Pages, Pucks and Pantry

The Kispy Kreme Burger at Mojo Burger

I've been hearing about a burger made with a Krispy Kreme donut as the "bun" for years. Also known as a Luther Burger, this treat has been on my radar for years. Alas, most of the Krispy Kreme restaurants closed around here during the low-carb craze. You can though, find Krispy Kreme donuts pretty much at every grocery store in the area...boxes of the cake or glazed or even donut holes sit on tables near the entrance of even gourmet grocery places around here.

But cold, old, glazed donuts don't do much for me. I prefer them warm right out of the oven. My favorite  donut actually comes from Stan's Donut Shop in Santa Clara. There is nothing like a hot, warm, glazed donut fresh out of their fryer. Seriously, if you are in the area, you need to check them out. But a Krispy Kreme donut? It's been ages since I've had one.

Cue to the end of last year when I saw that one of our local burger joints, Mojo Burgers, was having a special. $5 for a Krispy Kreme Burger. Really? It kinda helped that there was a Mojo's right near where we lived. A Krispy Kreme Burger? Of course we had to check it out!

When Mr. L and I placed our order, we decided to get just one Krispy Kreme Burger to split between the two of us. Because really, how good could it be? It's kind of like the old trick where when you cook something new for guests you have the number to a local pizza delivery place on hand just in case. Just in case the donut burger sucked, we ordered a second "normal" burger to split between us.

And then the Krispy Kreme Burger arrived. And it had cheese! Fer cryin out loud, cheese and donuts?  Cheese and donuts and bacon and hamburger? This was going to be awful! So we split the donut burger in half and each of us tentatively took a bite. Then we took another. Then another. Then we both realized the other should have bought their own damn Krispy Kreme Burger! Yep, Mr. L and I are indeed fans of this rather strange donut burger.

Now before you cry foul, think about it for a minute. The donut is just like having some maple syrup on your bacon or sausage when you get pancakes at your local breakfast place. Or say the sweetness of having caramelized onions on your burger. And the cheese? I think it's just in there to counteract the sweetness of the donut, though next time we'd probably get the burger without cheese. But the donut burger as a whole? It honestly didn't taste half bad. Would I get it again? Sure (of course maybe after I've run a marathon to work off the calories). But it was worth trying at least once, so if you have a chance, go for it.

Alas, Mojo Burgers no longer offers this amazing hamburger treat. But all is not lost to anyone in the San Jose area. You see, I hear a new Krispy Kreme will be opening up at The Plant soon (between Wing Stop and Five Guys)...which will give each of us a chance to make our own delicious Krispy Kreme Burgers! Parties at my house!

Creamy Bacon, Tomato, and Avocado Pasta Salad

I've come across many different recipes and versions of this salad on the net over the years, but never got around to trying any of them out. It's basically a BLT with avocado in salad form (and I almost always add avocado to my BLT's!!). There's even a version out there that includes hard boiled eggs (I may have to try that in my BLT one of these days). While perusing my newest obsession (yes Pinterest) I came across another version of the BLT With Avocado Salad and thought it was high time to make it. I figured it was a perfect dish to serve on a warm summer night and since it came from the Life's Ambroisa blog (a favorite of mine) I knew that I'd like the final results.

The recipe was a bit salty (but I'm not complaining), but that just meant I didn't have to add any additional salt. I think the bacon I used was salty enough (I used some gourmet thick cut) and of course I added 8 slices not 6 (and since it was thick cut, that was probably more bacon than really called for, but when has that ever stopped me?). I liked the creaminess of the dressing. Not necessarily low cal, but since we divided this into four, that's only an eigth of a cup of mayo :)

Very nice simple pasta salad recipe to have on hand. The pasta and the bacon and even the dressing can all be made ahead of time to just throw together with the tomatoes and avocados when you get home from work. We put this over some lettuce to stretch it out a bit, to make it a bit healthier, and to make it more of a main dish than a side salad.

