Bacon Mushroom Caps

 

These are wonderful appetizers, easy to make and delicious. I have served them both at brunches and cocktail parties with equal success, and I always get requests for the recipe. Recipients are continually surprised by one of the ingredients - corn chips!

 Bacon Mushroom Caps

40 medium button mushrooms

½ lb. bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled

1 c. shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

½ c. butter, softened

½ c. finely crushed corn chips

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 T. finely chopped onion

1 T. dry red wine

 Remove stems from cleaned mushrooms; chop stems. Combine stems with remaining ingredients. Fill mushroom caps. Place an inch apart on baking sheets and broil 5 to 7 minutes until lightly browned and bubbly. Serve hot.

 

Crush corn chips very fine. I used an ice cream scoop.The recipe calls for Monterrey Jack, but I used Fontina.Cook bacon until well done and crispy, and then chop with a sharp knife.Stir ingredients together well. I cubed the butter in order to allow it to more quickly incorporate.Rolling the filling into loose ball shapes makes it easy to fill each cap.

These are a MUST TRY!

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Bacon Tomato Bites

 

This is a recipe of my late mother’s. She made these as far back as I can remember. They were always a huge hit, with everyone asking for the recipe. Everyone, that is, except me because I always thought they looked way too fiddly for my man hands. I got to thinking about these the other day when I was thinking about my mother because I still associate the two, and I thought I would give it a whirl. I used Melissa’s baby heirloom tomatoes because they are larger than cherry tomatoes, and the perfect size to use with the small end of a melon baller, making the cleaning out much less difficult than I anticipated.

 

The filling can be made ahead and refrigerated for stuffing tomatoes within a day or two. The tomatoes can be stuffed and stored in the refrigerator overnight; you decide which you prefer. They work equally well at a brunch as they do at luncheon, picnic, or dinner. I guarantee all who consume these are going to ask for the recipe. As an aside, these little rascals do tend to roll, so serving them in an olive dish just may not be a bad idea.

Bacon Tomato Bites

24 Melissa’s baby heirloom tomatoes
1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ c. finely chopped scallions
2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise
Freshly ground black pepper

Remove stems from tomatoes and, using a sharp knife, cut a thin portion of the top off. Carefully hollow out tomatoes using a small spoon, grapefruit spoon, or the small end of a melon baller, as I did, leaving a 1/8-inch thick shell. Invert the tomatoes onto a paper towel-lined plate, and allow to drain while you make the filling.

 In a medium bowl combine bacon, scallions, cheese, and mayonnaise; stir until well blended. Fill tomatoes with bacon mixture, top with freshly ground black pepper, and refrigerate for a number of hours before serving.

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French Toast BLT

 

After the rousing success I had with the Beef Burgers with Bourbon Mushrooms, I thought I would try my hand at another recipe from that same 2016 issue of Sauce Magazine, namely, the BLT French Toast. I’m not going to lie to you, this did not sound good. I think I was more intrigued with the process, the fact that there was bourbon in the egg mixture, and that this was a savory dish involving French toast. As it turned out, I thought it was excellent, and something likely to be served at a high-end restaurant. I did not expect to taste the bourbon in the bread slices, but I did, and that really enhanced this knife and fork sandwich. It’s not difficult to make, but it takes some time due to the waiting in making the savory French toast. The garlic vinaigrette was a wonderful surprise, and I found myself really enjoying this restaurant quality sandwich that, I’m warning you, is big enough for two.

 Here is the recipe as printed. I cut it back by three.

French Toast BLT

5 eggs

2 c. heavy cream

¼ c. bourbon

6 1-inch slices challah

12 strips thick-cut bacon

2½ c. grated Gruyere

12 tomato slices* (about 3 small tomatoes)

Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

3 c. spring mix

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

 In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream and bourbon until well combined. Pour in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Add the challah and soak 10 minutes. Flip the slices and soak an additional 10 minutes.

 Meanwhile, place a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until just crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Spoon off most of the bacon fat from the skillet.

 Add 3 challah slices and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a baking sheet, then repeat with the remaining slices.

 Bake the bread slices until cooked through, about 6 minutes. Top with the grated cheese and bake until the cheese melts, about 4 minutes.

 To assemble, place 2 strips of bacon and 2 tomato slices each on 3 challah slices and drizzle with the vinaigrette.

Toss the spring mix with enough of the vinaigrette to coat. Divide the greens evenly over the 3 prepared challah slices and top with the remaining 3 slices. Serve warm.

 Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

2 heads of garlic

¾ c. olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 T. sherry vinegar

1 T. Dijon mustard

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

 Slice off the tops of the garlic so the cloves are exposed. Place the garlic heads in a small baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil and roast until the garlic is golden brown, fragrant and softened, 20 to 25 minutes.

 Let the garlic cool, then squeeze the cloves into a blender, discarding the skins. Add the vinegar and mustard, and blend until smooth. With the machine running, add ¾ cup olive oil in a steady stream until well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*I used one large slice from a red Melissa's Produce Heirloom Tomato.

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Cheesy Bacon Dip

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I love a good sale, who doesn’t? Every time I spot a sale on something that I like and I’m going to use, I stock up. It’s foolish, of course, because that same sale is going to repeat itself in one or two months hence, but I have this niggling fear despite all evidence that perhaps it won’t. So, as with yesterday’s shrimp, I also have a lot of bacon. Fortunately, it stacks. Also fortunately I have lots of recipes that call for bacon, and often find that even recipes that don’t call for bacon are improved by its smoky presence.

This dip is excellent! It’s an amalgam of a variety of other dip recipes, served in a bread bowl. I love those bread bowls. If you prefer not to use the bread bowl, spread it in a pie plate, top with crushed pecans (or not), and bake it until hot and bubbly. If you don’t want a hot dip, don’t heat it, serve it chilled or at room temperature. Looking for a sandwich topping? This is excellent on top of a burger. It’s also darned good on top of a steak. In fact, there is no way this isn’t absolutely delicious, even if you’re spooning it from the bowl directly into your mouth. It’s bacon!

Warm Cheesy Bacon Dip

1 1-lb. round loaf sourdough
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise
1½ t. Worcestershire
¼ t. garlic powder
1 12-oz. pkg. bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 c. shredded cheddar
3 scallions, chopped

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Cut off top of sourdough bread; set aside. Using a sharp knife, cut a circle into the top of the loaf, and hollow out, leaving the exterior intact. This will be your serving bowl. Cube the removed bread to use as dippers.

Beat together cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, Worcestershire, and garlic powder. Fold in bacon, cheese, and scallions. Carefully spoon into the hollowed bread loaf. Wrap in heavy-duty foil, and bake one hour until heated through.

Serve with various dippers such as bread cubes, crackers, crudités, or slices of apple.

 

Curry Mushroom Soup with Spinach

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Periodically I will wax nostalgic and get out of all of my mother’s recipes. When she passed away, I made sure that I took every box, binder, and envelope containing her recipes because it represented such a large part of my life. In going through them I see handwritten recipes of friends and relatives who have since passed away, so it’s like spending time with old friends.

Mother had a lot of clippings from various books and magazines as well, one of which sounded interesting on a number of levels. It was a recipe for Curry Mushroom Soup. What puzzled me about her having this is that I don’t believe she cared much for curry, nor did she like cream soups. (“Too many calories!” she would say, eyes cast toward my thighs.) I, on the other hand absolutely love curry, and a soup can’t be too rich for me.

This morning, I satisfied my curiosity about this soup; it is without a doubt one of the most delicious mushroom soups that I have ever eaten. This, my friends, is restaurant quality. Because my mother cut this recipe out of a magazine, I have no idea as to the source. I do know that the name is a bit of a misnomer because there is a lot of spinach in the soup; so I’m going to take it upon myself rename it to reflect just that. The recipe directs topping it with bacon. I think the soup is plenty rich on its own, but have at it if you’d like.

Curry Mushroom Soup with Spinach

¾ c. butter, divided
4 c. sliced fresh mushrooms (about 12 oz.)
1 c. finely chopped Melissa’s shallots (about 3)
⅓ c. flour
3 T. curry powder
2 t. garlic powder
2 t. kosher salt
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
4 c. whole milk
2 c. heavy cream
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
6 slices bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled (for garnish)

In a large skillet, melt ¼ cup butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and onion; cook until tender. Remove from heat. In a Dutch oven, melt remaining ½ cup butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, curry powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook two minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually add milk and cream, and cook until thickened. Stir in mushroom mixture and spinach. Cook until heated through.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle bacon over top.

Yield: 8 generous one-cup servings.

