Sausage Cassoulet

This Sausage Cassoulet is a variation of the one found in Mary Berry's Classic Home Cooking.

1 lb pork sausage
8 oz bacon, chopped
1 large onion
2 cans northern beans, rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes, blended
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 cup chicken bone broth
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon  thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups fresh white bread crumbs or grated cheddar cheese to top

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a dutch oven, over medium heat, brown the sausage and bacon.  Remove meat, turn to medium low and cook the onions until soft but not colored.  Return the meat and add the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and cook in oven for 1 hour.  Sprinkle with bread crumbs or grated cheddar and continue cooking, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Hot Five-Bean Salad

1/4 cup bacon grease**
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Dash pepper
3/4 cup Bragg's apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 can cut green beans*, drained
1 can lima beans*, drained
1 can cut wax beans*, drained
1 can red kidney beans*, rinsed and drained
1 can garbanzo beans*, drained
8 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled**

In a large skillet heat bacon grease. Combine next 4 ingredients and stir into grease.  Stir in vinegar and water; cook and stir till boiling. Stir beans into skillet.  Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Stir in crumbled bacon.

Hot Five-Bean Salad makes 10-12 servings.

* About 15 oz
** You can just cook the bacon in the skillet, leaving 1/4 cup of grease in the pan.  I usually cook bacon in the oven (400 degrees for 7-10 minutes on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil), and reserve the grease in a mug kept near the stovetop.

Impossible Breakfast Pie

If you don't have Bisquick, try this:

Put the following in a food processor:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pulse to mix.

Add 4 Tablespoons of cold butter (cubed) and process until the butter is completely incorporated.

Measure out your 1/2 cup and put the rest in a container in the fridge to use later.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies with Bacon Grease

This is a review of this recipe found at the Homesick Texan.  I first found this blog when I was trying to find out how to render lard.  Thankfully, I have a brother-in-law (or sometimes nephew) who brings me lard from here.  Anyway, back to bacon grease cookies.   

Okay, right off the bat, there is no bacon flavor.  They don't taste as good as all-butter cookies.  What you get from the bacon grease is structure.  Big, puffy cookies.  So I'm wondering if maybe a 1/3 cup bacon grease and 2/3 cup butter might be a good idea--still pretty puffy, but more butter flavor.

Now let's move on to the cayenne.  I don't taste it while eating the cookies, but the warmth remains with you for a long time after finishing the cookie.  And that has an interesting effect.  You don't want to eat lots of cookies.  I could have stopped at one.  Of course, I had to try one with pecans.  So between the satiety that come from consuming bacon grease, and the satisfying warmth that comes from the cayenne, it's a pretty sure bet you're not going to eat the whole batch in one sitting.  So maybe that's not what you even want from a cookie--come on, admit it, there is a certain pleasure from wanting and devouring a bunch of cookies.  And I defy anyone to do that with these.  But if you want everyone to go "Yay!  Cookies!" and then watch as everyone is happy and satisfied with only one or two--hey, you've got yourself a cookie.

Here's the recipe with my comments:

Chocolate chip pecan cookies...with bacon grease 
Ingredients:
1/2 cup bacon grease
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup buttermilk*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (I can't decide if I think this is a little too much.)
1 cup roasted chopped pecans **, and see Variation
2 cups chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet. (I like to use parchment paper.  I like puffy cookies and parchment paper seems to help.)

Cream together the bacon grease, butter, sugar. Add the egg, buttermilk and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cayenne and add to butter, sugar and egg mixture. Beat until well incorporated and then stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. 


Roll dough into walnut-sized balls (use this instead), place on parchment-sheet lined cookie sheets (Wait, I thought you were supposed to grease the cookie sheet--yes, it says to do that right up there!  See, I told you parchment was better.) and bake for 17 minutes. (11 minutes tops, I can never figure out why some of these cookie recipes take so long--is it elevation or something?)

Yield: about 40 cookies (With my scoop I got over 50.)

