Candied Bacon

Dangerous candied bacon

What is that dark slimy looking spider like blob up there? Well its simply one of the most addicting flavors to ever be added to confections and desserts. Candied caramelized bacon. Thats right salty and smoky taste awesome with sweet and chewy food. Its almost evil. Putting meat in dessert feels bad, but tastes so good. Ive written this recipe before, but by popular request I have chosen to give candied bacon its own recipe. Its is amazing baked into chocolate chip cookies, or if youre really fancy these monster chocolate toffee cookies. You could also use it to garnish cupcakes (think banana peanut butter Elvis style!), doughnuts or whatever needs a modern and slightly wild kick. Whatever you put it in, people will ask you for the recipe. Send em here.

There are two popular recipes for candying bacon. Well one is more popular than the other. Most often I see recipes suggesting people put bacon on a silpat, cover with sugar, and let it do its thing in a 300 degree oven. That will work, and it will work with much less effort. But the bacon fat will crowd the baking sheet, and prevent the sugar from adhering and caramelizing perfectly. Small batches on top of the stove allows you to perfect the carmelization.

Candied Bacon

1 lb bacon
1 cup demura sugar (raw sugar)

Par-cook the bacon in a wide sauce pan or stock pot until only beginning to brown. You want to render off half the fat so you dont get that swimming in fat problem. I usually work in batches of 4-5 strips, pouring the fat off into a can between batches. You will finish cooking the bacon as it caramelizes.

Fry bacon a little bit to render off fat first

Pour off all remaining oil from pan. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of sugar right on to the pan. Lay 4 strips of half cooked bacon on top, and cover with another layer of sugar. Let sit for 3-4 minutes until the sugar begins to melt. You may hear a quiet hiss or see small bubbles. If its loud and spitting oil you need to turn the heat down or you will burn the sugar. Periodically press the bacon down and into the sugar to really coat it. Flip after 5-6 minutes, and repeat. The bacon will be a very dark brown when its ready. Remove from pan and let harden in a cool place on a cookie sheet about 3 minutes. Repeat until all the bacon is done.

I find a pound of bacon takes the better part of an hour, maybe more like 90 minutes after clean up. You can chop the bacon up and add it to any baked good, or freeze it in airtight bags. The bacon is coated in salt and sugar, which means it should last for a few months. Dont be too ashamed to it plain like candy, sooooo good.

Cucumber Mint Vodka Watermelon

Watermelon man hole for vodka

I should have posted this a few days ago. Im worried youll see this post and want to make a big fat vodka watermelon for your Labor day picnic/bbq/yacht party. And you should want to but you need to act NOW. Thats right, if you are slightest bit interested in boozing up a watermelon turn off the computer, buy a watermelon and some vodka and come back.

Did you do it? Lets proceed. It is not common knowledge unless you have tried this or read lots of recipe comments that it can take up to FOUR DAYS for your watermelon to absorb vodka. There are million recipes that look simple, and you think will take 6 hours or overnight. Unless you know where to buy a "dry" watermelon it will take at least 2 full days for a great vodka watermelon to begin. A week would be awesome. You might not get invited back to the party if arent careful. Here are my real time instructions.

Cucumber Mint Vodka Watermelon

1 large watermelon
1/2 cucumber cut into spears, divided
1 handful of fresh mint leaves, divided
2 350 ml bottles of vodka

Youre going to be feeding your watermelon over the course of a few days, so first youll want to prepare the watermelon and space for it. Now look at your fridge and make sure that you can fit the watermelon with 6-7 inches head space for the vodka on a shelf. You may need to rearrange shelves. Place the watermelon on a plate to catch run off juice, and prevent it from sliding around. I also used an upside down coffee can lid to keep it snug.

Make sure you have room for this in your fridge

Take an old, but clean cap from a bottle of oil or similar. Press the cap down onto the top of the watermelon, where you plan to feed it, making an indentation. Now cut inside that indentation to make an opening. Using a spoon dig down and carve out some watermelon. 5-6 inches is good, or to the center of the watermelon. Turn the watermelon upside down and drain out some of the fluids too.

Fill the watermelon cavity half way with vodka from the first bottle of vodka. Slide half the cucumber spears and mint into the vodka bottle. Now for your big maneuver, carefully flip the vodka bottle into the watermelon. Place in the fridge and let sit for 1-2 days until absorbed. After the first bottle is absorbed, crack open the second and repeat the last set of steps. Some of the vodka may not absorb from the second bottle. It depends on the size and juiciness of your melon.

When its party time you can use the same cap from the first step as plug to keep all the juice in place! Smart! Or just cut it up and bring it in slices, but there really is nothing like a the show of carving the vodka watermelon in front of a hot and thirsty audience.

