For the Bacon Vinaigrette:
2 strips Sloping Hill Farm bacon, diced, rendered
1/2 T Honey
1/4 C Champagne vinegar or Verjus
Rendered bacon fat
Olive oil to taste

The bacon vinaigrette can be made in advance.

Blanch haricot vert and reserve, blanch peas and reserve. Season sable with salt and sear skin-side down. If filet is an inch or more thick, transfer saute pan into 400 degree oven when skin begins to crisp. Cook to medium rare- medium. While fish is cooking shave fennel into salad bowl. Remove fish from oven, put skin side down on a tea/paper towel. Toss peas and haricot vert in saute pan to warm up. Once warm, put in salad bowl, add pea shoots and toss with vinaigrette. Plate salad with sable on top and garnish with pea shoots. Serve with rich chardonnay from Agricola Marrone, 2005 Memundis.

Recently, a friend invited me to a bacon-themed potluck which he dubbed Baconstraveganza.

My contribution was a Stilton & Bacon Cheesecake from a recipe I found on Saveur.com.  I garnished it with a Spiced Candied Bacon just to up the bacon quotient and to add a little sweet to this savoury cheesecake.

It turned out to be rich and flavourful, and a huge hit with the crowd.  But definitely something you want to eat in small portions since the flavours were overwhelming.  Personally, I was a little disappointed that the bacon flavour wasn’t more prevalent, especially for this event.

Stilton & Bacon Cheesecake

The recipe for these savory cheesecakes came from Linda Ellerbee’s book Take Big Bites (Putnam, 2005); she adapted it from a recipe given to her by the chef at the George Hotel in Wallingford, England.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup finely crushed digestive biscuits or graham crackers
• 6 strips bacon, finely diced
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz. stilton, softened

For Crust:

• Grease six 2″ × 2″ ring molds with 1 tbsp. of the butter; set molds on a cookie sheet.
• Cook bacon until crisp.  Reserve for filling.
• Transfer 3 tbsp. rendered bacon grease to a small bowl. (if you don’t have enough, add melted butter to produce 3 tbsp.)
• Add biscuit crumbs and mix well.
• Put equal amounts of the crumb mixture into prepared molds, firmly pressing on crumbs to form an even crust at base of molds.
• Chill crusts in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

For Filling:

• Mix cheeses together in a medium bowl.
• Add bacon and stir well.
• Pack equal amounts of the filling into molds, smoothing tops with the back of a small warm metal spoon.
• Cover cheesecakes with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to overnight.

Serving

• Run a small knife around inside of molds and slide cheesecakes onto six plates, crust side down.
• Serve cheesecakes at room temperature, garnished with a piece of bacon, with lettuces and fruit chutney on the side.

You ever have one of those Saturdays when a slot of time opens up and you can combine three or four things all at once? So it was this Saturday when I needed to go out and grab some sausages for Father’s Day, my daughter was napping with her mom and I had a need to fulfill some longstanding meat and pastry cravings. The perfect storm!

Somewhat hungry, I figured a good first stop would be to check out what has been known by many as the best Latin bakery in town, Panaderia Latina Bakery on Joyce just north of the Skytrain station (4906 Joyce Street). I’d first heard about it several years ago as the place to go for empanadas as well as some very fine patisserie. I’d made one or two half-hearted attempts to find the place in the past, but a recent write up in the Georgia Straight had it on my mind and now I knew where I was going.

Located in a crappy strip mall in an area I’ve never had to travel trough in all the years I’ve lived in this city, it’s incredibly easy to drive right by. Upon walking into the place it doesn’t look like much either, but take a moment to get acclimatized. Then the wonders behind the glass start to beckon. It’s filled with dulce de leche and vanilla patisserie cream laden delights. Yes, this stuff will kill you eventually, but each bite is like going to a sweet, flaky heaven. I took a mil hoja and another pastry I can’t recall the name of (it was a roll-like shape filled with creme with one end dipped in their homemade dulce de leche). I was going to eat tthe pastry first, but instead took the meat, potato and olive-filled empanada out to eat whiel making my way to the next destination. It was a thick, dense pastry that reminded me a little of a calzone and did double duty holding in the savory filling. I have no photos of this or the dessert for reasons you can easily imagine.

