and often, I now must wonder if any of the hangman’s customers were culinary patrons trying to get the taste of fried oysters out of their mouths or unsavory criminals??

Thirty years ago, my Phi Delta Sigma chums and I spent many a time enjoying the merits of steamed shrimp, fried chicken, and raw oysters on the half shell. With the Pope (not that Pope, but he did have a red and white popcorn bowl for a hat…) leading the charge, we all had the best of times, including the raw oysters, usually taken straight from the shell, with the help of a little red cocktail sauce.

Continuing on with my tribute to Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, this week we are on page 158 – Hangtown Fry.

Quite the interesting story, get the book and read it if you can [ISBN-13: 978-0-964-89564-5.] In the meantime, if you want to try a new twist on the traditional, staid bacon & eggs, try this one out…

Hangtown Fry

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons oyster crackers, crushed
3 to 6 oysters, shucked
2 – 3 slices bacon, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons bacon fat
2 large eggs, beaten
salt / pepper to taste

Directions:
Dredge the oysters in the crushed crackers, allow to sit for a few minutes.
In a non-stick skillet, cook the bacon.
Take the cooked bacon out, set aside. Crumble when cool.
Add the extra bacon fat to the skillet. Reduce the heat slightly.
Carefully place the breaded oysters in the skillet. Stir gently, frying the oysters until breading has browned.
Add the beaten eggs, salt and pepper to taste, and the crumbled bacon.
Stir gently until the eggs are done to your liking.

My experience: I had an issue with the breading coming off the oysters, so I ended up with fried oysters sans breading. Other than that, it worked as advertised!

It’s been a long time since I have ordered oysters of any type. I ate these with a bit of trepidation, but succeeded. I guess without the ambiance of a Phi Delta Sigma meeting, it’s just not the same. I’ll live, but will be glad when the last two oyster recipes are behind me!

Baconfest 2010 – Bacon Hash

Bacon Hash - a little piece of heaven!

Today I start a cholesterol climbing, taste bud tantalizing 42 week culinary journey, cooking my way through a book. No, this is not a shameless take-off on the film Julie & Julia. THAT story featured a young lady cooking her way through a famous cookbook, one known throughout the world – Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Great story, excellent movie. See it for yourself if you are one of the seven people in America that hasn’t yet. Geez, see it just for Meryl Streep’s performance, if for nothing else! Are you on Netflix yet? Come on – what are you waiting for? Okay, finish this post first – then go add it to your list.

No, I have chosen a less familiar book. One most likely a favorite of those living in the upper Midwest, especially Michigan – Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, written by Ari Weinzweig [ISBN 978-0-964-89564-5.] If you live up in that neighborhood, you know what I’m talkin’ about.

Note: I have not been to Ann Arbor, Michigan nor have I been to the second most famous institution there, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, but everyone that I meet from up that way tells me that Zingerman’s is THE PLACE. They use other words, but you get the idea.

Bacon. Can there be a better subject, foodwise? Chocolate, perhaps, and maybe that will be another fest for another time.

So here we go:

Bacon Hash – a fabulous concoction that is essentially potatoes in gravy, flavored with onions, peppers and bacon. Sounds simple, but ahhh…the taste… you just HAVE to try it.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons rendered bacon fat
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
(I used green bell peppers – it’s what I had handy)
1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
5 – 7 slices of bacon, lightly cooked and chopped.
2 pounds red potatoes, boiled, cooled, quartered.
(use any nice potato – just make the chunks bite-sized)
1/4 cup heavy cream
(I actually forgot to put it in, sorry!)
Salt / Pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large skillet…
- Cook the bacon.
- Place cooked bacon on some paper towels to cool. Crumble when safe to do so.
- Drain most of the bacon fat from the skillet. Make sure to leave about 4 tablespoons in the pan.
- Saute the pepper and onion in the bacon fat.
- Slowly add the flour, stirring to prevent lumpiness from occurring.
- Slowly add the chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce, stirring continuously.

You should have a savory, fairly thick gravy by now. If not, simmer some more, stirring to prevent burning.

- Add the potatoes and bacon, mixing it all with the gravy.
- Add the cream (see note above) stirring.
- Salt (not much needed) and pepper to taste.
- Cook for about 5 more minutes to allow the cream to fully meld with the gravy.

