Cooking made easy

Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts

Bacon Soup with Broccoli and Asparagus

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Yall have probably noticed I havent been blogging as much these past few weeks as I used to. Or you havent because you, ya know, have a life and interests outside of your laptop. Good for you, you!! But if you dont, and if you wait with baited breath for the updates you get from me in your Google Reader, I owe you an apology.

You see, I havent felt very inspired recently--to either write or cook new things. And thats just fuckin odd for me. I just look at the color pink and suddenly get a million ideas swirling around my head. Of course, theyre all ideas for nail polish colors, but theyre ideas nonetheless! I think part of the reason I havent felt super inspired to blog these past few weeks is because I havent been trying any new recipes, and lets face it: thats what most of you come for (although I also have quite the eye for cute outfits...even if I do only post them once every 27 years).

So, when Kyle and I received our first official wedding gift from my parents of the INCROYABLE Wustof knives we registered for, I finally felt inspired to try something new. And with that, I give you Bacon Soup.

{Literally, the game changer of our kitchen. Thanks Momma and Dad!!! Yes, I call my "mom" Momma. Im from Texas!}

Aw, Im just kiddin!! Im Ellen!! Its not just bacon soup--although thats the best part--theres also some healthy junk like broccoli and asparagus in the mix, to, ya know, make it healthy.

{Wustof knives and a Vitamix are practically the only things you need in a kitchen.}

Im pretty sure I say this in some form or fashion in every recipe I post, but DAMMIT if this isnt the easiest recipe. Its like, fry up some bacon, toss in some onion and garlic, dump the green crap in and then bring it to simmer in the chicken broth and just puree it in your blender and BAM! Bacon soup.

I I say Bacon Soup because despite the green vegetable in here, this basically just tastes like liquid bacon and I am sorry, but how could you not like that??

Even vegetarians will tell you they like bacon!!

Vegetarians also like broccoli and asparagus, so really, theres something for everyone here.

Thats actually not true. Theres nothing here for vegetarians.

Ha, ha, Im just kiddin, Im Ellen!

Bacon Soup (with Broccoli and Asparagus)

Makes 8 cups

1/2 lb of bacon, diced, plus a couple strips for garnish
1 small yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 pounds of broccoli cut into florets
1.5 pounds of asparagus, roughly chopped
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper

1. In a large pot over medium heat, brown bacon until almost crispy.

2. Toss in onion and garlic to saute in rendered bacon fat until tender (about 2 minutes).

3. Add vegetables and chicken broth to bacon, onion, and garlic. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

4. Dump everything into a blender and blend until everything is well pureed and soupy. Season with plenty of salt and pepper to taste.

5. Eat and marvel at the wonderment of bacon soup.

Chilli Cheese and Bacon Muffins

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Its time for the Sweet Heat Bloggers Challenge at Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops. Each month there is a different challenge involving the hot stuff. Here is what Lyndsay says about this months challenge:

"So since this month is the Super Bowl and the start of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament (and of course the continuance of hockey and football (or soccer!) season!) I decided the theme for this months Sweet Heat challenge is.....(cue cheer leading squad!)..... Game Food! That means anything you fancy eating whilst watching a big game will work as long as it is spicy!"

I really struggled with this one, as we are not a family who eat while watching TV, let alone while watching sport, we just dont watch sport! However, I had half a pack of streaky bacon left over from a previous recipe, so came up with the idea of making some savoury muffins. We ate them with soup, but they would be ideal for snacking on if you were inclined to watch a big game on TV or even live as part of a picnic.

Chilli Cheese and Bacon Muffins

makes 12 muffins

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup veg oil

1 large egg

2 tbsp chilli sauce or relish (I used Maggi Chilli Sauce)

2 cups of plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

50g grated cheddar or other hard cheese

100g streaky bacon, cooked till crisp and crumbled or chopped into small pieces

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Line the muffin tin with paper cases.

2. Measure the chilli sauce or relish, milk, oil and egg into a bowl and whisk until mixed, add the flour, baking powder, salt, cheese and bacon pieces and stir until the flour is just mixed, the mix shoudl still be lumpy.

3. Divide evenly between the cases.

4. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. When baked remove to a wire tray to cool.

These muffins keep very well and can be revived by reheating for 20 seconds in the microwave. The chilli heat was kind of sneaked up on you just when you thought it was a plain cheese and bacon muffin. If you wanted more heat, just add more sauce and reduce the milk slightly.

Fried Rice with Bacon

Thursday, December 26, 2013

This is a moist/soft version of the fried rice. In earlier post I did a Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, in this version Ive substitute the Chinese sausage for something that is much more likely to be found in an American supermarket, and that is Bacon! This is the first difference, and couple other differences are that the fried rice in this version comes out more moist instead of the crispy texture in the previous version and there are additional mushroom and five spice flavor. Please dont worry if you cant find five spice powder, just half the five spice powder amount called for and substitute cinnamon powder.

Serves 2

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 strips of bacon
5 button mushroom, sliced
1 tablespoon of Chinese rice wine or dried sherry
5 cups of cooked rice, from the day before, loosened by using a spatula
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon of five spice powder, or 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
1 scallion, green part only thinly sliced

Tips:

Five spice powder or cinnamon powder is very strong, we only want to add a tiny bit to give our fried rice an enhanced flavor and at the same time not overpowering it.
Generally long grain rice are better for making fried rice because it has less moisture than the short grain rice. If you like the crispy texture of the fried rice, please refer to my early post Fried Rice with Chinese sausage.

Instruction:

Separate the egg whites from the yolk, and beat the yolk
In a medium sized pan, heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over medium heat, add in the bacon, cook until crispy (about 8 minutes), turning occasionally. Once cooked, place bacon on a paper-towel to drain the grease. Cut length-wise into thin slices.
Discard the bacon grease, put in the sliced onion. When onion is soft (about 5 mintues), add in the sliced mushroom and wine, when mushroom is soft and the wine is almost evaporated (about 3 minutes), then add in the egg white and cook for 1 minute.
Meanwhile, in a wok, heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over medium heat, when the oil is hot but not smoking, add in the egg yolk, let it cook in the oil for about 30 seconds, then break it into pieces with your ladle or spatula.
Add in the rice, using the back of the ladle to press the clumps of rice against the wok to break it apart. The goal here is to break up the rice into individual grains. Keep stir-fry and press the rice, and toss the rice and egg regularly to help this process, until rice is sperated into individual grains (about 10-15 minutes) .
Now add in the cooked onion and mushroom mixture into the rice, add in the soy sauce, five spice powder, and salt to taste. Stir fry until everything is mixed together and turn off the heat. Add in the bacon and scallions then serve.