Making Colcannon

Last St. Patrick's Day, I posted a recipe on making Colcannon.  Since I'm not much at preparing corned beef, this is still my go-to recipe to celebrate.  It is warm, starchy, and meaty.  I'm including a video for making it below, but you can also check out the original post at http://downhomefoodie.blogspot.com/2011/03/colcannon.html. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bacon and Chili Oil Chocolate Torte

I really like the idea of chocolate and bacon, but I have had a hard time finding it combined in a way I liked. My first exposure was in the Vosges candy bar.  The idea seemed antithetical yet exciting, but the candy bar just still felt like eating bacon and chocolate--the two just didn't come together.  The bacon didn't compliment the chocolate; the chocolate didn't make the the bacon better. 

I had faith, though, that the two could, and would, come together.  So for Valentine's Day, the day of chocolate and decadent excess, I tried my hand at a union between bacon and chocolate.  My hunch was that it needed a go-between flavor to help bridge the rather large gap between smoky and salty to sweet and creamy.  I kicked around coconut milk, cinnamon, peanut butter (which I still might try at some point).  Finally, I remembered a torte from Paul Gayler's cookbook, The Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook, that made a chocolate torte with chili oil.  To me, chili oil (like the black pepper in Vosges candy bar) could be a key to bringing bacon and chocolate together because chili/heat is such a compatible flavor to both.  The other thought I had was to help complete the combination of salty, sweet, and spicy, by bringing in a little tart to balance the palate.

And so, the Bacon and Chili Oil Chocolate Torte was born.  

Bacon and Orange Zest Crust
1 cup chocolate wafers crumbs
¼ cup walnuts
4 strips (1/3 cup) bacon, diced
2 tsp. orange zest (about 1 orange)
1 tablespoon grated dark chocolate
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup salted melted butter
Pinch salt
Pinch red pepper flakes 

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  When it is hot, add the bacon and 1 tbls. of the brown sugar.  Keep the bacon moving around until it is cooked and crispy.  Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on a paper towel.  Then, in the same pan, brown the walnuts (about 5 minutes of stirring continually).
2. In a food processor, add walnuts, cookies, and bacon.  Process until all are in very fine crumbs. 
3. Place the walnuts, cookie and bacon crumbs  in a large mixing bowl.  Add orange zest, grated chocolate, the other tablespoon of brown sugar, butter, salt, and pepper flakes.  Stir until it forms a loose mixture. 
4. Scoop mixture into a 9-in pie pan and mold into a pie crust.  With a fork, make pricks in the crust to allow air to escape.  Place in a 350°F oven and cook for 10 minutes.  Set aside and let cool. 

Chocolate and Chili Oil Filling 
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp chili oil
Pinch of Himalayan pink salt

Directions

1. In a pot over medium-low heat, bring milk and cream to a gentle simmer.  Then, remove from burner and stir in the chocolate, chili oil, and salt.  When the chocolate is melted, add a little bit of the mixture to a bowl in which you have beaten the eggs.  Keep whisking to keep the eggs from cooking.  Now that the temperature of the eggs is warm, add the egg mixture into the pan with the milk and chocolate.  Keep whisking until the mixture is completely incorporated.
2. Add filling to the chocolate and bacon crumb shell.  Place in a 325°F oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, until chocolate is set. 
3. When the pie is finished cooking, remove from oven and let cool.  Once cool, add some Himalayan pink salt on the top. 

Road Trip 2011: Lincoln (Pt. 1)

Because I will eventually be moving to Lincoln and will have lots of time for blogging about Lincoln cuisine, I didn’t feel as pressured to do as much scouting and tasting on this trip.   But, two food finds, the Dairy Store and Lazlo's Brewery and Grill, are worth mentioning and gave me high hopes for the foods that await me when I become a resident.

Dairy Store

Dennis and I spent one afternoon walking around the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.  While wandering around the Student Union an ice cream place caught my eye.  Turns out, in 1917 the dairy branch of UNL’s farming and agriculture department started the Dairy Store which produces ice cream and cheeses.  After eying the flavors, the idea of cool and creamy ice cream seemed like a good counterbalance to the warm walk.  I got in line with “chai chip” in my mind, when, at the last minute, my eyes were drawn to two words—Maple Bacon.   

I tried a little bit and then ordered a whole cone.  Rich, full, creamy ice cream with subtle warm maple made for a decadent ice cream on its own right.  But, they didn’t stop there.  Completing the flavor profile was finely diced-up pieces of real bacon scattered throughout.  It is ice cream that hits sweet and velvety and then finishes with chewy tidbits.  It is reminiscent of dipping bacon in your pancake syrup.  

I once wrote about kummerspeck, or “grief bacon,” but Maple Bacon ice cream is pure “joy bacon.”    

