Bacon, Fig, and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

We're just starting a good season for sandwiches.  I love putting a few fresh ingredients into a sandwich, throwing it on the panini press, and having a quick dinner.  It's just one more thing to love about summer.  So, I thought I would get a start on the summer sandwich season by trolling the internet.  Good idea...I found an idea for a sandwich with bacon, goat cheese, and dates. I had dried figs, so I used those (sliced). 

Mmmm...with some roasted carrots, potato chips, and fresh berries.

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Ruth Reichl's Spaghetti Carbonara

Ruth Reichl's Spaghetti Carbonara 
Gotta love this.  I have had spaghetti carbonara.  I have made spaghetti carbonara.  BUT...not like this!
This recipe is right up my alley....noodles, bacon, fast.  I love how someone like Ruth Reichl can break something that I have made a more complicated version of...and get it to quick and delicious.  It's back to the basic and delicious version of the dish.  This recipe does not have cream...or sun dried tomatoes...just the basics. No frou frou here.

Garlic and Sapphires was a recent read of mine which followed the previous reads of her other bestsellers...Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples.  This one was an especially fun read because she elaborates on the disguises she used as a restaurant critic for the NYT!  Anyway, there are recipes in this book as well which always is a hit with me.

The carbonara may be the keeper recipe from this book. We had rotini carbonara.  I'm not sure how it happened..but the pasta options have dwindled in this house, so that needs to be remedied this weekend. I'm thinking that I may chop some bacon for this recipe and keep it in the freezer.  That way I can pull it out in the morning and be ready to go since the other ingredients are things I have on hand.  Hmmmm....just trying to think how to make it even faster!

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Pasta with Smoky Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Bacon

 Pasta with Smoky Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Bacon
This is from my library checkout of Mark Bittman's book.  It's a bit tricky for me to make things that take time in the oven before serving since we aren't usually home an hour before dinner.  I like the idea of throwing something in the oven and having it done an hour or so later, but it just isn't a reality in this house.  Except sometimes on Tuesday evening.  Eleanor swims on Tuesday morning and returns for a double by swimming after her violin lesson every other week.  But, that means every other week we are home by 5:15 or so and in for the night. That's a good time for me to make a "throw in the oven" meal.  I can do that on Sundays at times too.

Anyway, my browse through this cookbook turned up this recipe.  I love sweet potatoes for the flavor and the nutritional value.  Hmm....and what can be bad with bacon added?

The words to describe this were, "earthy" and "hearty".  Paul thinks it would be good with the soy chorizo from Trader Joe's...either instead of or in addition to the bacon.  I served it with broccoli and cooked the broccoli in the same water as the pasta.  I did pull out the broccoli for serving, but...if you look closely, you can see some feral broccoli in the pasta.

My changes:

• smoked paprika...I have seen it but since I already have Hungarian and Spanish paprika containers I decided to go with what I have.  Maybe next time I'll try some that is smoky, but I just didn't want to have three paprika versions on the shelf.  
• red onion...kinda the same as above.  I had 1/2 red onion, so I used that.
• no chives

It's a keeper!  Cardworthy, for sure.
This just in:  I got a text from Eleanor today during her lunch hour, "I cud eat the pasta thing all day every day".  

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Quiche of a Different Kind

I have recently posted about my family's aversion to squash. Unfortunately, I have a lot of squash to use.

On a recent walk with Karen, she told the story of a friend who had her hardwood floors sanded and the company refused to take the sawdust away. Completely ridiculous! Her solution, since she couldn't just dump all the sawdust in her garbage was to add a cup or two to each bag of garbage that made it to the dumpster. Karen's solution to my squash dilemma was to use the squash 1/2-1 cup at a time by hiding it in recipes. Brilliant!

In addition to having a lot of squash to use, also have greens in the freezer to use up and way too many hot peppers. I set to work on a Quiche for dinner. I will admit that as I put this together, I was expecting a complete failure, but it was honestly delicious!

4 strips thick cut bacon
1/2 jalapeno pepper or 1 medium heat pepper
1 cup chopped and cooked mixture of cabbage and red cabbage
1/2 cup pureed squash
8 eggs
1/2-1 cup milk
shredded cheddar cheese
Ready made pie crust.

I sauteed the bacon and added the finely minced peppers toward the end of cooking. After lining the pie pan with the crust, I added the cooked bacon and pepper and the cabbage mixture. I beat the eggs with the milk and then whisked in the pureed squash, seasoning with salt and pepper.  I sprinkled the top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Meghan's first comment was, "you better not have ruined the quiche by adding squash". Even she thought the quiche was very flavorful and she couldn't "detect" the squash except by the color of the egg mixture. I was also a bit concerned about using cabbage(especially red) in place of spinach, but it worked...I wouldn't use more than a cup, but if you have stuff to use up, hide it in quiche!


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Spinach and Bacon Pasta Toss

This recipe was on a calendar posted at a colleague's desk. Every time during the featured month I would visit that clinic in the course of my job I would salivate over the picture of the pasta. After Day 3 or so of this I asked for a copy. What I really wanted was a serving of this delicious looking pasta...but settling for the recipe seemed OK too.

I have had it in my pile of recipes for quite awhile....just not getting to this one. I decided that it would be a good time to try it and to substitute arugula for spinach to use some of the garden abundance. I whipped up a home made dressing...balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a bit of Penzey's Greek Seasoning.

