Bacon Nation: 125 Irresistible Recipes (24 page)

5
Set the skillet over medium heat and add the reserved 1½ teaspoons of bacon fat. Add the chopped livers, if using, and the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the livers are lightly browned and the garlic is fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Scrape the liver mixture into the bowl with the mushrooms. Add the bread crumbs, parsley, and drained bacon to the bowl. Sprinkle the brandy or sherry over the stuffing and toss to moisten. Season the stuffing with salt and pepper to taste.

6
Place the hens in the prepared roasting pan. Loosely fill the main and neck cavities of each hen with about ¾ cup of stuffing. Place any additional stuffing in a small ovenproof ramekin baking dish. Dot the top of the stuffing with the butter and cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Tuck the wings under the hens and tie their legs together with butcher’s string. Season the hens lightly with salt and pepper and arrange them in the roasting pan without touching, breast side up. Cut the remaining slice of bacon in half crosswise and place one half across the breast of each hen.

7
Bake the hens for 20 minutes, then rotate the roasting pan 180 degrees so the back of the pan faces the front of the oven. Reduce the heat to 375˚F and bake the hens until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh, but not touching a bone, registers 165˚F, 20 to 25 minutes longer. The exact roasting time will depend on the size of the hens. Remove the baking dish of stuffing from the oven once the stuffing is warmed through and lightly crisped on top, about 25 minutes.

8
Remove the hens from the oven, cover them loosely with aluminum foil, and let them rest for about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the string from around the legs of the hens. You can serve the hens whole or use a sharp chef’s knife or poultry shears to cut the hens in half from front to back along the breast and backbones. Set the whole or halved hens on a platter and serve with the additional stuffing and the chutney.

Halibut Poached in Bacon Broth with Baby Spinach and Creamer Potatoes

 

In This Chapter

Flaky Cod Fillets with Bacon and Wine-Braised Fennel

Lentil Salad with Seared Yellowfin Tuna and Bacon-Scallion Garnish

Crusted Salmon with Avocado and Red Onion Green Salad

Halibut Poached in Bacon Broth with Baby Spinach and Creamer Potatoes

Bacon and Shrimp Risotto with Spinach

Lake House Clambake with Bacon Ginger Herb Broth

Mussels with Saffron, Bacon, and Tomato

Sea Scallops Bronzed in Clarified Butter with Oven-Braised Bacon

Mediterranean Seafood Stew with Bacon

History does not record who first paired bacon with seafood. Probably it was the first person who raised a pig near a body of water, because the two are really made for each other. With such mild-fleshed fish as cod or halibut, bacon adds some oomph to the flavor as in Flakey Cod Fillets with Bacon and Wine-Braised Fennel or Halibut Poached in Bacon Broth with Baby Spinach and Creamer Potatoes. With such strongly flavored fish as salmon and tuna, bacon has the brawn to turn an assertive recipe into a powerhouse, as in Crusted Salmon with Avocado and Red Onion Green Salad. As for shellfish, we’ve never met one that didn’t go swimmingly—hmm, can shellfish swim?—with bacon. From the intensity of Mussels with Saffron, Bacon, and Tomato to the delicate nuances of Sea Scallops Bronzed in Clarified Butter with Oven-Braised Bacon to our neoclassic, slightly Asian-inflected Lake House Clambake with Bacon Ginger Herb Broth, our feeling is if it comes in a shell or had a fin, and once had a curly tail and went
oink,
it’s worth combining in a recipe. “Surf ’n’ snout” is our motto.

Serves 4

One day, while walking down a narrow and beautiful old street in Rome, we happened to pass by a local lunch spot when the chef—by the looks of her, the best-fed customer at her own restaurant—lifted the lid from a pan of artichokes and was enveloped by a great billow of wine-scented steam. The idea for rapid wine steaming came from that moment. Adding white wine in small amounts to a pan of thin fennel slices, tossing them with bacon toward the end of the cooking time, and then laying a fillet of fish on top and letting it steam for a few minutes makes for a simple one-pot meal, or in this case, a one-skillet meal. Moist flaky cod is perfection, but we have tried it with more delicate fish such as freshly caught flounder or, as a way to welcome spring, by using the first shad fillets of the year.

We have been making this recipe for many years. Recently, inspired by the delicious old-time sauerkraut recipe of Virginia McIlwain of Rockford, Illinois, we have started to add ½ teaspoon of caraway seeds. Yum.