Blue Collar Joe’s Donuts

I went over to a friend’s house for Wrestle Mania over a month ago and a friend coming up from Christiansburg, VA, had stopped and picked up donuts from a place in Daleville. I am someone who gets really excited about donuts, and so when I heard there were donuts I was already doing a happy donut wiggle. But, when I went into the kitchen, I was not prepared for the awesome sight in front of me.

Donuts with vanilla icing and pretzels.

Donuts with Oreos and cream.

Donuts with bacon.

My donut wiggle turned into a donut dance.

I immediately inquired how such an utopia existed without my donut senses tingling. So on Easter weekend, when I went home to visit my parents, I made the pilgrimage to Blue Collar Joe’s Donuts.

Blue Collar Joe’s is off Highway 81, exit 150B, and is a converted gas station. The menu features lots of coffee options, wraps, and around fifteen different donuts. The flavors include things like strawberry cheesecake, red velvet, coconut crème, cow tail, Reeses pieces, crèamsicle, and many, many others. My parents and I each got something different and I also got one to take home for my boyfriend. Here is what we got . . .

1. Nutty Buddy Donut – vanilla cake donut with chocolate frosting, caramel drizzle, ice cream nuts, and pieces of crumbled up sugar cone.
2. Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Donut—typical blueberry style cake donut made extraordinary with a maple glaze and bacon crumbs. It is breakfast with a whole in middle.
3. Chocolate Mousse Soufflé -- sweet chocolate cake donut with a light, frothy chocolate mousse on top.
4. Turtle Donut – chocolate cake donut with a caramel frosting, chocolate drizzle, and ice
   

   

   cream nuts.

They were all awesome, moist, sweet, and definitely more a dessert than a breakfast. With a cup of coffee, you feel like you are communing with a center-less ecstasy. If I had to choose the best, it would have to be the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Donut. I like pancakes. I like blueberries. I like maple glaze. I like bacon. So, it only stands to reason, that I would love such a union of all these things.

As the band Devil’s Makes Three sings, “If you're gonna do wrong, buddy, do wrong right.” Blue Collar knows how to do wrong right.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Garrison Keillor has a pretty funny rant about potato salads and the lost art of making it homemade. At the end, he has a great statement in to the honor of potato salads: “make a good potato salad, one with some crunch, maybe accompanied by a fried drumstick with crackly skin -- the humble potato and the stupid chicken, ennobled by diligent cooking -- and is this not the meaning of our beautiful country, to take what is common and enable it to become beautiful?” 

This is a recipe that I am hoping would make Keillor proud.  In the quest for a potato salad that stood out, I invented it as a somewhat decadent crowd pleasing side.  I tend to do a little prep cheating by using the salad bar for the broccoli, green olives, cauliflower, celery, and cheeses.  It is much easier than doing all the chopping yourself plus you can get more suitable portions than getting a whole cauliflower and only using a fourth of it.  You may need to cut things up a little smaller, but it depends on how chunky you want the potato salad and how much time you have. 

Salad Ingredients:

2 lbs. potatoes, cubed but with skin left on

1 tbls. olive oil

1 tsp. Cumin

1 tsp. Chili powder

1 tsp. garlic salt with parsley

¼  tsp pepper

½ cup brocolli, chopped

½ cup cauliflower, chopped

½ cup celery,. chopped

2/3 cup cheddar, shredded (but not finely)

¼ cup feta

¼ cup parmesan 

½ cup bacon (this would be about 5 strips or so)

¼ cup green olives, sliced

Dressing Ingredients

1 cup sour cream or greek yogurt

¼ cup ranch dressing  

1-2 tbls horseradish (more if you like)

¼ cup olive oil (or bacon fat)

½ cup apple cider or rice wine vinegar

¼ cup dried leak flakes (that you can rehydrate in the vinegar, of just substitute ¼ cup onion of your choice)

1 small jar pimentos with liquid

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 425°F.  In a roasting pan, sprinkle the potatoes with a little olive oil, cumin, chili powder, garlic and salt.  Roast at 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When potatoes are fork done, set aside to cool.  *Recommended doing a day in advance so they can cool in the fridge. 

2.   In a bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.  Then, add the cauliflower, broccoli, celery, cheeses, bacon, olives, and potatoes.  Mix together and store in frig till the picnic. 

  

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Grief Bacon

I teach freshman composition and my students have to read an article, “Global Wording.”  The article is written by Adam Jacot de Boinod, who has written two books that explore unique words from around the world.  Boinod points out that some foreign words, like kindergarten, croissant, and feng shui, gained acceptance in English while other words have failed to translate.  For example, there is a Central America Spanish word for dancing, pulier hebillas, meaning “to polish belt buckles.”  Another Spanish word, achaplinarse, means “to hesitate and then run away in the manner of Charlie Chaplin.”  