Conveniently, I’d just finished my empanada when I pulled up to Moccia Meat Market. I’d only recently heard about this place via this post on the Rouxbe blog. Thanks Dawn! Moccia is a small, family-owned Italian meat shop located in the 22oo block of East Hastings just slightly west of Nanaimo, a possibly more Italian strip than even Commercial Drive.

Unfortunately out of their fennel sausage I was hoping to try, I picked up a box of risotto balls, some of their Casatorie, natural smoked bacon and chicken sausages. While standing at the counter a small, handwritten sign said that their products are made with local, pasture raised, humanely treated and antibiotic free animals. Impressive. Equally so is the staff who were patient and extremely friendly. I could feel their pride and excitement about their products. They must have sensed my excitement too since they offered me a freshly made risotto ball while I was paying. A nice touch, and one that brought back childhood memories of getting a free cookie at the bakery! It was terrific, and completely validated my purchase of a box, conveniently frozen and a no-brainer to pop in the oven and serve as an appetizer one night. I may not even let on I didn’t make them!

Somewhat reluctantly, I left Moccia heading west to hit Gourmet Warehouse to pick up a Father’s Day gift. Normally, I go in there to buy myself presents, but this time it really wasn’t for me. I was there specifically for a few bottles of Ronnie & Denzel’s Natural Champions BBQ Sauce. I have to say, aside from the fact this is award-winning sauce from two award-winning guys, it’s also packing we designed so is very close to my heart and extra special to give. Couldn’t resist and grabbed some Nando’s garlic peri peri and a can of Nomu smoky peri peri rub for myself because I couldn’t resist, and was out of both (think alder smoked peri peri beer can chicken).

My final stop was Columbus Meats at 1655 Renfrew Street for their homemade smoked capicolla. It comes in mild and spicy versions though I prefer the mild as it’s more versatile in the kitchen. With a gentle smoky flavour, and a deep complexity that’s difficult to articulate (hmmm, an odd thing to say on a blog about food!), there’s just something magical about it. In some ways I prefer this level of smoked flavour, and the subtlety of it to the big, distinctive trademark smoke of Commercial Drive favourite, JNZ Deli’s, cured meats. I’ve chopped up and fried this capicolla to use with sautéed local asparagus, in roasted potatoes with shallots, on eggs and just plain on a charcuterie plate with or without the sweet and spicy Honeycup Mustard I still rank as my absolute favourite. Grabbed a few fresh fennel sausages on my way out the door.

And that was my Saturday afternoon. I arrived home to find my daughter still asleep and my appreciative wife hungry enough for the empanada and mil hoja I brought her.

I’ve read good things about Cioffi’s though don’t recall ever having been there. Other good sausage places worth checking out are Bosa and Oyama as well as Polonia Sausage for homemade Polish sausages. I’m curious to hear other opinions on Vancouver’s best places for charcuterie, fresh and cured meats. Tell me not just where you go, but what you buy. Do share!

Bucatini is like a cross between spaghetti and macaroni. It is a long, thick noodle, with a hole in the middle (hollow inside like penne, which is 3x wider in diameter). Eating it, it is reminiscent of Japanese udon noodles or Shanghai thick noodles, thick and chewy.

Guanciale is unsmoked bacon made from the cheek of the pig. It is the traditional meat used in this dish, and is responsible for its unique flavour. It is very fatty, but the texture of the fat is somewhat crisp due to its high connective tissue content.

After some hunting around online and off, I found two bucatini all’amatriciana recipes to start from. Today’s adventure basically starts with David Rocco’s recipe (from David Rocco’s Dolce Vita) but adding some extra ingredients used in Mario Batali’s (from The Babbo Cookbook).

Once all the ingredients were chopped up, it was 15 minutes to completion. The noodles were dropped in the boiling salted water and he started frying the diced guanciale. It didn’t take long for the color to change (much more translucent) and the aromas to spread throughout the house. Minutes later all the fat had rendered out to the point that he poured it into a bowl so it wouldn’t be so unhealthy. Yes, we all know the flavour is in the fat, but this was a bit much! (Mario’s recipe calls for draining half of it out.)