Callaloo Coconut Soup

Howdayado Callaloo Soup

Big bunches of callaloo have been inhabiting my vegetable drawer, a large part of my Ditmas Park CSA. I vaguely know what to do with callaloo. Stew, soup, steam? Its like spinach, with a little bit more iron, and perhaps a less tender. Callaloo has a pleasant mineral taste that really mellows in a soup. Im happy its here before its too hot to cook it down in a soup. Make sure to rinse it plenty of times to remove the grit that may be on it. Nothing worse than dirty grit callaloo stew.

Almost like spinach, but healthier

Callaloo Coconut Soup

1 large bunch callaloo (roughly 1 lb)
1 large onion, diced
2 tblsp vegetable oil
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 quart water
1 can coconut milk (unsweetened)
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 pinch red pepper
1 tblsp white wine vinegar
salt to taste

Separate leaves from callaloo stems. Rinse each individually in a large clear bowl. Rinse callaloo until water is clear to make sure all the grit is off. Meanwhile heat oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add onion with a large pinch of salt and cook until transparent. Chop callaloo stems down to 1/4 - 1/8" pieces. Add to onion and cook for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the callaloo leaves with about 1 cup of water to the pot. Stir and cook until softened. Add remaining ingredients: water, coconut milk, spices, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, and turn off heat. Transfer soup to a high speed blender or food processor. Process until smooth. Add salt to taste and serve.

Rainbow Cookies

Happy rainbow cookie will make you WORK

Rainbow cookies nearly defeated me. To make them requires almost 1 lb almond paste, 6 eggs, 2 lb of butter, lots of steps to make the batter, 3 rectangle pans to bake, many steps to assemble, and so much patience. Multiple steps means multiple ways to screw up, and once youve messed up a few steps youre going down a creek without a paddle. You can see the struggle in the photos, but I did not give up.

The cookies tasted fine, but not perfect. I found the recipe in the May 2o11 issue of Bon Appétit. You may also notice my cookies are yellow, red, and blue rather than the Italian reg, white, and green. I made the cookies to match my composting diagram for Prospect Farm. I brought the cookies to Compost for Brooklyns Block Party to highlight the layers of trench compost. Each cookie acted as a mini trench compost diagram. A cute idea that some appreciated, and had some asking is this made of dirt?

Rainbow Cookies
2 tblsp plus 2 cups unsalted butter, at room temp
6 large egg white
6 large egg yolks
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
12 oz almond paste (not marzipan), chopped
2 3/4 cups plus 1 tblsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red food coloring
1/2 tsp yellow food coloring
1 tsp blue food coloring
3/4 cup orange marmalade
4 oz bittersweet chocolate

Whip 6 egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until firm peaks form. Chill. Meanwhile line three 9 x 13 inch rectangular baking pans with foil, allowing foil to overhang length-wise. Grease foil and sides of the pans with 2 tablespoons of butter.

Add 1 cup of almond paste and sugar to a mixer and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium high and slowly add 2 cups of butter. Beat until fluffy. Add in yolks, one at a time until combine. Add salt and flour, being careful not to over mix. Fold egg whites in two additions by hand with a spatula. Lots of work, eh? Take a breather.

Uggh, I hate artificial colors, but its a tradition.
You can use green in place of blue to, so Italian.

Preheat oven to 350. Divide batter into 3 bowls. Add 1 color of food coloring to each bowl, and fold until evenly colored. Now youre ready to bake. Transfer each colored batter into one prepared pan. Spread evenly, and place in oven. Bake for 9-12 minutes. Rotate pans half way. Remove cakes from the oven when batter is just set.

Yellow layer will go up, over, and on top of the marmalade covered red layer

Meanwhile melt marmalade. The recipe suggests you strain the peel parts out, but I think its fine to leave it in. Brush half of the marmalade on top of the red layer. Lift the yellow layer up using the overhanging foil. Flip top-side-down over the red layer. Peel foil back. Brush the top of the yellow layer with remaining marmalade. Lift the blue layer up using the overhanging foil. Flip top-side-down over the yellow layer. Do not peel the top layer of foil. Place a cookie sheet on top of blue layer. Carefully flip all layers on to the cookie sheet. Place another cookie sheet over the red layer. Weight down with cans, and chill for 4 hours or up to one day. Congratulate yourself on completing the hardest part of making rainbow cookies. You are out of the woods.

Ready to chill? The layers are.

Melt the 4 oz of chocolate over in a double boiler (or a heat proof bowl such as stainless steel or tempered glass, over boiling water) or in a microwave. Whichever you prefer. Remove cake layers from fridge, and peel back top layer of foil. Brush half the chocolate over the red layer.

Take your time, and the results will line up neater then mine. Less trimming equals less waste.

Place uncovered in freezer for 15 minutes to harden the chocolate. Remove from freezer. Place wax paper on top of chocolate layer. Replace cookie sheet over waxed paper, and carefully flip so blue layer is now up. Peel back foil on the blue layer. Brush remaining chocolate over blue layer. Freezer, uncovered for another 15 minutes until hardened. Cut the cookie into 1/2 - 3/4 inch slices. Serve! Finally! I kept mine in an airtight freezer container until they were ready to be served.