CREAMY BACON, TOMATO, AND AVOCADO PASTA SALAD
(Life's Ambrosia)

(Recipe calls for Bacon, Rotini Pasta, Mayonnaise, Fresh Lemon Juice, Garlic Powder, White Pepper, Dried Dill, Cherry Tomatoes and Avocados).

Serves 4

Note: I used fresh dill because I had some on hand

Note: I used a bit more than one avocado.

Note: I think maybe I'll add some shredded parmesan next time I make this.

A nice salad to put in rotation. You can check out the recipe from Life's Ambrosia here.

 

Small Plates - August 26, 2011

I don't really think I need to post anything else today, now do I?

Thank Something of That Ilk for todays Bacon Goodness.

Baked Muffins, Eggs & Bacon

I actually found this recipe in one of the Wolferman's catalogs that get delivered frequently to my house. It's close to the Baked Eggs In Ham Shells I make and sounded like a great idea to do something a bit different with English Muffins.

Basically you hollow out some English Muffins, line them with some semi-cooked bacon, crack in an egg and bake. I think this would make a wonderful brunch presentation. Since we have so many different flavors of muffins in our freezer (we pretty much bought one package of every flavor Wolferman's had at the time) we can vary the final taste outcome a bit. The Wolferman's Signature Muffins are what work best with this recipe as the muffins are taller than normal (they are about two inches in height).

BAKED MUFFINS, EGGS & BACON

4 Slices Peppered Bacon
4 Wolferman's English Muffins
4 Large Eggs
Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bacon: Cook bacon in large saute pan (skillet) over medium heat until fairly done, but not crisp. Transfer to paper towels.

Muffins: Remove 1/8 inch from top. Use a 2 1/2-3 inch round biscuit cutter and press down approximately 1/2 inch on the fop of the muffin. With a spoon, scoop the cut portion out, be careful not to dig in too deep. Butter the muffin and lightly toast.

Wrap one piece of bacon around the outside of the cut hole in each muffin. Gently crack one egg into each center of the remaining well.

Place on a sheet pan, and bake eggs until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 14 to 16 minutes.

Garnish: Fresh Snipped Chives (I didn't use this)

Note: I used some thick sliced bacon I had that was not peppered. I used Wolferman's Jalapeno Cheddar English Muffins.

Note: You need to leave these muffins whole and not split them.

Note: I didn't bother with the biscuit cutter to take the middle of the muffin out. I cut around the edge with a knife and then just took out the center with a spoon. I did kinda get too close to one edge of one of the muffins and it broke. I just took some of the hollowed out muffin bits and used a toothpick and stuck it back together.

Note: My bacon didn't go all the way around the muffin. You can make more bacon and use bits to fill in but otherwise it's not a problem.

Note: Hard to judge when these are actually done as one minute the whites were still runny and the next the yolks were done. Since I don't really like my  yolks runny, I compensated by liberally buttering my muffin beforehand.

Note: Don't worry about the "unused" muffin stuffing... cook them in a bit of butter and use as topping on some Mac and Cheese.

Every once in a while I do like to do more than just the basics for Sunday breakfast without having to go to a lot of work. This was perfect. I've also made big batches of bacon the night before so that all I had to do was put this together in the morning. It's fun to try different bacon and different flavors of muffins in this. I also at various times might add a dash of hot sauce to the eggs or a bit of cheese. Or more bacon. Nothing wrong with some crisp bacon bits to decorate the top of the egg.

 

Chinese Glazed Salmon

Since I'm not a huge fan of cooked salmon*, any way I can find to eat it that disguises the fact that it really is cooked salmon, works for me. When I saw that the Seduced by Bacon cookbook had a salmon recipe that incorporated bacon, I figured bacon was a great way to hide that there was actually fish on my plate. Bacon is a great leveler when it comes to dishes I might not normally try.

