Bacon Jam is the Jam!

So sorry I have not posted in a while, but I have taken up painting and it is occupying a lot of my time.  It is my new passion.  Anyway,  this weekend, we are hosting an engagement party for our best friend's daughter and future son in love and I have been busy in the kitchen preparing things that I can do in advance.  They all look so good.

The house is all spit shined and polished and fall decorations are all in place.  It is supposed to be a beautiful day (yahoo), so we will put tables and chairs out under the trees for guests to enjoy a beautiful Tennessee September day.  The patio is another option for guests.  I love having options, don't you?

Today, I made this spectacular recipe for Bacon Jam that I found on Pinterest from The Kitchen Wife.  When we hosted our son's engagement party on July 4th weekend, I made fresh fig jam.  Sadly, there are no figs available here now, so I had to go with something different.   Well, finding this bacon jam was the answer and let me tell you, IT IS THE JAM!  WOW!!

The fig jam was served with goat cheese and crackers.  It was beyond delicious.  Hopefully, this will be just as successful - and I'm pretty sure it's going to be!  I mean, bacon?  Seriously?  Cooked with onions and wonderful spices?  It smelled so good while I was cooking it down, I could hardly stand it!  Oh my goodness!

The Kitchen Wife said it is good spread on a hamburger,  on a BLT, or as a pizza topping.  I can only imagine, because I could eat it by the spoonful.  It is amazing.  Here is what you need.

1 pound bacon (actually most bacon comes in 12 ounce packages now instead of a pound, but that             works)

2 medium yellow onions, or l large onion, peeled and sliced
2 TBSP Butter
2 TBSP rendered bacon fat
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP vinegar (she called for white, I used apple cider and it worked great)
1 1/2 tsps thyme
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup water
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put the package of bacon in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make it easier to slice.  (I just took a package out of the freezer and sliced it, worked great).  First, remove the bacon from the package and cut across the bacon in 1/2 inch slices to make lardons.  I had nice big strips of sliced bacon because it was frozen together.  Don't be concerned, as it cooks it quickly falls apart into separate pieces.

Put the cold bacon into a cold skillet to help render the fat from the bacon.  Turn the heat on to medium and allow the bacon to cook until all the fat is rendered.  It takes about 30 minutes.  The bacon will foam as it cooks - that is the fat being rendered.  It will look like this.

When I read the directions, I wondered if I knew when it was foaming.  It's like being in labor, you will know when it happens.  :)  You want to cook the bacon until all the fat has been rendered and the bacon and the fat are deep, dark brown - about the same color.  Watch the bacon, because when it gets to this point, it can burn VERY quickly.  As soon as it got very dark, I started removing the bacon to a bowl lined with a paper towel so it would drain.  Work fast, you don't want to ruin this lovely concoction!

While your bacon is cooking, peel and slice the onion very thin.  I cut my onion in half first, and then sliced it.  That way, it doesn't roll all over the place while slicing.

After you have removed the bacon from the pan, pour the excess bacon fat into a separate bowl (there was a LOT).  Do not discard.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.  Add the sliced onions and cook over medium heat until they are translucent and soft.  They will be very brown.

Add the brown sugar, vinegar, half of the thyme, cayenne, a little salt and pepper.  Stir into the onions.

Chop the bacon very fine and add to the pan.  Stir all together.  Add 1/2 cup of water and let simmer until the water is almost gone.  She said 30 minutes, but mine was done in 20.  I have a gas stove, don't know if that makes the difference.  Just watch and don't let it burn.

Now, add 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and the rest of the thyme.  Cook another 15 minutes, or until the liquid is almost gone.  Mine was done in 10 minutes.  The jam should be very dark like in the picture.  Yum.

Taste for seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if needed.

When you are finished, you have this beautiful, dark brown pan of bacon and onions that smells absolutely divine from the spices that have been added.  When I tasted it, it was sweet and savory and smoky all at the same time - with BACON!  Did I say bacon?  Oh yeah.

My BFF was here and I had her taste it.  She declared it divine and I looked at her and said "One jar won't be enough, will it?"  I had better make another.  And, so I did.  This should keep in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks  - if it lasts that long.  (Bring the jam to room temperature before serving.  There will be white spots of fat in it otherwise.) I can see more of this in my future.

One recipe makes 1 pint jar of bacon jam.  We are going to have this with goat cheese and crackers on Saturday.  I will let you know the crowd reaction.  I think it's going to be good.  Really, really good.

This would be a great housewarming gift, hostess gift, teacher appreciation gift, or Christmas gift.  In a basket with other goodies?  Wow!  Give it a try.  I think you are gonna love it.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

My grandmother ate bacon every day of her life and lived to be 96.  How bad could it be then?

Herb Roasted Chicken

Hello all.  Hope you had a great weekend and you are settling into the "back to school" routine that is already here in most places.  Because we were looking for a place to live, packing, and moving in June and July, I feel as if the summer flew by and we missed it.  Now, the sun is lower in the sky and there is a feeling of fall in the air.  That's okay though as it is my favorite season and I totally look forward to it.

The condominium we are living in has a lovely pool, and two of our grandsons and their mom and dad came over for a late afternoon swim a couple of Friday's ago.  I had told them I would make dinner so they didn't have to rush home and try to feed their two little ones.  It's so nice to be able to prepare meals again, now that everything is out of boxes.  Eating out loses it's enchantment quickly.  Home cooked meals are tastier, cheaper to fix, and so much healthier.  And, I just happen to like cooking.

