Bacon Jam

This is a game-changer, folks. Bacon jam. It becomes this little chant in your head, bacon jam, bacon jam, bacon jam. You'll be trying to come up with excuses to smear it on any and everything you eat. You won't want to share. You'll get a little crazy. Bacon jam, bacon jam, bacon jam!

I had been meaning to make a savory jam recipe for a few months now, and after weeks of procrastinating for homemade holiday gift ideas, I decided bacon jam would be a fun treat to give away. Of course, as soon as I had made the jam I didn't want to give any of it away because it is so dang delicious, but I resisted hoarding this jam all for myself and gave away all but one jar. I know, I'm reallllly selfless like that.

Makes six 8oz. jars
Cooking time: 2-3 hours (simply depending on whether you feel like multitasking)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb thick-cut bacon
• 8 garlic bulbs
• Olive oil for drizzling, about 1 tablespoon
• 10 yellow onions
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
• 2 teaspoons chili flakes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Peel and slice all yellow onions. Place them in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot along with the butter, apple cider vinegar, and honey. Cook for 2 hours over medium-low heat until onions are caramelized and dark brown, stirring occasionally. Add the balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Cook for an additional 45 minutes then place in a large bowl for blending  (or if you have a blender or food processor, place the onion into that!).
2. While the onions caramelize, slice the top 1/4" off the top of each garlic bulb to expose the cloves. Grease a casserole dish then place all garlic bubs in sliced-side up. Generously drizzle with olive oil, cover with foil and roast for 35-45 minutes until garlic is tender and golden. Let the garlic cool, then use a butter knife to pop out each clove into the same bowl (or blender) where you put the onions (it doesn't matter which order you put things together for blending, so if you want to wait to roast the garlic until the end of the caramelizing time, go for it!)
3. Preheat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Chop the bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon onto a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Cover with foil and place in refrigerator until you are ready to blend the jam.
4. Once all cooking is finished, place the caramelized onions, roasted garlic, and bacon in a large bowl and blend with a hand immersion blender until still slightly chunky (or place directly into a food processor or blender and do the same - you want a chunky jam consistency). 
5.  Use a funnel (wide-mouthed for canning) to distribute the jam evenly between six 8 ounce jars. Jam will last up to 2 weeks refrigerated. Serve it warmed up with fresh dinner rolls, on pork chops, in a sandwich, with water crackers and brie... or on a spoon? Yeah. That's also a good option. 

I added tags and expiration dates to the jars I gave away, and wrapped them in tissue paper for an easy but festive look. I brought a jar of this jam and a loaf of homemade French bread for Christmas morning, and it was delicious along with scrambled eggs and coffee.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels with Toffee Pieces

Contributing to a bake sale is a fun excuse to try out new treats that we don't normally make at home. I really love sweet and salty foods, especially in desserts, and chocolate-covered pretzels are one of the best examples of that combo. Plus, they look adorable and that's how you first snag customers at a bake sale!

This week my boyfriend's work was hosting a holiday bake sale so I made a batch of these pretzels for him to bring along.  This bake sale treat is quite inexpensive to make, less than $15 for all the ingredients and you can purchase little bags and ribbons from most dollar stores or craft supply stores for a relatively low price. We ended up with over 100 pretzels plus all the broke bits that I mixed into the leftover chocolate and toffee bits at the end, so it was pretty successful in my book.

Of course, as with many of the recipes I share, you can put your own spin on this treat (such as crushed peppermint candies, sprinkles, or toasted coconut) if you're not a fan of toffee. 

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of pretzels
• 3 cups dark chocolate chips (2 packages)
• 1 1/2 cups toffee pieces (I used 1 package of Skor bits)

Equipment: parchment paper

Directions:

1. Prepare the toffee bits by placing them in a small bowl for easy access later. 
2. Pour the chocolate into a double boiler and melt until smooth. If you do not have a double boiler place a bowl filled with the chips over a pot of shallow, slowly simmering water. You do not want the bowl to be touching the water, it needs to rest above it so the steam will gently melt the chocolate (this way you won't risk burning your chocolate). Please check first to make sure the bowl fits snugly on top of the pan as you do not want any large space between the bowl and the pan. 
3. One at a time, dip a pretzel into the chocolate, shake lightly to let excess chocolate drizzle off, then place on a sheet of parchment. Sprinkle with toffee bits, then repeat for remaining pretzels. (This can be made more efficient by working with someone and having one person be the dipper and the other working to sprinkle toffee). 
4. Let the pretzels cool to room temperature until no longer glossy and chocolate has set, approximately 2 hours. Gently pull the pretzels off the parchment and separate into bags for the bake sale (or into a large tupperware container). Store sealed at room temperature.

Helpful hint:  I hand dipped each pretzel to ensure that they would remain intact and because I also liked the exposed pretzel for easy no-melt handling later on. If you're pressed for time and not concerned about having bits and pieces rather than separate full pretzels you can cut down on the work by gently mixing the pretzels straight into the chocolate. Then use a spoon to spread the pretzels out on a large span of parchment, sprinkle the toffee bits on top and let it cool like that. It won't be as pretty but it will still be delicious!

Roasted Chicken with a Rosemary-Salt Crust

Roasted chicken is something that we make on a weekly basis, and what I love most about chicken is how many ways it can be seasoned and used. Essentially, this means we don't get tired of it because it's a bit different each time. This week I forgot to marinate the chicken overnight as I usually try to do so I decided to be a bit heavy-handed with the seasonings to ensure maximum flavor. What resulted was a mouthwatering, golden, salty crust over a juicy rosemary flavored chicken. Even better, the leftovers were delicious simply chopped and served cold in a salad. Hooray for leftovers!