Next step, the red onions, chili flakes & garlic were added and continued to cook until they softened and caramelized. Canned crushed tomatoes were added and left to simmer. (In a Batali world, the tomato sauce would have been made ahead of time from scratch with fresh organic ingredients, but we opted for Rocco’s due to time constraints.)

The bucatini is tricky to cook if you don’t use one of those monster pasta pots for the simple reason that the pasta is thick and doesn’t bend easily as your standard spaghetti or long noodle. Trying to cook it thoroughly, it’s easy to run the risk of going past al dente, which ours did, but not unbearably. The noodles were added to the sauce, followed by fresh Italian parsley and grated pecorino romano. (David’s recipe calls to mix the cheese in while the pot is still on the stove, while Mario adds it upon serving at the table.)

The verdict?? Very tasty (especially the crunchy bits of guanciale which reminded me of the bestest freshest tastiest bacon ever) but perhaps not so with all the fat removed and the unknown origin of Terroni’s extra virgin olive oil. Let’s just make a slight adjustment…..

The new verdict. The flavour IS in the fat. We added back some of the rendered fat from the guanciale and NOW it’s close to the bucatini my tongue remembers!! The recipe for tonight’s pasta adventure can be found here. Enjoy & share…often. (co-written with JW)

PS. Things happen quickly on the web, including updates: Guanciale MUST be in season (seriously, it isn’t around all the time so stock up when you can. Plus, it freezes well!). After lunch we went down to Granville Island to stock up on more and no kidding: While in line at Oyama, the guy in front of us was buying guanciale and one of the staff said, “You’re buying some too?” To the right, another person was ordering some and right smack in the middle were a bunch of pieces in a basket with their recipe for Amatriciana sauce!:

Ingredients: 1 guanciale, 2 onions, 4 cans of Marzano tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil

Cut the guanciale into small pieces. Cook the onion with it. When the onion is almost caramelized, add all the tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil. Cook slowly for 3-4 hours. The most delicious pasta sauce!

About a year ago I was faced with the task of roasting a leg of lamb in an unfamiliar kitchen. I pulled it off, barely, but we were left with a bunch of undercooked meat in the fridge that needed using the next day. A drool-inducing photo of a beef stew on the cover of that month’s Sunset Magazine caught my attention, and as soon as I had finished reading the ingredient list I knew exactly what we’d be doing with our leftovers.

This stew was a great find. I find myself coming back to it every now and then as warming soul food for a cold and lazy winter weekend. With a modification or three along the way, here’s my latest version. It’s a slow cooker, you’ll need to start this at 2 or 3pm in order to have it ready for a reasonable dinner hour. Plan on 4 hours or so from start to finish.

For the pot:

• 1½ to 2lbs of stewing lamb (a prime cut would just be a waste)

• 5 strips of thick-cut hardwood-smoked bacon

• 2 medium yellow onions

• 1 bottle dry red wine (I tend to grab the cheapest BC cab sav the liquor store has on hand)

• 1½ lbs each of yukon gold potatoes and carrots

• 2 whole chipotle peppers from a tin (without the adobo), or grind a single dried chipotle if you can’t find tins, or just use a couple of tablespoons of chipotle powder if you can’t find either

• paprika (the original recipe calls for smoked paprika, but that has proven awfully elusive so I just use normal unsmoked paprika)

• flour

• olive oil

• salt

To garnish:

• sheep’s milk feta, or even better, a light blue cheese like stilton

• chives, or green onions if not available

• pepper

You can go all mise en place and have the ingredients ready to go before you start, but the long cooking times mean a bit of prep strategy is the better choice.

Start with the lamb. Cut it into rough 1½" cubes, and trim as much fat as you can, you’re not going to need it. Turn on the stove to medium heat, and pour some oil into the bottom of a dutch oven. Get it nice and hot, then drop in a few pieces of lamb, making sure there’s a gap between each; I can fit about 8 pieces on the bottom of mine at once. Partially cover, and cook until the underside of the meat is brown and the pieces stop sticking to the bottom. Should be about 4 or 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes until that side’s brown too. Remove the cooked meat to a bowl (leaving the oil), and repeat until the lamb is all cooked. It’ll take 45 minutes to an hour.

