Bacon Marmalade BLT's

Two words: bacon marmalade. I could just stop this post right there, because if you are anything like me, you will hear those two words and immediately stop what you are doing to make a big batch of it.

In case you are still reading, let me tell you a little bit about these amazing sandwiches. A few weeks ago I was eating at one of my favorite lunch spots and the salad I ordered came with crostini with bacon marmalade. I wasn't sure what was in it exactly, but it was a revelation. I figured out the basic ingredients from the taste, but as soon as I got home I got on google and did some research. None of the recipes I found quite summed up what I was hoping to get out of my bacon marmalade making experience, so I pulled some ingredients from a few recipes and from my memory of lunch that day, and just went for it. It was good. Too good. So good I couldn't stop eating it with a spoon. It was even better the second time I made it, tweaking the recipe ever so slightly.

It's great eaten directly from the jar with a spoon, but it's better served on crusty bread with goat cheese, and even better smeared on toast with heirloom tomatoes, homemade mayonnaise, and butter lettuce. This really takes your average BLT to a new level. It is sticky and sweet and lightly spiced, and is nicely balanced out with the fresh tomatoes and lettuce and slightly tangy mayonnaise. Now I am wishing I hadn't given away my last jar of it to my classmates...guess I will just have to make some more.

Bacon Marmalade

1 1/2 lbs thick cut applewood smoked bacon, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large vidalia onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup coffee
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
large pinch ground cloves
small pinch ground nutmeg
salt and lots of fresh ground pepper to taste

In a heavy saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat, saute the bacon slowly until just crisp. Don't cook the bacon too fast or it can burn or over cook and become crumbly. Remove the bacon to a paper towel -lined plate and drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat from the pan. Add the onion and cook over medium-high heat until soft and starting to caramelize, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes until garlic is soft but not yet browning.

Add the white wine and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced a bit, about 3-5 minutes, add the sugar, coffee, molasses, syrup, allspice, paprika, cayenne, nutmeg, cloves, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Add the bacon back to the pot, bring it up to a boil, then reduce heat to low so that the mixture is on a gentle simmer and cook for about an hour to an hour and a half, until the marmalade is thick and sticky. It will thicken more as it cools.

Store in jars or sealed container in fridge for a week or two. It also freezes very well. Before using, you can pop it in the microwave just for about 15 seconds to loosen it up a bit and be spreadable.

Bagels Round Two : Gettin Fancy

I can't believe it's almost February. I feel as though the waning days of winter are creeping up on me way too fast, and the weeks are starting to fill up with road trips, friends visiting, bridal showers, concerts, and dinner dates. It's hard to find time to spend a weekend in the kitchen with a schedule like mine approaching. I will long for the lazy days of January when I had time to devote an entire day just to baking.

It may be a while before I have the time to whip up a batch of bagels again, so the ones in the freezer will just have to last me until April. My first attempt at bagels back in July went swimmingly, and I decided now that I got the basics down, it was time for some flavor! Taking a nod from Ina Garten's flavor combo in my favorite scone recipe, I made a third of the batch with dried cranberries and orange zest, one third topped with everything (onions, garlic, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and salt) and the last third plain and boring (but equally delicious).

I think this round of bagel-making secured my confidence in baking, and I am ready to keep on making my own baked goods, and veering a bit from the recipe books.

At the fault of this new found confidence, I now have three egg whites 'aging' on my counter top, waiting until tomorrow when they will be whipped into a batch of french macarons. I have been saying for the last few months, as soon as I get myself a Kitchenaid stand mixer, the first thing I am going to make is macarons. Well, I was a good girl this year and Santa brought me one for Christmas. Actually he brought me two (I must have been REALLY good), one from my family and one from my boyfriend (guess I gave enough hints huh? Subtlety is not my strong suit).

So with this being one of the last few weekends with an open schedule and no work, I will embark on what is supposedly a very tricky and fussy cookie, but is said to be well worth the effort and patience. Stay tuned!

Cranberry Orange Bagels and Everything Bagels

adapted from Peter Reinhardt's the Bread Baker's Apprentice

Sponge

1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour (I could not find bread flour, let alone high gluten bread flour, but I did find Vital Wheat Gluten Flour which I swapped one tablespoon of all purpose flour for the vital wheat gluten PER CUP of flour. So I ended up with 4 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten and 4 cups minus 4 Tablespoons of All Purpose flour)
2 1/2 cups water, room temperature

Dough

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
3 3/4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
2 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons malt powder or 1 tablespoon dark or light malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar (see note below)
2/3 cup orange flavored Craisins (or plain dried cranberries) chopped finely ***
1 tablespoon packed orange zest***

***I only made a third of the dough into cranberry-orange bagels. These are the measurements for a third, if you are making the entire batch cranberry orange, I would triple the amounts of cranberries and orange zest. ***

To Finish

1 tablespoon baking soda
Cornmeal for dusting baking sheets
1/4 cup each of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried garlic, and dried onions, plus a dash of salt***

***Again, I only made a third of the batch into everything bagels, but I had a good amount of extra toppings leftover. If you are making the entire batch into everything bagels, you can probably get away with 1/3 cup of each***

Day 1: To make the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a 4-quart mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter (like pancake batter). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the counter top - mine did not fall, and it wasn't super foamy or bubbly... but they still worked out just fine.