Apple-Bacon Relish from The Bacon Bible

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram were the first ones to see pictures of this incredibly delicious Apple-Bacon Relish from Abrams’ new cookbook, The Bacon Bible, More than 200 Recipes for Bacon You Never Knew You Needed by Peter Sherman. Wow! What a cookbook this is, and what fabulous relish!

This is the first time I’ve ever made anything of this nature, although I am well aware from reading restaurant menus, that bacon relishes and jams are all the rage these days; I can see why. This is delicious! Seriously, I could have eaten it right out of the pan. Instead, I used it in a variety of ways, each more delicious than the other. You might try it, as I did, spooned on top of a baked potato, dolloped into the cavity of an avocado, or as you see here, gracing the top of a juicy cheeseburger. 

However you choose to use it, you must make it!

Apple-Bacon Relish
from The Bacon Bible

2 teaspoons canola or oil
4 oz. thin-sliced bacon, diced
½ small red onion, finely diced
1 large Gala or Granny Smith apple, diced
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the bacon and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels.

Add the onion and apple to the pan and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the sugar and vinegar and cook until thickened, about 4 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, transfer to a medium bowl, and stir in the pepper and parsley. Let cool to room temperature before serving. The relish will keep, tightly covered in the refrigerator, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. Makes about 1½ cups.

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For a heavenly vegan relish, try this Roasted Red Pepper Relish.

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Bacon-Wrapped Olives

Sometimes the simplest things turn out to be the best, and that certainly is the case with these easy and delicious nibbles. One of the many tasty recipes that I’ve tried from Martina McBride’s new cookbook (You can read my review here.), that are make ahead, take no time to put together, work equally well outdoors on the grill, or indoors under the broiler, and are irresistible with a cocktail. I have found that they also make welcome and tasty toppers to sandwiches. Just run a long bamboo pick through the top of the olive and directly into the sandwich, and serve. Great presentation!

Bacon-Wrapped Olives
Adapted from Martina's Kitchen Mix

25 wooden toothpicks
1 lb. low-sodium smoked bacon (not thick cut), cut into thirds
1 (7-ounce) jar pimento-stuffed queen olives, drained

Soak the wooden picks in water for one hour; drain.

Preheat a grill to 300° to 350° F (medium), or heat up the broiler in your oven.

Wrap each piece of bacon around an olive, securing with a wooden pick. Grill over medium (or broil until crispy), turning often, until bacon is browned and crisp. Serve warm.

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One of my most popular blog posts (and soon to overtake the number one spot) is this Olive Cheese Spread. Get the bigger jar of olives, and use the rest in this!

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Bacon & Mushroom Spread

Continuing in our Festival of Fungus, today I am offering up Bacon & Mushroom Spread. Not only is this a delicious spread, but it has to be made ahead in order to allow the flavors to meld into something magnificent. You reheat it in the microwave when ready to serve, so this is probably one of the easiest hors d’oeuvres you can possibly serve your guests.

I put mine in one dish alongside an assortment of crackers, but if you like, you can use this as an appetizer at the beginning of the meal, putting small servings in ramekins and serving them on a plate with a couple of crackers or pieces of flatbread. It’s a lovely presentation, and a delicious way to start a meal.

Bacon & Mushroom Spread

3 slices bacon
6 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cook bacon in a 9-inch sauté pan until crisp. Remove bacon from pan to drain; crumble and set aside.

Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic to the pan in which you cooked the bacon. Cook over medium/low heat until tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle flour, salt, and pepper over the top, and cook, stirring, until smooth. Add cream cheese, Worcestershire, and soy sauce, stirring until cheese is melted (At this point it is going to look like glop. Don’t despair; it is supposed to look like glop.) Stir in sour cream, lemon juice, and reserved crumbled bacon. Heat through.

Pour into serving dish; allow to cool 10 to 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Serve the following day at room temperature, or warm 1 to 2 minutes in the microwave.

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Another delicious spread is this Superior Pecan Spread. Everybody loves this one!

This post is linked to:

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

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Campanelli with Mushrooms, Bacon, and Parmesan

For me, pasta is the ultimate comfort food. Pasta, and cheeseburgers, I love cheeseburgers. And a steak, a nice medium-rare Filet Mignon. Oh! And lobster bisque, sweet and succulent lobster bisque. Where was I? Oh yes, pasta. I find pasta to be the ultimate comfort food because it's easy to put together, and so warm and soothing to consume. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to make a truly wonderful pasta dish that can work equally well as a starter, or main course.