4 slices bacon, diced

2 medium-size fennel bulbs

2 tablespoons (¼ stick) unsalted butter

2 cups dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc

4 cod fillets (each about 1½ inches thick and 6 ounces)

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1
Cook the bacon in a large skillet (the skillet should be large enough to hold all 4 cod fillets in a single layer) over medium heat until the bacon is lightly browned and most of the fat is rendered, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel, leaving a thin film of bacon fat.

2
Cut the fennel bulbs in quarters lengthwise. Using a mandoline or chef’s knife, cut the fennel into thin slices.

3
Add the butter to the skillet and cook over medium heat until the butter melts and foams. Add the fennel and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add a splash of wine. It should turn to steam immediately; if it doesn’t, increase the heat. Add 2 or 3 more tablespoons of wine and cover the skillet but not super tightly; you want steam to escape. Keep adding a splash of wine every 2 minutes or so, as the liquid evaporates, replacing the lid so that the fennel continues to steam rapidly in the wine. After approximately 10 minutes, the fennel should still be slightly crunchy with a pleasant, tart taste from the wine. Add the drained bacon to the fennel and stir to combine.

4
Reduce the heat to low. Arrange the cod fillets on the bed of fennel, cover the skillet, and let the cod steam until cooked through, about 8 minutes.

5
Transfer a cod fillet to a serving plate by sliding a metal spatula under the fennel and bacon mixture so that you lift it and the cod fillet out of the skillet in one movement. Repeat with the remaining cod fillets. Drizzle some olive oil over the cod fillets and season them with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4

This is actually two recipes in one. For a very simple main course or side salad, you can prepare the delicious lentil salad on its own. Or, as we do here, use the lentils as a bed for seared slices of tuna. Bacon and lentils are natural partners: Bacon’s saltiness and umami wake up the subtle flavor of lentils.

There are so many ways to vary this lentil dish. You can substitute shallots for the scallions or add sautéed mushrooms or spinach. Try curry powder rather than cumin, or perk the salad up with a little hot sauce or crushed red pepper flakes. French lentils, also called green lentils, are easy to find in specialty food markets and, more and more, in regular supermarkets. If you can’t find them, you can use the more commonly found brown lentils, but we strongly recommend the little green guys: They’re more tender and cook more quickly.

For the lentil salad

1¼ cups French green lentils (lentilles du Puy), rinsed and picked over

1 small onion, peeled and cut in half

2 whole cloves

1 medium-size carrot, trimmed, peeled, and cut into quarters

1 large clove garlic, peeled and lightly crushed with the flat side of a chef’s knife

1 bay leaf

3½ cups low-sodium chicken stock or water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon ground cumin

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the bacon-scallion garnish and tuna

5 slices thick-cut bacon, sliced crosswise into ½-inch-wide pieces

4 scallions, both white and green parts, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chicken stock or water

4 yellowfin tuna steaks, each about 1 inch thick and 6 ounces

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 thin lemon or lime wedges

1
Prepare the lentil salad: Place the lentils in a medium-size saucepan. Stud each onion half with a clove and add them and the carrot, garlic, and bay leaf to the saucepan. Add the 3½ cups of stock or water, season with salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, reduce the heat as necessary and let simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are almost tender, 20 to 25 minutes. (Taste the lentils after about 15 minutes and every 4 to 5 minutes thereafter; be careful not to overcook the lentils or they will become mushy.) As the lentils cook, using a large spoon, skim off any foam or solids that rise to the top. When the lentils are done cooking, drain them, setting aside 1 tablespoon of the cooking liquid in a medium-size mixing bowl. Discard the onion halves, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf. Transfer the lentils to the bowl with the cooking liquid.

2
Place the vinegar, mustard, and cumin in a small mixing bowl and stir to mix. Whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is well blended. Pour the dressing over the lentils and toss well to combine. Cover the lentil salad with aluminum foil to keep it warm and set it aside.

3
Prepare the bacon-scallion garnish and tuna: Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until the bacon is lightly browned and most of the fat is rendered, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary. Add the scallions and cook, stirring often, until the scallions are softened and the bacon is crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon and scallions to a paper towel-lined plate, blot them with paper towels to absorb the excess fat, and set the garnish aside.