To make the dough, in the same mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt. Stir (or mix on low speed with the dough hook) until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining 3/4 cup flour to stiffen the dough - again, mine did not go quite so smoothly, I had to skip to the next step way before I was able to incorporate the 3/4 cup of flour in the bowl. Its okay, you can just work it in as you are kneading.

Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes by machine). The dough should be firm but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour and all ingredients should be hydrated. The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77 to 71 degrees F. If the dough seems to dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems tacky or sticky, add more flour to achieve the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.

If you are making cranberry orange bagels, during the last two minutes or so of kneading, work in the chopped cranberries and orange zest, kneading until it is evenly incorporated. I made a third of this dough plain, a third everything, and a third cranberry orange. So before incorporating the fillings, I divided my dough into three even pieces and just kneaded the orange and cranberry into one of the thirds. If you are making one big batch of the cranberry orange, there is no need to divide the dough at this point.

Immediately divide the dough into 4 1/2 ounce pieces for standard bagels, or smaller if desired. Form the pieces into rolls.

I do not have a kitchen scale (yet) so I pretty much just kept cutting the dough in half until the pieces looked like a good size. I ended up with about 36 small-ish bagels.

Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes.

Line 2 sheet pans with baking parchment (I used sil-pats, but parchment works as well) and mist lightly with spray oil. Poke a hole in each ball of bagel dough and gently rotate your thumb around the inside of the hole to widen it to approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter (half of this for a mini-bagel). The dough should be as evenly stretched as possible (try to avoid thick and thin spots.)

Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pans. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the “float test”. Fill a small bowl with cool or room-temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded (meaning they will go into the fridge and slow proof overnight) when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. If it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight (it can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days).

If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes or so until a tester floats. The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the temperature of your kitchen, humidity, time of year, color of shirt you are wearing, mood your cat is in...okay those last few may not affect it, but sometimes it can seem that way.

Day 2: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the pot the better), and add the baking soda. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.

Mix the poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, onion, and salt together and spread in a thin layer on a large plate. Set aside for later.

Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit (they should float within 10 seconds). After 90 seconds flip them over rand boil for another 90 seconds. If you like very chewy bagels, you can extend the boiling to 2-2.5 minutes per side . While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour.

For the non-topped bagels, remove them from the boiling water with a spider or a slotted spoon and place them on the prepared sheet pans. For the topped bagels, remove them from boiling water and place them directly onto the plate with prepared toppings. Press them down gently to get toppings to adhere (be careful, they are hot) and then move them to the prepared baking sheet, topping side up.

When all the bagels have been boiled and topped, place the pans on the 2 middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 5-7 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180-degree rotation. After the rotation, lower the oven setting to 450 degrees F and continue baking for about 10-15 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown.

Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving. Before you do this:

Or this:

Tasty Turkey

Yum. This year's Thanksgiving(s) involved some great turkey. My parents upped the ante this year and made two grilled rotisserie turkeys that were just fabulous. Smokey, moist, and tender, it was everything a great piece of poultry should be.

I made my first ever roast turkey, and as nervous as I was about over-cooking it, or under-cooking it, it turned out magnificent. I can only assume all the butter I stuffed under the skin had something to do with that. Oh yeah, and the bacon. More on that later though.

My friends here in Chicago decided we should have a Chicago Thanksgiving the weekend before the real thing. Steve and I hosted, and everyone brought a dish to share. There was WAY too much food, and way too much wine, oh but it sure was fun.

So back to the bird. When I found out I was going to be hosting Thanksgiving, and therefore making the turkey, I pulled out all my back issues of Food & Wine and Bon Appetit, and scoured them for the perfect turkey recipe. Well I think I may have found it. It wasn't too hard as long as you prepare a few days in advance, and it made for a pretty fool-proof way to get a golden brown, juicy, tender turkey with a boat load of flavor. Butter + Herbs + Bacon + Turkey = YUM. The gravy was equally delicious, and was pretty easy since I made the base a few days ahead of time. There were also mashed potatoes with the gravy, cranberry-pomegranate sauce, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, corn pudding, and of course dressing. And about four desserts. I don't even remember dessert because I was in food delirium from the main meal, I just remember it was good.