Although those are pretty great and I do wish at some point in my life to see someone achaplinarse, the word I wish the English would adapt is the German word, Kummerspeck.  According to Boinod, kummerspeck translates literally into “grief bacon,” a term to describe emotional over-eating that leads to weight gain.

Grief Bacon.   How true.       

When we are at our gloomiest, it is the fried, sweetest, saltiest, grungiest food that is sought.  Potato chips, mashed potatoes, mac’n’cheese, ice cream.  They aren’t called “Happy Meals” for nothing. 

 Think about local fair or carnival food—funnel cake, corn dogs, cotton candy, onion rings, fried Twinkees, chocolate covered potato chips.  These are the foods attached to fun, games, rides, play, and through association, happiness.   

During finals week when I was in school and now as a teacher during heavy grading periods, I intentionally keep junk food out of the house and stock up on frozen soy beans and brussels sprouts because if I don’t, you’ve guessed it, “grief bacon,”  

Even the healthiest of people will find themselves breaking diets in times of depression.  It is not “grief carrots” or “grief oven-baked crackers” or “grief yogurt with granola.”  It is grief bacon.   Maybe, even chocolate-covered-candy-bar bacon. 

So next time you find yourself gaining a couple of pounds after a break-up, job crisis, or loss, remember there is a word for it---kummerspeck. 

Colcannon

Last Friday, some friends and I were all complaining that we had each missed out on the usual St. Patrick Day fare and festivities.  So, I invited everyone over on Sunday and offered to make a pot of Colcannon.  I fixed a slight variation on the recipe below.  I made the Colcannon a day before and then prepared it in a “bubble-and-squeak” method.  This just means that I made small patties of Colcannon, floured both sides, and browned it in a frying pan with a little olive oil.  I served it with a Guinness gravy, rosemary Irish Soda Bread, arugula and citrus salad, and homemade applesauce.

Colcannon Recipe

Colcannon has to be the ultimate comfort food.  It is simply cabbage, mashed potatoes, and ham.  I first heard about it on an episode of Tyler’s Ultimate in which he showed it being made three different ways.  I have played around with the recipe a couple of times, and this is the one I have ended up with.  I’m using bacon, but you can also substitute with a center-cut slice of ham.  The main variations of my recipe is I’ve cut back on butter by using Greek yogurt and I’ve also substituted buttermilk for milk to help give a little more tang.  

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Mashed Potatoes:

3 pounds of red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 sprig of rosemary, as well as ½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 bay leaf

½ tsp kosher salt

2 tbls. of butter (or olive oil)

1- 6 oz. container of plain Greek yogurt

½ cup buttermilk

Salt and pepper to taste

Bacon and Cabbage:

½ lb. bacon (but could also use a slice of center-cut ham) 

½ small head of cabbage, cored and chopped

¼ cup of Guinness or dark stout

½ cup of water

A pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

Cooking the Cabbage: 

1.   Over medium heat in a large, shallow pan, cook the bacon.  When the bacon is crisp, drain it on a paper towel and set it aside.  With some tongs and paper towels, sop up the bacon grease, reserving a little (about 2 tbls.) to cook the cabbage. 

2.   In the same pan over a medium heat, add the cabbage and toss it in the bacon grease. 

3.   Once all the cabbage is coated, add the Guinness and the ½ cup of water.  Add salt and pepper and stir to incorporate.         

4.   Cover the cabbage with a lid and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When the cabbage is done, it will have reduced in size and be tender.  For the recipe, I like it a little firm still to give the Colcannon a better texture. 

5.   While the cabbage cooks, start the potatoes. 

Cooking the Potatoes:

1.   In a large pot, place the potato pieces, rosemary sprig, bay leaf, and salt and add cold water.  The water should cover the potatoes completely. 

2.   Over medium-high heat, bring the water to boil.  Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat slightly and partially cover the pot by leaving the lid slightly ajar.  After the water comes to a boil, you’ll cook the potatoes for 5 minutes, or until a fork can be inserted and removed easily.    

3.   When the potatoes are done, drain the water off.  Return to potatoes to the original pot or to a bowl and add butter, yogurt, buttermilk, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mash the potatoes using a potatoes masher or a hand blender. 

Mixing the Colcannon

1.   Take the bacon and crumble it up with your hands.  Add it to the potatoes. 

2.   At this point, the cabbage should be done and you can ladle it into the potatoes.   The liquid from the cabbage will help smooth the potatoes.  If potatoes are too thick or have dried, add a little more buttermilk. 

3.   Stir to incorporate and taste to adjust seasonings. 

Colcannon With Bacon