the return of the candied bacon

At times I wonder if I should have named this blog "Bacon and other things I think are okay" considering the number of times bacon appears. My roommates tolerate my obsession (okay, they usually are glad to see the bacon) but one friend may actually challenge me for my title of Most Bacon Obessed.

Sadly, this friend has an exciting move across the country planned so I wanted to send her off appropriately. We met this morning for brunch at The Empress, a favorite of ours for the great gluten free food (for her allergies.) I brought her a present of Candied Bacon Fudge.

[Sweet and salty in one package]

Making the fudge is simple. For more details, check out this link at TheKitchen. But basically, make candied bacon, while it's cooking make the fudge. Pour half the fudge into a 8x8 pan, layer in the bacon then pour the rest of the fudge on. I used just over half of the bacon and my roommates got to eat the extra. Extra fudge is getting taken to a gather of lovely ladies tonight.

blt salad with extra bacon

I usually don't use recipes to make salad, but when I saw the BLT Salad with Bacon Dressing from TheKitchn.com I knew I had to make it right. Of course, in the end my friend and I used a few substitutions. You can find the original recipe here. We used honey and white vinegar instead of brown sugar and cider vinegar and while it was delicious, try the original way. (We may have used twice as much bacon per person. This I do recommend.) Plus, the tomatoes, basil and lettuce were all from my CSA.

snowed in recipes

My roommate and I did not really prepare for the past weekend's snowstorm that kept me home all weekend. Wednesday we had a conversation that went like this:

Roomie: What else should I get at the store?
Me: Um... wine. potatoes? more pasta. milk.

Thursday I picked up a few more things but the local Krogers was going crazy so I grabbed random things, couldn't find most of what I wanted and bolted. Friday night roommate was out and I was trying to decide what to make. I had a craving for scalloped potato despite Krogers was out of rosemary. I also really wanted to use my mandoline. Finally! So I used this recipe that was in my Epicurious recipe box with some adaptions. Namely, I added bacon. Potatoes and bacon are two of my favorite things, after all. I estimated reductions to make a single serving, having no idea how to take a recipe in pounds of potatoes and translate that into one potato.

Ingredients
1 medium russet potato
2 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
sea salt & pepper
2 slices bacon, chopped
grated Parmesan cheese
butter (about 1 tablespoon)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place garlic cloves and cilantro in bottom of prepared baking dish. Combine cream, coarse salt, and white pepper in large bowl.

Using V-slicer or mandoline, thinly slice potato into rounds. Immediately add potatoes to bowl with cream mixture, turning to coat potatoes. Arrange potato slices evenly over in baking dish, reserving cream mixture in bowl. Repeat layering with remaining fennel slices, then remaining potato slices. Pour cream mixture in bowl over potatoes in baking dish. Toss any remaining garlic and cilantro on top. Dot with butter cubes.*

Bake scalloped potatoes until almost tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Top with bacon and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Increase oven temperature to 425°F.Bake until potatoes are tender and top is deep golden brown, about 20 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes.

*I did not dot mine with butter, but doesn't that sound delicious.

It didn't come out just like scalloped potatoes but was crunchy on top and deliciously creamy on the bottom. A solid experiment and one that I'll replicate in the future! Enjoy!