Eleanor is calling this one meat lover's pasta since it has both chicken and bacon.

It came together quickly which is a good thing since summer evenings often a quick dinner is needed. It's nice not to have the homework piece of the evening for a bit but many nights dinner needs to come together quickly after violin and swimming and drivers ed and my work! I'm still waiting for some lazier summer evenings...maybe tomorrow?

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Bacon and Vegetable Soup

This creation came about from my recent cleanse/detox week.

Chop 3 slices bacon and saute. Add:

4 leeks, chopped

1/4 bunch celery, chopped

handful peppers from freezer

2 carrots, chopped

4 potatoes, chopped

handful frozen cauliflower and frozen par-boiled turnips

2 thyme sprigs

2 cans chicken broth

Cook all until vegetables are very tender. Blend with immersion blender until slightly smooth. I left some chunks in the soup.

This recipe seemed to cleverly disguise the turnips and cauliflower (Paul is not a turnip fan and Eleanor is not a cauliflower fan....although both will eat these vegetables).

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Bacon and Bleu Cheese Cake

When we pick up children from violin group class on Friday nights, the parents often roll down car windows and talk about books and about recipes. Last fall my friend Kathy was mentioning both. Kathy, just so you know who she is, gave me the recipe for arugula pizza and for mozzarella and tomato pasta as well as good book recommendations over the years. She was talking about the book The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz and mentioned that there is a recipe for a bleu cheese and bacon cake. I went home and reserved the book from the library online right away.

I loved the book, and even more, loved this savory cake. My brother in law's very favorite food is bacon and I think bleu cheese isn't far behind. I wish I could have made this for his recent birthday but it would be better and fresher if my sister makes it for him. I really meant to get the link to her earlier, but I bet it will be appreciated any day of the year.

So, follow the link above to the recipe. Oh, and find the book too.....this isn't the only recipe that looks good in the book.
YUM!

Bacon Taste Test

There has been a debate at our house about the top tasting bacon.

It's been Nueske's versus Usinger's around here...both fine Wisconsin products. I buy Usinger's in bulk (3-1 lb packages) at the warehouse club, and Paul is certain that Nueske's is a better product, so he bought some Nueske bacon at Sendik's before Christmas.

I cooked both and gave them to Paul and Eleanor. They both chose the Usinger's! It's the less expensive product, and it won our taste test.

Usinger's is on the right in the picture listed above.

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Quiche

 When we were living in France, we had quiche frequently. Meat is extremely expensive in Europe and the cuts are different as well, so we rarely ate red meat. The one Christmas we stayed in France and family visited us, I paid close to $100 for a roast for Christmas dinner, and that was in 1994! Quiche can be made with just about anything and it is often made with "remnants" from the refrigerator. It is also packed with inexpensive protein from the eggs. Today I have about 1/2 lb of bacon that needs to be eaten, so I will build my quiche around that. I also have some cooked greens(I think it is kale) in the freezer, so I will use that as well. I always use a rolled, ready made pie crust, such as Pillsbury, for my quiche.  I also find the store brands are just as good and less expensive. They store well in the freezer, so I always have them on hand.

1/2 lb bacon, chopped
1 small onion (about 1/2 cup diced)
1 cup cooked spinach or other green(frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry works well)
1 cup shredded cheese, I usually use swiss or cheddar
6-8 eggs (depends on the depth of your pie plate)
1/2-1 cup milk
1/2 t nutmeg
Salt and Pepper

Cook bacon...drain on paper towel and drain off most of the fat. Add onion to the remaining bacon fat and sauté until transluscent. Place pie crust in the pie plate and add bacon, onion and greens. Sprinkle with grated cheese. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour over the ingredients in the pie plate. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until golden brown and set.

I usually serve this with a green salad and fresh bread...in the summer it is usually a fruit salad. This is also a great leftover for the lunchbox.

One final note...I accidentally bought low-fat cheddar cheese slices...I used this cheese in the quiche. Just as I buried the squash in the "pumpkin" pancakes, I used up some less desirable cheese in the quiche and I avoided wasting it!


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Veggie pasta

Still working through the box of vegetables from the CSA. There was great abundance last time and we were away for a few days after receiving the box.

For this dinner I cooked a couple slices of bacon, drained the majority of the fat, then cooked some chopped red onion, chopped patty pan squash, and diced fennel bulb. I added some basil, salt, and pepper (spice blend from Penzeys) at the end of cooking. The pasta was topped with chopped tomato and Parmesan cheese.

At our house we're a bit crazy about bacon. Until a kitchen remodel a few years ago we wouldn't cook it inside due to the lingering smell. We would cook it outside in an electric skillet and watched all the dogs from the neighborhood wander over to our house. That's a true story...we had 5 dogs we had never seen before in our yard staring at the pan! Last year we bought my husband a shirt that says, "Bacon is meat candy"! OK, so that may not fall into the fresh category of the blog...but it IS tasty. I usually buy a 3pack of Usinger's apple smoked bacon at the warehouse club freezing two of the packages to start and using a couple slices at a time from the reamining package for various recipes. It does make everything tastier:) Seems like it can't be THAT bad if three of us are eating a total of three slices at a meal!

I did not get a picture of this, so you;ll have to imagine how it looks as well as how it tastes.