Serve in a bowl. Serve with scrambled eggs on the side. Serve with baked pork chops. The possibilities are endless.

It just tastes awesome! Probably even better with the heavy cream…oops. =8>)

Try it and see! Get the book, too. Or better yet, stop by Ann Arbor, Michigan and look up Zingerman’s Roadhouse. I can’t wait to get there myself!

Oh yes, read the disclaimer page if you are curious. No one pays me to say these things. If it’s good, I’ll say so. And this is GOOD!

Happy eating!

Can you find the Swedish Chef?

Coming soon…

Sorry it has been a while since the last cooking adventure. The holidays have kept us busy, as has work.

But….

Starting this weekend, I will be starting Baconfest 2010. Yes, fans, I will be cooking 42 recipes that feature an ingredient so awesome that vegetarians pause to rethink their paradigm. The only other ingredient that comes close is cheese, and that may be something to consider after Baconfest 2010.

Purely coincidental, I have a health screening in two weeks, including a cholesterol check.

Remember, there is always time to stop and smell the Bacon!

Stay tuned!

You can cook like a celebrity chef, too!

So we were about “turkey’d out” from Thanksgiving and with three out of four of us having various self-imposed meat restrictions, our Christmas dinner options were in short supply. What to do?  Hmmm…

Food Network to the rescue!  By spending just a few minutes searching the website, I created a dinner using recipes from some of our favorite chefs. Except for a fish substitution, followed the recipes exactly (for once) and everyone was thrilled with the results.

Here’s the WIIFM (what’s in it for me): If you can read a recipe, you, too, can be a celebrity chef in your own home!

The best part: fed a family of 4 for a total cost of… under $58.

Here we go:

Long Island Duck, courtesy of Alton Brown; brine with orange-pineapple juice and seasonings, steam and pan fry, serve over wilted Swiss chard dressed with Balsamic vinegar:

Baked Salmon, courtesy of Mario Batali; substituted salmon for the sea bass in the recipe due to availability, seasoned with orange and lemon slices while resting on celery stalk, this was a hit – even with the teenagers!

Scalloped Potatoes, courtesy of Robert Irvine; an excellent use of cheddar cheese!

Roasted Broccoli, courtesy of Melissa D’Arabian; what a nice variation from the usual oven baked vegetable recipes! We all love this one and will use it more often, too!

Divine Turkey Fettuccine

A quick and easy dish - great during Winter!

So the snow started falling, the temperature was dropping, and the last thing we wanted to do was to leave the comfort of the warm parsonage. With leftover baked turkey in the fridge (seems like we always have leftover turkey this time of year…) I pre-heated the oven with the goal of making a decision on what to cook  by the time the oven signaled it was at temp.  Here’s what I did:

Divine Turkey Fettuccine

8 oz. Fettuccine noodles

dash of salt

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup *

8 oz. frozen broccoli florets, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups baked turkey, chopped or shredded

2 tablespoons poultry seasoning

8 oz. Colby Jack cheese, shredded

* I always use Campbell’s brand soup.  I am not compensated by them in any way; I just like their soup!

Directions:

Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the noodles according to the directions on the box.  I add a dash of salt and a teaspoon of vegetable oil to the water before heating. The salt helps “tenderize” the noodles and the oil helps in keeping pasta “foam” from rising too much.

In a medium sauce pan, heat the cream of chicken soup. Don’t forget to add that can of water if the directions on the can call for it!

While the noodles and the soup are cooking, get a large bowl, cutting board and a sharp chef’s knife. If you don’t have a “chef’s knife,” any large knife capable of safely chopping vegetables will do.  Just make sure it is sharp. No need for an unexpected trip to the hospital…

Take the frozen broccoli florets out of the package and place them on the cutting board. Using your chef’s knife, carefully chop the florets into small bits.  You could thaw the broccoli first, but it’s easier to chop them up when they are still frozen. Put the chopped broccoli into the large bowl.

To the broccoli, add the minced garlic. Stir it in well – this way much of the garlic gets trapped in the little broccoli buds as the florets thaw.  Mmmm, tasty!

Now take your leftover turkey, placing it on the cutting board of coarse, and chop or shred it into small, tasty morsels.

