Cooking Club: Bacon.
This month I was the host of cooking club. This was a big deal for me, as it was my first time to host as well as the first time for several of my friends to see my new apartment. Though it is
not required, I felt the need to find a theme. I was init
ially thinking of making risotto with some sort of spring vegetables. After much thought, I decided to go with a Iron-Chef style dinner using bacon as the surprise ingredient. It turned out to be a perfect choice for cooking club. We ended up eating each dish as it was ready rather than finishing everything at once, tapa-style.
We started with cocktails. Bacon infused Manhattans. Very tasty. We tend to be wine drinkers in our cooking club, so I wasn’t sure how these would go over, but they were a hit….we actually ended up making a second pitcher.
Bacon-Infused Manhattans
Bourbon
3 slices Bacon, cookedSweet vermouthBitters
Maple SyrupMaraschino Cherries
1. Make the bacon-infused bourbon: Fry bacon over the stove or in a 4o0 degree oven until crisp. Place in a bowl or pitcher; pour bourbon over the bacon and let sit, covered, for
2-3 days at room temperature. Several hours before serving, remove bacon and place in the freezer so fat can be separated and removed. Pour the liquid into a pitcher through a cheese cloth.
2. Make the Manhattans: 2 oz bacon-infused bourbon to 1/2 oz sweet vermouth. Add a few dashes of bitters and maple syrup to taste along with a few maraschino cherries to each glass. Stuffed dates were next. I think I fell in love with bacon wrapped stuffed dates at Mario Batali’s restaurant, The Spotted Pig, in NYC. There he serves devils on horseback, which I believe were dates stuffed with pineapple and wrapped with bacon. So good. I also love the stuffed dates at The 9th Door in Denver: serrano dates stuffed with goat cheese and almonds, wrapped with Serrano ham. I did dates stuffed with gorgonzola and an almond wrapped in bac
2. Make the Manhattans: 2 oz bacon-infused bourbon to 1/2 oz sweet vermouth. Add a few dashes of bitters and maple syrup to taste along with a few maraschino cherries to each glass. Stuffed dates were next. I think I fell in love with bacon wrapped stuffed dates at Mario Batali’s restaurant, The Spotted Pig, in NYC. There he serves devils on horseback, which I believe were dates stuffed with pineapple and wrapped with bacon. So good. I also love the stuffed dates at The 9th Door in Denver: serrano dates stuffed with goat cheese and almonds, wrapped with Serrano ham. I did dates stuffed with gorgonzola and an almond wrapped in bac
on. I practiced these a few days before, using pricey medjool dates from whole foods with goat cheese and almond. These dates were actually too good to stuff….the flavor overpowered the other ingredients. Packaged pitted California dates from Safeway were actually better for this. The goat cheese, though one of my favorite cheeses, was too mild; the flavor was lost in this combination. Gorgonzola was better. To prepare the dates, we simply stuffed each with gorgonzola and one almond, wrapped with half a slice of bacon, and baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 12 minutes, flipping them halfway.
I also did
chicken-goat cheese-bacon bites. These reminded me of one of my mom’s recipes she made when I was growing up in which she spread cream cheese on chicken breasts, wrapped them with bacon, and baked them. For mine, I cut the chicken into strips about one inch wide, browned them in olive oil over the stove on med-high heat for a few minutes on each side (removing from heat before they were cooked through), then spread goat cheese on one side, wrapped with 1/3-1/2 slice of bacon, secured with a tooth pick, and baked in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 15 minutes. We turned them after 12 minutes and baked them for a few more minutes after until the bacon was brown and crispy.
Sauted brussel sprouts was the next course. Although brussel sprouts often have a negative connotation, I have a hard time believing that anyone could dislike these brussel sprouts. I give full credit to Finn for this recipe. They are very simple: We first cut 4 slices of bacon into ~1/2 cm strips (kitchen shears work best) and cooked them on the stove on medium heat until crisp. Next remove the bacon and set aside. Add brussel sprouts to the bacon fat in the hot pan (I think we used about 1 pound). Stir. To prevent burning, add enough water to the pan to coat. Stir. Cover with a lid to steam. When tender, about 10 minutes later, add back the cooked bacon. Stir again. Squeeze juice of a fresh lime (1/2 – 1 lime) over the top. Add fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Serve immediately.
For the vegetarians in our group, I made both stuffed dates and brussel sprouts without bacon. We also made portobello bites as an alternative to the chicken bites. We cut portobello mushroom caps into thirds, sauteed them in olive oil and a small amount of water, then pressed them so they were flat and wrapped them with goat cheese and roasted red peppers (from a jar) and secured with a toothpick. I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 6 minutes.
We finished with candied bacon cookies for dessert. The bacon in the
cookies was subtle, just adding a slight smoky flavor; if I made them again, I might actually add more bacon. I found a recipe for high altitude chocolate cookies and added chopped candy bacon. It turns
out that high altitude baking involves adding more flour. These cookies were very difficult to stir, but I managed. For non-high altitude baking, you can just use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, adding the candied bacon.
(High Altitude) Candied Bacon Cookies:1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1. Make the candied bacon: preheat the oven to 350 F. lay bacon on a parchment or aluminum foil covered baking sheet so they are not overlapping. Sprinkle about 2 tsp brown sugar evenly on
each strip of bacon. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven, flip bacon
and drag it through the syrupy liquid that’s collected on the baking sheet. Put the bacon back in the oven for another 12-15 minutes, until it is fully cooked and very dark (mahogany). Remove the strips from the sheet and cool on a wire rack. After they have cooked, chop them or quickly food process into tiny pieces.2. Make the cookies: In a large bowl, stir together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until blended, then mix in the chocolate chips and bacon pieces so they are evenly distributed. Drop cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets spacing 2 inches apart.
Bake in the preheated oven until the edges begin to turn golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Bake in the preheated oven until the edges begin to turn golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
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