Variation: You can swap out the pecans for 1/2 cup peanut butter (I did this, but after baking half the batter, I stirred in some pecans too.). Also, if you want a flatter cookie (Who wants that?  Oh, that's right, my husband likes flatter cookies.), press down on the dough ball with a fork before baking.

*I didn't have any buttermilk, so my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook suggests this as a replacement for 1 cup of buttermilk:  "1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to make 1 cup (let stand 5 minutes before using) or 1 cup whole milk plus 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar or 1 cup plain yogurt."  I didn't even have whole milk (which I usually do), so I just used Mat's lactose free 2% milk with a little squeeze of lemon juice--letting it sit 5 minutes.

**I didn't notice the roasted part and just used bagged pecans.  Roasting makes pecans taste better, but I think it's debatable whether or not you notice it in cookies, which makes one question whether or not it's worth the trouble.

Spinach Tomato Bacon Swiss Ricotta Frittata

The leftovers: 

bacon, chopped, about 3 slices

1/4 cup onion, chopped 

spinach

Swiss cheese, finely grated, 

about 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or whole--depending on the size 

Custard Base: 

6 large eggs 

1/2 cup ricotta cheese 

pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated if you've got it) 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

Freshly ground black pepper to taste 

In a large skillet, cook the bacon on low heat for a couple of minutes until some of the fat has rendered. Add the onions, and a little salt and pepper. Cook about 10 minutes. Add the spinach, tomatoes, and a little more salt and pepper. Cover and cook about 5 minutes. Let cool. 

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta, Swiss, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and beat to combine. Fold in the leftovers. Pour mixture into the pie plate (greased with butter or bacon grease) and cook in a 350 degree preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it's golden on top. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. MM Specs

Cobb Salad with Chive Dressing

from A Pinch of Salt Lake

1 medium-size head iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 large tomato, chopped
1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 large avocado, peeled, diced and sprinkled with lemon juice
1 pound sliced bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Chive Dressing:
6 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 Tablespoons chives
1/2 cup olive oil

Place shredded lettuce in a large salad bowl. Prepare dressing by combining salt, garlic powder, pepper, chives and the oil in a jar and shake well. Pour the dressing over the lettuce and toss. Arrange the tomato, chicken, avocado, bacon and eggs on top of the lettuce. Place crumbled cheese in the center of the salad. Toss at the table.

Okay, first of all, that amount of dressing is huge. We've never even used half of it. Second, don't take the amounts of the salad ingredients too literally. Just chop up what you think you will use. And only toss at the table if you're interested in getting lots of polite "oooo"s and "aaaaaah"s. Frankly, not many people I've served this to want everything on that list (which technically means they are not getting a Cobb Salad, but, oh well). So I chop up what I think will be good and let people assemble their own salads as if at a salad bar. If you've got little kids, often they just want things separate anyway.

Remember, if you don't want to heat up the kitchen, cook the bacon and eggs earlier in the day! While they are cooking you can chop (when it comes to the lettuce, tear) everything but the avocado (the lemon is supposed to keep it nice--which it does--but I often don't have a lemon, so--but if you have a lemon, it adds nice flavor), and when it's dinner time--simply assemble!

Asparagus Bacon Swiss Ricotta Frittata

The leftovers:

cooked asparagus, cut into 1" pieces, about 10 stalks
cooked bacon, rough chop, about 3 slices
Swiss cheese, finely grated, about 1/2 cup
cooked minced onion, about 2 Tablespoons, warmed in microwave for easy mixing (the oil solidifies in the fridge)

Mix with:

6 large eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated if you've got it)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a pie plate--better yet, use some of the left-over bacon grease. It adds great flavor, and seemed to make the frittata come out of the pan better!

1. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta and Swiss and beat to combine. Add the nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and beat to combine.

2. Toss in the leftovers! Mix well.

3. Pour mixture into the prepared pie plate then put it in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it's golden on top. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.