Season the chopped turkey with the poultry seasoning. You can add salt and/or pepper if you like. Never hurts. Add the chopped and seasoned turkey to the broccoli. Mix with your wooden spoon! (Why “wooden” spoon? – because Chef Rudolf always insisted on using a wooden spoon – for everything!)

Now the good part…

Add the shredded Colby Jack cheese to the broccoli – turkey mixture. Like the old commercial says: “Behold,the power of cheese!”

By now, your noodles should be done cooking. If you haven’t already done so, drain the water.

Using your favorite cooking spray, grease up a large casserole dish or 11×13 glass baking dish.

- Put the noodles in the baking dish.

- Spoon the turkey/broccoli/cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Mix it into the noodles a bit if you want. It’s up to you.

- Pour the hot soup on top. It will seep down into the nooks and crannies, making for a fabulous, creamy texture!

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Uncovered.

At that point, check the top. If it’s starting to look too brown from the cheese cooking, cover loosely with aluminum foil.

Continue baking for ten more minutes.

When the timer dings, you will have a great meal ready to warm you up on a cold evening!

Happy eating!

The problem is not with your set…

If all had gone according to plan, you would be seeing a photo of coriander basil spiced kielbasa, served with garlic oven-roasted potatoes and peas, corn and carrots that were sautéed in butter. The perfect comfort food for a night like tonight, where the temperature has dropped into the low 30’s (F) and the wind is kickin’ strong enough that crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel would be an experience you don’t want to remember. If only the camera had worked…

So instead, let me talk about our department holiday dinner a few night’s ago.  It was an awesome time at a well-kept secret in Norfolk, Virginia (maybe I shouldn’t mention it, then?)  Anyhow, if you find yourself in the Ghent area of Norfolk, specifically on Colley Avenue, check out Enrico’s.  It’s a family owned/operated Greek and Italian restaurant that looks kinda iffy on the outside but well worth the time to go inside.

The interior reminded one of our party of a classic bar from the thirties. Dark, rich tones; a certain earthiness. We had the back area to ourselves, cordoned off by a semi-transparent curtain that kept us separated yet still connected to the rest of the cafe. It was a nice touch that owner’s John and Maggie Tsouris decorated the elevated dining area with framed prints of Virginia Opera posters.

The menu had a little bit of Greece and a little bit more of Italy, all cooked with home recipes that I would guess have been in the Tsouris family for years. With 15 of us, we probably ordered over half the menu, including four fabulous chef’s specials.  First, however, we started our culinary adventure with appetizers. The hummas with pita and the dolmades were excellent. To be fair, not all of my dinner companions were “into” Greek food but in the end there were no appetizers left on the plates.  That should say something!

For an entree, three of us had the Souvlaki, tender pork loin grilled to medium on skewers, set on rice pilaf, surrounded by feta cheese and Greek olives. An eerie quiet descended upon our end of the table as we three lucky diners squelched our conversation in order to scarf the perfectly cooked pork. I don’t recall hearing much being said by the other dozen of us, either, so the grilled shrimp limone and all his friends must have been equally as astounding.

While not really a wine aficionado, I will say that Enrico’s wine list was just as popular as the menu. There were the obligatory bottles of Merlot (Aussie wine – Penfold as I recall) and Cabernet (Chilean.) The surprise hit, however was a Greek wine from John’s family hometown in Greece. A nice red wine, Amplelou gris red was the favorite of the night. We also noticed that, for whatever reason, there were no French wines on the list. Hmmm…no one complained.

Now, for those of you who have worked in the food service arena, you will know that no matter how good the food, the experience can be negated by poor service. Fortunately, our server matched the quality of the menu. She handled our party of 15 with a calm yet humorous demeanor. She not only knew the basic components of the four specials, she also knew how they were seasoned and cooked. This was not a $2.13 an hour “associate” who gets graded on how much flair they have pinned to their ballcap; no, our server was what we all hope for when we go out to spend our hard-earned pennies on dinner: pleasant, helpful and accurate. I heard numerous kudos being given by my companions, and I would bet those comments were not just said, they were meant.

John and Maggie Tsouris have a hit on their hands. Not too expensive, make Enrico’s Ristorante a stop on your next culinary excursion. Don’t forget to save room for dessert.  We were too full to have it!

Happy eating!  Oh yes, anyone have a good camera that needs a good home???