Right about now, turn on your oven and get it warming up to 350F.

While you cook the last batch of lamb, chop up the bacon and onions into ½" slices. Once the lamb is all finished add the bacon to the pot. Stir every few minutes until it’s well-cooked, but not crispy. Move the bacon to the bowl, retaining the fat. Drop the onions into the pot, add a few pinches of salt, and cook until they start going soft and translucent while stirring occasionally. Remove them to the bowl as well, still retaining the oil.

As the bacon and onions cook, mix together about a quarter of a cup of flour and a teaspoon or so of paprika, and chop the chipotle peppers. When you’re done with the onions, pour the flour in the pot and slowly stir with a wooden spoon for about a minute, until the flour smells like baking pastry. Drop in the chipotles, stir and cook another minute, and then pour in the bottle of wine.

Turn the heat up to high, add the lamb, bacon and onions that were sitting in the bowl, and stir. Once the wine is boiling and the oven is ready, cover the pot and put it into the oven.

Set the clock for an hour and a half, but near the end of that time peel and chop the potatoes and carrots — the former as medium-sized chunks and the latter into thickly julienned 2" long strips. Once the timer goes, put the pot back on the stove and set it to high, drop in the vegetables and stir until the liquid is boiling again. Then put the pot back in the oven and cook uncovered until the veggies are tender. It should take about 30-45 minutes.

Now it’s time to serve. Garnish with sharp cheese and fresh green onion, the flavours contrast the stew amazingly well. Complement each bowl some buttered crusty bread for sopping up the excess liquid.

You can see the original recipe on myrecipes.com

It’s not that I don’t LIKE vegetarians—I just don’t understand how they can live without bacon! So, the other day when I heard some TV host on the Food Network mention his monthly bacon delivery, I dropped my knife (luckily missing my thumb this time) and listened for details. It seems the California-based website The Grateful Palate—which for some reason I always read as Grateful PLATE—has a Bacon of the Month Club that delivers a different artisan bacon to your doorstep every month for the low low price of $150/year. Plus you get recipes and a free bacon t-shirt!

This weekend was cold, wet and lazy as hell. Having a cold with a cough didn’t help. By Saturday afternoon I was totally stir crazy and hungry for something warm and soothing. Something creamy with bacon [mmmmm...bacon]. There was no question: I needed to make soup.

After deciding on corn chowder, I went on a hunt through my cookbooks and online for a recipe. There are plenty of versions of corn chowder—everyone claiming theirs is best—so I made note of the most common ingredients, hit the local Safeway and made my own. My way. The result was exactly what the doctor ordered and below is my recipe. It’s dead simple. Give it a try.

Ingredients:

• 6 strips bacon, diced (don’t skimp here, buy the thick smoked good stuff)
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, de-stringed and diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 uncooked potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 medium leek, sliced
• 3 ears of sweet corn, removed from cob (save the cobs!)
• 1 can cream style corn
• 2 cans chicken stock
• 1 500ml container heavy cream
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
• parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Remove the corn kernels from the cobs, and place the cobs in a saucepan with the chicken stock. Simmer while preparing other ingredients to create “corn stock”.
2. Sauté bacon [mmmmm...bacon] until crispy and remove from pan. Dice into 1cm square chunks.
3. Sauté your mirapois of diced onion, celery, carrot and garlic in the rendered bacon fat until onions are translucent. The kitchen should start to smell very good by now.
4. Create a roux with the butter and flour, cooking for a few minutes before combining with the sautéd vegetables.
5. Remove the cooked cobs from the stock and discard. Add the corn, diced potatoes and sliced leek to the stock and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until tender.
6. Add the sautéd vegetables and roux, cream, thyme and seasonings to taste. Simmer for another 20 minutes and serve hot. Garnish with chopped parsley. [I suppose you could garnish with bacon, cheese or sour cream if you wanted to get fancy]

I served my soup with a fresh crusty roll and I forgot all about my cold for a while. My measurements produced enough soup for six large servings. Enjoy.