I learned a lot about putting on a big meal. I learned that one oven is not enough, and hosting a thanksgiving for 8 in an apartment with no dinner table is challenging. Nevertheless, everything came together, and came out hot, and we all made due snuggled around the coffee table. Getting all the dishes out at the same time and carving a turkey unfortunately meant that I did a horrible job taking pictures of all the side dishes. I pretty much only got pictures of the turkey and the rolls. Oh well, better luck next year huh?

Roast Turkey with Bacon Dijon Herb Butter and Cider Gravy

From Bon Appetit November 2008

Bacon Dijon Herb Butter

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

8 ounces apple wood smoked bacon (or if your grocery store sucks like mine does, just get the highest quality Oscar Meyer bacon you can find)

1/3 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme

1/4 cup chopped fresh sage

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon lemon zest

This is the goodness that will go under the skin of the turkey the day prior to roasting. You can make this up to three days in advance, but you want to make it at least a few hours before putting it in the turkey to give it time to firm up in the fridge.

Put all ingredients into food processor and pulse until bacon is finely chopped.

Transfer butter mixture to a long sheet of plastic wrap. Using the plastic as an aid, roll the butter into a 2 inch diameter log, and seal the plastic wrap to enclose, twisting the ends shut. Place in fridge for at least a few hours and up to three days.

Cider Gravy Base

Neck reserved from turkey (I used a 15 pound turkey, but the recipe is for an 18 pounder)

1/4 cup fat from cavity of turkey

1 whole turkey leg, thigh and drumstick (purchase this separately when you buy your turkey, my butcher only had drumsticks, so I used two)

2 1/2 cups chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

6 large thyme sprigs

1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1/2 cup apple cider

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

8 cups chicken stock (make sure to use the good stuff here, I used homemade chicken stock, but if you don't have it, spring an extra dollar for the Kitchen Basics boxed chicken stock, its much better than broth)

4 whole sage leaves

This base can be made up to two days in advance. As soon as you pick up your turkey, clean it out and get the neck and the reserved fat out to make the gravy base. It will save you tons of time and a headache on thanksgiving day.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place turkey neck, leg (or legs), and reserved fat into roasting pan and roast until deep golden brown, about an hour and a half, turning once. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup fat for gravy, and returning 1 tablespoon fat back to the pan. Along with the turkey parts, add the celery, onions, thyme, and peppercorns, and roast for 10 minutes. Add the cider and the vinegar, and roast for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and sage and cook uncovered for an hour and a half. Strain through a fine sieve and discard solids. You should end up with about 4-5 cups gravy base. Put in a air tight container and chill until ready to use.

Turkey

1 15-16 pound turkey (again the recipe calls for an 18 pounder, so whatever you end up with will work just fine here, your cooking times may vary depending on the weight)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons black pepper, divided

2 cups chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

2 cups chopped fresh fennel bulbs

2 cups chopped peeled carrots

2 cups chopped unpeeled apples (I used granny smith)

1/2 cup olive oil

3 bay leaves

1/2 cup all purpose flour

The preparation for the turkey needs to be done at least one day ahead, and can be done up to two days ahead of time.

Cut the bacon butter log into 1/4 inch slices.

Rinse the turkey inside and out, and pat completely dry with paper towels. Place on rimmed baking sheet. Starting at the neck end, use fingers to gently separate the skin from the meat of the bird. Slide the butter slices under the skin to cover the leg thigh and breast meat. There will be A LOT of butter, this is a good thing, just keep shoving it in being careful not to tear the skin.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of pepper on outside of bird, and the remaining salt and pepper inside the cavity. Cover the turkey with plastic wrap and chill for at least 24 hours.

Go time! When you are ready to cook the turkey, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large roasting pan, combine the celery, onions, fennel, carrots, apples, oil, and bay leaves. Season generously with salt and pepper. Place the turkey on top of the vegetable mixture, tuck wings underneath the body, and tie the legs together to hold its shape. Roast turkey until cooked through, about 3.5 hours, or until a thermometer reads 170 degrees when placed in the thickest part of the thigh. Baste every 30 minutes with pan drippings, and if the turkey is browning too much, tent with tin foil.

When the turkey is done, take out of oven and move to a platter, tenting with foil to rest for at least 30 minutes before carving.

Oh the carnage!

Strain what is remaining in the roasting pan through a fine sieve and set aside solids (or serve them as a side dish, my friends were picking at the veggies while we were getting the meal together, also they didn't let me toss them when we were finished, so I threw them into the pot when I made stock the next day. I am glad I didn't throw them away). Separate the fat from the pan drippings (this is when I wish I had a fat separator). Discard fat, and reserve de-greased pan drippings for gravy.

Now its time to get out your gravy base and reserved fat from a few days ago. Re-warm gravy base in microwave. Melt reserved fat in large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until incorporated, about 3 minutes. Gradually add cider gravy base and reserved pan drippings. Simmer until smooth, thick, and reduced to about 5 cups. Season with salt and pepper. Pour all over everything. Yes it is THAT good.