The first thing to say is that my finished dish was not the least bit appetizing looking. I had some gourmet type bacon that was too thick and not lean enough to wrap around the bacon as shown in the cookbooks photograph. I'd use thinner bacon next time. But I actually did eat my entire piece of salmon. Adding the bacon really helped and the taste of the Chinese type barbecue sauce that's used here gave the salmon a flavor that, although it didn't exactly rock my world, allowed me to eat the whole portion without too much fuss. Mr. L on the other hand, who is a big fan of fish in general and loves salmon, loved the dish. So there. For salmon lovers and for "bacon will get me to eat anything" lovers. If you are one of the later, it helps to cook up a bit  of extra bacon so you have a big piece of bacon with each bite of fish.

You can make the barbecue sauce the night before to make this a quick after work dinner. But since the sauce only takes about 20 minutes to make, this can still be a quick meal even if you don't prep the night before.

*I must state that I don't like 'cooked' salmon. Raw salmon? Good salmon sashimi is a favorite. And hamachi. Super albacore. Maguro tuna. I have no idea why I can eat fish raw but not cooked. Great mystery in my household that may never be answered. So when I say I'm not a fan of fish, just know I'm talking about cooked fish.

CHINESE GLAZED SALMON

FOR THE BARBECUE SAUCE:

2/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup medium sherry
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons black bean paste
1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

FOR THE FISH:

1 teaspoon oil
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, cut about 1 inch wide, blotted on paper towels
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons purchased or home-made Chinese barbecue sauce (see above)
6 slices lean bacon, cut crosswise in half
Thinly sliced scallions, including most of green parts, to garnish

To Make the Barbecue Sauce:
Combine all ingredients in a double boiler and simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, about 10-12 minutes. Store the unused portion in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator.

Broil the Fish:
Turn on the broiler. Position the rack about 4 inches from the heat.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick, oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salmon, flesh-side down, and saute until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Turn, season the fish with salt and pepper to taste, spread the barbecue sauce over the flesh side, and drape three half-slices of bacon diagonally over the top of each fillet, sticking toothpicks through the ends of the strips into the salmon to hold the bacon in place.

Transfer the fish to the broiler and cook until the bacon is crisp and the salmon is just cooked through, about 10 minutes for 1-inch-thick salmon fillets. Remove, discard the toothpicks, sprinkle with scallions and serve.

Serves 4

Note: I made the barbecue sauce recipe included above (the sauce/glaze was very good).

Note: I used a cut of bacon that was too thick and didn't cook at the same time as the fish (the salmon was done before the bacon was cooked crisp). I'd use thinner bacon next time.

Note: I did add a pinch of red pepper flakes. The finished dish wasn't spicy to me at all.

Note: I did not use a double boiler to make the sauce. It seemed to turn out fine just carefully cooking it in a small pot on the stove.

Note: You will need the toothpicks.

Note: Mr. L loved the leftover salmon with bacon in a salad the next day.

 

 

 

Denny's Baconalia - Everywhere

Let me start out by saying I have nothing against Denny's. I've eaten there many times in my life. Back in the day, Denny's was pretty much the best place to find halfway decent breakfasts when you were traveling. And lets be honest....at two in the morning when I was young and broke and I knew my hangover was only hours away? An 'open all night' Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast fit the bill.

And let me also point out that I don't care what people say, Bacon will never be out of favor. Bacon is not a fad, bacon is not the latest foodie craze, bacon has and always will be one of the four major food groups (along with butter, salt and cheese). I've rarely found anything with bacon that I haven't liked and yes, I do own bacon lip gloss!

All that being said...run, fast and far, away from Denny's Baconalia promotion. Ick. Yuk. So not worth the buildup and a perfect waste of bacon. I actually went there the first week the promotion was out and it took me this long to get over the experience enough so that I could actually blog about it. Yuk. Ick.