I had two whole chickens that I had planned on frying, but somehow that seemed like too much effort for a Friday evening.  Perhaps something baked?  I went to my "go to" web site, Allrecipes.com, to look for something different.  This herbed chicken was one of the first recipes that popped up and it sounded easy and delicious.

I would compare this to the roasted chickens you can buy at the grocery or Sam's Club only better.  It was soooooo good and easy to make.  Here is what you do.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit.

Spice Mix:

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp drie basil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (I baked 2 chickens so I doubled this recipe.)

Mix spices together in a bowl and put aside.

Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.

Put the whole chicken in a baking pan, breast side up.  Rub the entire chicken with some good olive oil.  Sprinkle the spice mix over the chicken and rub it all over.

Put the baking pan with chicken in the 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and roast for an additional 40-45 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165 degrees.  Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.  (The leg/thigh section should fall away from the chicken and juices should run clear)

Cut the legs, thighs, and wings away from the chicken.  Carve the breast meat.  Serve.

I have to say, this is one of the best roasted chickens I have ever made or eaten.  It was simply delicious.  Actually, I roasted two at the same time.  We ate one and I had the second one to use the next day.  The meat was so tender and flavorful, the skin was brown and crispy -  mm, mm, delicious.

There are so many uses for the left over roasted chicken.  You can make chicken salad, use it in a casserole, make sandwiches, or put it on a green salad.  Makes dinner preparation so easy for another meal.

This recipe is one you should put in your "go to" file for those days when you want something comforting, delicious, but not too much trouble.  You can make this one hands down.  Everyone will think you spent hours slaving in the kitchen.  Just don't tell them otherwise.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.  Harriet Van Horne






 

Mexican Street Corn How To

Growing up in the midwest, corn was a year round staple food, mostly from a can.  Remember, I go way back.  Back in the day, corn on the cob was a picnic/cookout/summer time treat.  You always looked forward to those first fresh succulent ears of summer sweet corn.  Corn on the cob was not available year round like it is now.  You had to wait for summer. 

 How did we make corn on the cob?  Why we boiled it of course.  You filled a pan with water, shucked the corn, removed the silks, and then boiled it until tender.  Then you slathered it with butter and salt and ate it.  That was it.  Or, we scraped it off the cob and made creamed or fried corn.  That was pretty much the extent of corn recipe availability - at least at our house.  

Thanks to the plethora of cookbooks these days, the Food Network and the internet, there are more options for ways to prepare corn.   I found one website that listed 15 ways to make corn on the cob.  Would have been great to have that option when we were growing up.  But, the way I like it most is fixed like Mexican Street Corn that is sold by vendors on the streets of Mexico and now in many American cities.  It's roasted or grilled, not boiled, and fixed in a most wonderful and tasty way.

Our three oldest children were all musical theater majors and attended Webster University Conservatory in St. Louis.  There were a lot of theater students who came from extreme southern Texas in an area in and around a city named Pharr.  They had a fantastic arts program that produced a lot of students interested in acting and performance.  According to Wikipedia:

Pharr is connected by bridge to the Mexican city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas.


That lets you know how far south Pharr is. 


One of our oldest daughter's good friends was from there and he taught her how to make Mexican Street Corn the way they made it at home.  It became my favorite way to eat corn on the cob.  There are many different  recipes available on the web, but this is the way Michael taught her and it's the way I really love.  I will tell you some other options, but this is the way I fixed it for dinner Easter Sunday.  


First, I was able to get some amazing corn at the farmer's market from Florida.  The variety is Peaches and Cream which is a bi-color corn and it is wonderful.  My favorite summertime variety is Silver Queen - sweet white corn that is just the best I have ever eaten.  Silver Queen makes fantastic fried corn!


Anyway, back to Mexican Street Corn.  My understanding is that it is sold by vendors on the streets like we would have had ice cream vendors in the midwest, or hot dog vendors in New York.  Michael said they would eat this corn as an after school snack and it is sooooooooo good.  Wish we had had street corn vendors when we were growing up.  Here is how you make it.


Ingredients:


Whole ears of corn
Sour cream, Mexican crema or mayonnaise (I use sour cream)
Fresh Cilantro,  ground cayenne, red chili powder or cumin
Grated Parmesan or cotija cheese
Lime wedges
Olive oil


Fire up your grill.  Shuck the corn and remove the silks.  Brush the corn with a little olive oil so it won't stick to the grill and cook until slightly charred on all sides.  Takes about 8-10 minutes.  Remove from grill.  It should look like this.

Roll in sour cream, crema or mayonnaise.  I used sour cream because it is readily available and it is what he taught her to use and what I like.  


Chop the cilantro really fine, sprinkle all over the corn and serve with a lime wedge.  Squeeze the lime juice over the ear of corn and eat.  


If you don't like cilantro (it's a love it or hate it kind of herb - I LOVE it), sprinkle with cayenne, cumin or chili powder, whichever you would prefer.  But don't forget the lime, it is the special touch that "makes" the corn.  You can also sprinkle on grated parmesan or cotija cheese.


Yes, I like butter on my corn (no salt), but this is the way I prefer to eat corn on the cob and have since the 90's.  Thanks Michael for showing Holly how to make this fantastic corn.  It's quick, easy and delicious!  That's a combination of three great words and gives you one great result.  Give this recipe a try, it's muy muy bueno!


Everyday Donna


Things to Remember:


To make corn on the cob, boiling it is no longer the only option.  Try some new ways to fix and enjoy it!