Finding my fridge with more mushrooms than I needed, and wanting to make good use of them, I decided to create this dish. It was absolutely delicious, and so easy. It's important, in this case, that you use the Campanelli, because those little scroll-like noodles hold onto so much of your delicious sauce.

Campanelli with Mushrooms, Bacon, and Parmesan

4 ounces Campanelli pasta
4 pieces thick bacon
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 Melissa's organic shallots, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon thyme
A glimmer of freshly grated nutmeg*

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1/2 tablespoon salt. Cook pasta according to package directions, about 10 minutes to al dente; drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water; set aside.

While pasta is cooking, rough chop bacon and cook over medium heat in a 10-inch sauté pan until crispy, about eight minutes. With a slotted spoon remove bacon to a plate. Drain all but 2 tablespoons bacon grease.

To the pan in which you cooked bacon, add garlic and shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are soft. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, another 3 to 4 minutes until mushrooms are tender. Return bacon to the pan.

Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in heavy cream, stirring continuously. Slowly add Parmesan, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, and nutmeg, stirring all the while. Allow to simmer 2 to 3 minutes until it reaches desired thickness. If the sauce needs thinning, stir in reserved pasta water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Add pasta and stir to coat. Serve immediately.

This makes two main course or four starter course servings.

*There is, of course, no official measurement called "glimmer." Considering a single grating of nutmeg to be just that.

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This post is linked to:

O My Heartsie Girls Wonderful Wednesday
 Homestead Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Create, Bake, Grow and Gather
Share Your Style

Simple Saturday Blog Hop

A Bouquet of Talent

Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party

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Bacon Pickle Fries

Football season is coming up and that means snacks, snacks, and more snacks. If you're looking for something that is super easy, and employs items that you already have on hand, then you may be interested in this super simple, super crowd pleasing recipe for bacon pickle fries.

There's really not much to it, so it's hardly worth writing the recipe down. Essentially you wrap one piece of low-sodium (this is very important!) bacon around a drained and patted dry pickle spear. You bake it in a preheated oven at 425° for 17 to 22 minutes, depending upon the heat of your oven, and how crispy you like your bacon. I baked mine for 22 minutes, but then I like my bacon crispy.

Use tongs to remove the bacon-wrapped pickles from the oven, because they are going to be very hot, and arrange them nicely on a plate, alongside a cup of ranch dressing, and a cup of spicy remoulade. These will disappear in a hurry; they are so good.

Bacon Pickle Fries

Dill pickle spears, drained and patted dry
Thin-sliced, low-sodium bacon, one strip for each pickle
Parmesan cheese, optional

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a cookie sheet with foil, and place wrapped pickle spears on the foil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Slide cookie sheet into the oven, and bake for 17 to 22 minutes, until bacon is desired crispness. Remove from oven, and place immediately onto a paper towel-lined plate, to allow excess grease to drain.

Arrange on a serving plate, and serve with ranch dressing, and a spicy remoulade.

This post is linked to:

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Art of Homemaking Monday

Celebrate Your Story

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Bacon Asparagus Cajun Pasta

I tend to make pasta once a week. I like it, there are endless varieties, and, like a girl I knew in high school, it's fast and easy. While all of the dishes that I make are good, some are better than others. This one falls into the latter category as being a "10" on the Yummy Scale (not an official unit of measure, but it should be). There is just something about those Cajun spices that take this over the top.

I spotted this recipe on the Small Town Woman blog, and it is a must try. Easy and intensely flavorful, you'll find yourself returning to this recipe again and again. 

Bacon Asparagus Cajun Pasta

​8 ounces rigatoni 

4 slices bacon, coarsely chopped

12 stems asparagus, cut in bite-size pieces

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

8 cups fresh baby spinach

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

4 teaspoons Cajun spice

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.

In a large skillet over medium heat place bacon pieces. Cook for 8 minutes. Add asparagus and cook for 8 minutes longer. Reduce heat and add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add spinach and cook just until slightly wilted. Remove to plate.

Using the same skillet pour in the wine, scraping pan bottom to remove browned bacon bits. Add cream, Cajun spice, and simmer to desired thickness, stirring frequently. Slowly add the Parmesan cheese, and stir until melted and smooth. Add bacon/asparagus mixture and drained rigatoni. Serve immediately.

This post is linked to: Wow Us Wednesday, Work It Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Wake up Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Share Your Style, and Foodie Friday & Everything Else