I started off with the Bacon Meatloaf. This is supposed to be meatloaf with "diced bacon baked right in" and "topped with hickory ketchup and more diced bacon for an additional layer of rich smokiness". Now, I've had meatloaf before at Denny's and while it wasn't close to Mom's or even school cafeteria meatloaf, it at least looked like meatloaf. This stuff looked like it had been shoved tightly in a large juice can, cooked, pushed out and then sliced into the perfect rounds you see above (in all fairness, this is exactly how the meatloaf looks in the ads too). But this meatloaf had shiny tops and sides. Seriously, when has shiny meat ever been a good thing? But I tried it anyway. It didn't taste like bacon. Heck it didn't even taste like meatloaf. Bland as could be. Then there was the "sauce" on top that to me, seemed like congealed fat. It at least had some flavor to go with the tasteless meatloaf hockey puck.  Then Denny's threw a few small pieces of bacon on top. And me, who can eat anything bacon...did not finish the dish. Yeah, it was that bad.

So I moved on to dessert. Now if you read about Denny's Maple Bacon Sundae, the description on Denny's website or look at photos of this dish, you will notice there are supposed to be layers. Lots of maple syrup on bottom, middle and top with a layer of bacon also in the middle and on top. Not what I got. There was barely a tablespoon of maple syrup throughout the entire sundae and only the bacon pieces you see scattered on top.

This didn't taste bad. Maple syrup and vanilla ice cream go well together and adding bacon gives it a nice crunch and smokey flavor. It's just that I really think it needed more maple syrup (and more bacon of course) to really make this ice cream dessert work. Again, it wasn't bad, but I wouldn't order it again (and I'm thinking I could make a much better version at home).

I might also add that I tried this at a Denny's local to me. The service was horrid. My mom had pancakes and bacon and it looked like they had cooked the bacon into nothingness. But, the coffee was actually pretty damn good. This is the second Denny's locally that has failed to wow me. Maybe I need to try a Denny's near a freeway??

But still. You so failed me Denny's, I've had bacon chocolate, bacon cupcakes, bacon donuts, bacon flavored ice cream...but this was the first time I tried something with bacon that I couldn't eat! That's just not right.

Cranberry-Pomegranate Relish

I saw this on The Bitten Word's blog (looove them) before I even picked up my November 2010 Everyday Food Magazine. I've never been a fan of Cranberry Relish or Sauce but the idea of putting some pomegranates which I love, into the mix sounded intriguing. So I decided to give it a try.

Loved it. No offense to those that make their own cranberry relish or the canned stuff, but I'd eat this Cranberry-Pomegranate Relish any time. I absolutely loved the little tart taste it had and found it blended beautifully with our Thanksgiving turkey. Like The Bitten Word gents, I think this may make an appearance sometime other than the holidays.

Now, before you go running and screaming from making this dish because it contains pomegranate seeds and you refuse to destroy your kitchen/floors/clothes by trying to de-seed a pomegranate and getting that red juice all over everything, I came across a non running and screaming way to get those seeds out. I've tried seeding pomegranates before by working with them under water but there were a few steps missing in my procedure which really helped. First, cut the crown end of the pomegranate off. Then score the sides several times (like you would an orange) down to the seeds. Place the pomegranate cut side down into a big bowl of water. Let set for 5 minutes for the pomegranate to soak up the water. Then, keeping the pomegranate under the water, peel apart and start to "rub out" the seeds. The seeds will drop to the bottom and those pesky membranes will float to the top. Pour the water and membranes off and, behold! Pomegranate seeds! So stinking easy. You never have to deal with that pesky juice getting on anything. You can find a video of what I'm talking about here from the wonderful folks at Fine Cooking. Seriously. Try this method!

CRANBERRY-POMEGRANATE RELISH
(from Everyday Food November 2010)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 bag (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium-high. Add shallots; cook, stirring constantly, until softened, 3 minutes. Add cranberries, pomegranate juice and brown sugar; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have burst and sauce is slightly thickened, 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in pomegranate seeds (if using). Let cool to room temperature before serving. (To store, refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 1 week. Use any leftovers as a sandwich spread or stirred into yogurt as a dip).

Note: I used a fresh bag of cranberries. I used POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

Note: I did throw in the pomegranate seeds.