Now dig in!! Who says turkey is only for thanksgiving? Make this for Christmas or any other special dinner event. I am usually not a huge turkey person, but this year has made me reconsider. A thanksgiving turkey CAN be moist, well-seasoned, and deservedly the center of attention at the dinner table. Hope your turkey was as fantastic as ours was! Gobble Gobble!

Hello Fall...or Winter?

We seem to have skipped fall completely here in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest. It has been about 20 degrees under the normal high temperatures, but looking on the bright side, at least it hasn't snowed yet like is has up in the northern regions.

I wanted to kick off fall with a big meal that would fill us up and warm the apartment. I accomplished both of those goals, and also made my boyfriend and his friends very happy campers, with very happy tummies.

We feasted on a whole roasted chicken with lemon, thyme, bacon, and garlic, mashed potatoes, pear and goat cheese salad, roasted root vegetables, and popovers. This was all finished off with a warm plum and raspberry tart.

I think of this as my dry run for the thanksgiving feast myself and some of my friends are going to have here in Chicago the weekend before the actual holiday. Everything went really smoothly, and even mistakes that were made turned out to be good things.

The day after this meal, in my food coma hangover, I realized that I roasted the chicken upside down. The funny thing is that I have seen so many birds roasted on television shows and in person that I can't believe I was confused when the recipe told me to 'tuck the wings underneath the bird'. I thought to myself, 'but the wings are already underneath the bird...'.

It turns out that this was a great mistake. The breasts were impossibly tender and juicy and I think that may have been because they basically braised in their own juices, bacon drippings, and lemon juice for about 2 hours. I think I may just flip my turkey upside down come Thanksgiving, but next time it will be on purpose.

Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is a VERY simple salad, but a classic and tasty combination of tart cheese and mellow fruit. Just be sure to use a high quality balsamic vinegar for the dressing.

1 package of baby spring greens

1 pear, diced and tossed with lemon juice to prevent browning

4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a tightly sealed container and shake vigorously until oil and vinegar is combined and emulsified. Toss greens, pears, goat cheese with just enough dressing to coat.

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken

Recipe from Ina Garten - on foodnetwork.com

my notes in green

1 5-6 pound roasting chicken - I used a slightly larger one - about 8.5 pounds - so I would have plenty of leftovers, although I think the boys devoured much more of it than I anticipated

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme

4 lemons

3 heads garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 lb bacon - don't use lean bacon here, the point of it is to basically self-baste the chicken with the bacon fat

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Remove chicken giblets - if you are lucky they are in a nice little packet, if you aren't so lucky, you may have to pick them out one by one. I threw these into the freezer for a later date, you can make gravy and stock with these goodies. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan and liberally salt and pepper the inside cavity - I do not have a large roasting pan yet, so I used my 13 inch All-Clad french skillet and it worked great, it was just a bit harder to get it in and out of my oven.

Stuff the chicken with most of the thyme - I saved some for the roasted veggies - 1 lemon, halved, and two halves of the garlic. Now Ina calls for tying the legs together with kitchen twine and tucking the wing tips under the body. Since I roasted my bird upside down I did not need to do either of these things. If you want to go more conventional and roast your chicken right side up, by all means get the kitchen twine out and tuck those wings.

Quarter the remaining lemons and scatter them along with the rest of the garlic around the chicken in the bottom of the pan. Lay the bacon slices on top of the entire chicken - again I am sure this would be more effective had I roasted the chicken right side up, with the bacon fat flavoring the breast meat and keeping them moist. Next time I will either roast the chicken upside down again but omit the bacon, or roast it right side up with the bacon but definitely not a combination of the two.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove the bacon and set aside.

Roast for an additional 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh, or the breast temperature reaches 165 degrees - mine was bigger and took about an hour and 50 minutes total roasting time.

Remove to a platter, cover with foil, and let rest for up to 30 minutes.

For the gravy, remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and chicken stock and bring to a boil. reduce it to a simmer, and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes - I added a bit of cornstarch to help thicken it up since it was pretty runny.

Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

4-5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

2 bay leaves

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Reserved bacon from roast chicken - roughly chopped

Peel and quarter potatoes and place in large pot of salted cold water with bay leaves. Bring to a boil then cook until fork tender, about 30 minutes. Heat the butter and cream over low heat in a small saucepan. Drain the potatoes and put back into the pot with the cream and the butter. Mash with a potato masher or a large fork until creamy and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with chopped bacon.

YUM. And we aren't even done yet. Since this post is starting to become a novel, I will leave the other sides (the roasted veggies and popovers) and the dessert for the next post so I don't lose readers due to sheer boredom. Maybe it will have turned back into fall by then, who knows.