Ingredients:

• 1 roasting chicken
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 tablespoon cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Mix the salt, rosemary, and pepper in a small bowl.  Rub the oil all over the chicken. Gently rub the salt mixture all over the chicken. Place the chicken breast-up on a greased and foil-covered roasting pan. Sprinkle any of the remaining salt mixture evenly over the chicken.
3. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 F and bake for an additional 55-65 minutes.
4. Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving (I tipped the chicken to let any excess salt fall off).

Split Pea and Ham Soup Version 3.0

This is the third split pea and ham soup I've posted and while it may seem redundant, they are each different in their own wonderful way which is why I can't just let it slide. It's also a bit on the ugly duckling side of things appearance-wise, so I feel obligated to expose the beauty of its flavor over and over and over until we can all agree that split pea soup is awesome.

This soup is great for many reasons but let me touch on the two most important ones. 1) The flavors only get better with time so one pot of soup will cover at least a few days' worth of lunches or easy repeat dinners. 2) It's really really really easy to make. It takes nearly 3 hours from start to finish, but your actual active time will be more like 10 minutes. This is another recipe that is great to try when you will be home for that amount of time busying yourself with other chores or projects. I made this soup, Asiago French Bread (it makes a guest appearance in this post as a dipper for the soup), did laundry, and organized my craft bins in that 3 hour time. Hooray for multitasking!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and grated
• 2 cups dry split green peas
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2-3 cups chopped ham (ends and pieces from your local butcher are perfect for this, meat from a slow cooked ham hock would work, or you can use bacon if you're feeling sinful)
• 2 tsp red chili flakes
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dill
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions: 

1. Heat a large heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the butter, onion and carrots, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add all ingredients except the balsamic vinegar. Cover with a lid and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally (about once every 30 minutes). If the soup is quite thick, add 1/2 cup of water at a time as needed. Should be smooth, not thich like mashed potatoes!
2. Once the split peas have cooked down (at the two hour mark they should have basically melted apart in the soup) add the balsamic vinegar and give it a good stir. Cover and simmer an additional 30 minutes, then serve hot with crusty bread and a light salad. 

See I told you the soup was not too sexy lookin'. Don't worry, just turn down the lights and enjoy. Just kidding please don't eat hot soup in the dark. Bad, bad idea.

For leftovers reheat the soup with a splash of chicken stock or water to thin it out as needed.

Asiago French Bread

There is a bit of a dark cloud that comes with homemade bread. It's a sense of dread that can be quite a wall for some people, myself included. I find my mind flooded with self-doubt and excuses like I don't have time for the dough to rise or Kneading is hard or What if it doesn't taste good after all that work?

But you know what? Those are pretty silly reasons to skip homemade bread. Yes, it takes time. But what about that time when you spent the entire day at home slowly tidying and doing laundry without stepping foot outside? Or that afternoon you spent watching the entire season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix? Heck, even a day or afternoon where you only are out and about for no more than an hour  or two at a time? Yes, my friends, those are all examples of you having enough time to make homemade bread. Especially this bread. Asiago French Bread.

Start-to-finish this recipe takes roughly 3 hours. But actual hands-on effort is more like 10 minutes. Yes, 10 minutes. The other time you will simply be waiting: for the dough to rise or for the loaf to bake. Plus, the taste of homemade bread is just indescribably better than store-bought. Plain and simple. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups all purpose flour + extra for dusting your work surface 
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan (use a microplane grater if you have it!)

Directions:

1. Pour the water into a large bowl, then add the yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for 5 minutes. Prepare a work surface for kneading your dough by generously scattering flour  on it (I also place a small bowl with extra flour for easy scattering later on if needed).
2. Add the salt and vinegar, stir to mix, then add the flour. Use your hands to combine the dough, then take the dough to the prepared work surface for kneading.  Knead for about 7-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic (no longer shaggy but still slightly sticky to touch).
3. Clean out the bowl you used for mixing so you can minimize dishes later on. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the bowl, turning to coat. Place the dough into the bowl and turn to coat with the oil. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the dough rise undisturbed for 1 1/2 hrs or longer if needed. Check the dough: stick your finger in the dough - if the dough springs back let it rise another 15 minutes and test again. Dough is ready when the indent remains. 
4. Punch down the dough and scatter the cheese across the dough, then fold into itself to form into a ball (will be all greased up from the oil so don't expect perfection, not much handling is needed or helpful). Place the dough on a baking sheet (or a bread stone if you have it!!). Let the dough rise again in a warm place undisturbed for 45 minutes. Brush the loaf with olive oil, then season with salt. Let the dough rise again for another 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven while the dough rises to 400 F. Place one rack on the lowest shelf and one rack in the center of the oven. 
6. Pour 4 cups of water into a pan then place on the bottom rack in the oven. Slash the top of the dough into a crisscross or swirl, then place the pan on the middle rack in the oven and bake the bread for 35 minutes. The loaf with be golden brown and will sound hollow if you lightly knock on it. Place on a wire rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. 

Serve as is with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to dip, or toasted and topped with your favorite sliced meats. Or make a sandwich. Or dip it in some soup. Or slather it with jelly. 

This recipe has been adapted from the French Bread recipe in this Bon Appétit cookbook  (which, by the way, is a fantastic cookbook).