Note: It took almost 15 minutes for the sauce to thicken and for the cranberries to burst to my liking. We have a gas stove so amount of heat might have been the issue.

We had three different types of cranberry relish at the Thanksgiving table which was perfect because each one of us have different taste buds. The relish on the left had a beautiful, bright, mandarin citrus flavor, the one in the middle was my tart pomegranate version and the one on the right was the more traditional cranberry version. I snuck this photo before we plated everything. Gotta love Thanksgiving and all the options!

Pasta with Crumbled Bacon and Melting Onions

Not sure why I went back to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook for a recipe, since I've already cooked from it before (Roasted Asparagus). Of course the recipe has bacon in the title and we all know how I feel about bacon. It could be because I had some extra onions on hand. Or maybe I was craving pasta. Or maybe it was just reading the words "melting onions" that made me decide that I needed, no I had to make this dish.

This pasta dish was rich and flavorful, but that might have a lot to do with the really good bacon I used, and the amount of bacon fat. I wasn't really sure about this recipe at first as it seemed like a lot of onions. Because there was no cream, I also thought it would turn out to be very dry but that wasn't the case. Here is where, again, I wish more precise measurements were given. Two medium onions? I had two what I thought were small onions, and it made three cups worth of minced onions. Plus, it said "half the bacon fat". Man, there was almost a cup of bacon fat! So, I did what it said and left in about half the remaining bacon fat...not that I saw anything wrong with that.

This was a simple dish to make but it did take some time. You have to really like onions to like this dish because it obviously tastes very oniony. But it's bacon oniony so it's worth it. The onions kind of just melt into the dish, thus the name, but they are still there.

PASTA WITH CRUMBLED BACON AND MELTING ONIONS

1 pound sliced bacon
2 large white or red onions, minced
salt
3/4 pound spaghetti
1/4 to 1/3 pound parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated
freshly ground black pepper
handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Place a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat and add the bacon. Fry the bacon, making sure that the rendered fat does not begin to smoke or burn, until the bacon is almost crisp but not dark, 5 - 10 minutes. Using a fork or tongs, transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. When cool enough to handle, crumble into a small bowl and set aside.

Pour off one-half of the bacon drippings and return the pan to medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook very slowly, stirring often, until they melt into the bacon fat. This will take about 30 minutes. The onions should be a caramel brown; do not allow them to blacken.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the onions are almost ready, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Scoop out and reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and then drain the pasta.

Add the drained pasta to the onions in the skillet and toss over medium-low heat, add the reserved pasta water as needed to moisten, until the pasta is evenly coated with the sauce.

Transfer to a warmed serving bowl, sprinkle with half of the crumbled bacon and half of the cheese, and toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper and toss again. Scatter the parsley and the rest of the crumbled bacon over the top and serve. Pass the rest of the cheese at the table. Serves 4.

Note: I used white onions.

Note: I used a lot of cheese. Probably put all 1/3 cup in the mixture and then grated more for the top.

Note: It took more than 30 minutes, probably closer to 45, for my onions to get to what I thought was the desired doneness based on the recipe.

Note: Because it seemed dry, I ended up putting the entire half cup of pasta liquid in the dish.

Deep Fried Bacon

The reason I haven't been able to post:

A) I'm training for a 5K that's this weekend.

B) I'm working two offices in two different cities so lots of overtime and no time for blogging.

C) I'm still swooning over the Deep Fried party where we deep fried bacon, grilled cheese sandwiches, a turkey, a few chickens, macaroni and cheese, Twinkies, Spam, Twix, eggs, Oreo Cakesters, onions, asparagus, various other vegetables, chimichangas and pickles . 

D) All of the above.

I'd give you the answer, but HELLO people DEEP FRIED BACON!!!!!

Food Fashion Friday

An iPad bacon case. No really.

Check out the Antjes' etsy shop here. You can also get a matching case for your iPhone and if bacon alone isn't enough try the one with eggs.