Bacon Nation: 125 Irresistible Recipes (30 page)

4
You want to toss the linguine with the clam sauce just after the pasta is drained. So, while waiting for the pasta water to boil, start making the clam sauce. Add the clams, garlic, thyme or oregano, clam juice, white wine, and crushed red pepper flakes to the skillet, cover the skillet, and let come to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat as necessary and let the mixture simmer until the clams start to open, 4 to 6 minutes depending upon the size of the clams. Uncover the skillet and, using tongs, transfer any clams that have opened to a bowl. Cover the skillet again and continue cooking, checking frequently for opened clams and transferring them to the bowl. Discard any clams that do not open after 8 minutes. Increase the heat to high and cook the sauce until it is reduced by about half. Reduce the heat to low, add the ¾ cup cream, and let the sauce simmer gently, stirring often, until it thickens slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.

5
Return the opened clams to the skillet with any juices in the bowl and add the basil and the drained bacon. Cover the sauce, set it aside, and keep it warm.

6
When the linguine is done, drain it and return it to the pot. Set aside 8 of the clams. Add the remaining clams and skillet sauce, the Parmigiano Reggiano, and a couple of grindings of black pepper to the linguine and toss to mix well. If the sauce is too thick or a little dry, add a little more light cream to moisten it as desired. Cook over low heat until warmed through, about 1 minute. Divide the pasta and clam sauce among 4 individual serving bowls, garnishing each serving with the reserved clams. Serve immediately with more Parmigiano Reggiano on the side for those who want it.

Grilled Tomatoes Stuffed with Bacon, Basil, and Blue Cheese

 

In This Chapter

Slow-Cooker Pulled Bacon and Bourbon Beans

Tuscan White Beans with Slab Bacon and Sage

Broccoli Rabe with Bacon and Garlic

Apple and Bacon Brussels Sprout Hash

Three “Bs”—Butternut Squash, Bacon, Brussels Sprouts

Bacon-Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower with Bacon, Olives, and Thyme

Cauliflower Bacon Gratin

Utica Greens

Garlicky Rosemary Bacon and Kale

Bacon Mushroom Stew with Glazed Potatoes and Olives

Non-Suffering Succotash

Roasted Sweet Potato Sticks with Bacon-Bourbon Sauce

Tomatoes and Corn (“The Fire Song”)

Sweet Potato Pancakes with Bacon

Grilled Tomatoes Stuffed with Bacon, Basil, and Blue Cheese

There are very few rules for using bacon to liven up a recipe other than: If you like something, you might like it even more with a little bacon. Mario Batali once said that in Italy, “pancetta [Italian bacon] is considered a vegetable.” His was a comment made half in jest, but the other half is true. In other words, when bacon is used to heighten the flavor of really good vegetables harvested at their peak, you are not masking second-rate ingredients with the pleasing taste of bacon. That’s a big culinary no-no.

You will find that cooking vegetables with bacon allows you to be a more improvisational cook, a real advantage when you come home from work, are pressed for time, and need to put something wonderful on the table. So, when you next go vegetable shopping literally “bring home the bacon!” You’ll soon see how indispensible bacon will become to your pantry and everyday cooking. It will even help you be a more improvisational cook, an important skill to cultivate when you need something good, fast.

If you’re like us veggie enthusiasts and often make vegetables the star attraction and meat the supporting actor in a dish, you might consider serving some of these sides for the main course.

Serves 4

This slow-cooker baked bean recipe transforms slab bacon into a mouthwatering, shredded-pork tenderness. Bourbon picks up a sweet smokiness from the charred-oak barrels in which, by law, it is aged, so you might say bourbon was made to be paired with bacon. The beans and bacon are first parboiled to soften them somewhat, and then all the ingredients are dumped into the slow cooker and allowed to steam in a subtle and sweet bourbon-molasses sauce. While you can bake the beans in a very low oven, the combination of the slow cooker and beans, like bourbon and bacon, is a match made in food heaven.

2 whole cloves

1 small onion, cut in half

8 to 10 ounces slab bacon, rind removed (see
page 57
)

1½ cups dried cannellini beans, rinsed, drained, and picked over

⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar

⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pinch of salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 medium-size onion, diced

1¼ cups Jim Beam bourbon or your bourbon of choice

2 teaspoons molasses

1
Stud the side of each onion half with 1 whole clove. Place the onion halves and the bacon and beans in a large saucepan. Add water to cover the beans by about 2 inches. Cover the pan and let come to a boil over medium-high heat. Then, reduce the heat as necessary and let the beans simmer, partially covered, until the bacon renders some of its fat, about 5 minutes. Transfer the slab of bacon to a plate. Let the beans continue to simmer, partially covered, until they are just barely tender, 40 to 45 minutes.

2
As the beans cook, use a sharp knife to score the fat side of the bacon slab in a crosshatch or diamond pattern. Combine the brown sugar, cayenne pepper, salt, and a couple of grinds of black pepper on a plate. Generously coat the bacon slab on all sides in the brown sugar and pepper mixture and set it aside.

3
Drain the beans, discarding the cooking liquid, onion, and cloves (or you can save the cooking liquid for making soup or seasoning stews). Place the drained beans, the bacon, fat side up, and any remaining rub from the plate in a slow cooker. Add the diced onion, bourbon, and molasses. Cover the slow cooker and cook the beans until the bacon is very tender, 7 to 8 hours on low heat, 5 hours on high heat. When ready to serve, shred or cube the bacon, removing and discarding its layer of fat, if desired. (Some people like finding cubes of bacon fat in the bean pot, while others want the fat removed. It’s your choice.) Stir the bacon into the beans before serving.

Serves 4

While Americans love their baked beans with molasses and brown sugar, Italians prefer dried beans dressed up with such savory ingredients as sage, white wine, garlic, and onions or shallots. Cooking beans doesn’t require a lot of culinary skill, but somehow, they often come out tough-skinned and ropy tasting, like old starch. Blame the beans, not the cook. It makes all the difference in the world if you buy beans that were picked and dried recently. Farmers’ markets and premium brands in the supermarket are your best bets. Only beans that have been recently dried cook to a creamy finish. You can cook old, hard beans until the next millenium and they’ll never be soft and smooth textured.

These beans make a lovely side dish for roasted chicken or pan-roasted fish.

1¼ cups (8 ounces) dried cannellini beans, rinsed and picked over

½ medium-size onion, peeled

1 large carrot, trimmed, peeled, and cut in half

15 fresh sage leaves

4 ounces slab bacon, rind removed (see
page 57
)

4½ teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large shallot, minced

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

¼ cup low-sodium chicken stock

¼ cup dry white wine

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1
Place the beans in a medium-size pot or saucepan. Add the onion, carrot, and enough water to cover the vegetables. Let come to a boil over medium-high heat. Add 12 of the sage leaves, then reduce the heat as necessary and let the beans simmer gently, partially covered, until tender but not falling apart, 50 to 55 minutes.

2
While the beans cook, heat a medium-size saucepan over high heat until very hot. Add the slab bacon, fat side down. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook the bacon until it is browned on all sides and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side, 12 to 16 minutes total. Using a metal spatula, press down on each side of the slab of bacon a couple of times as it cooks to help render the fat.

3
Transfer the slab of bacon to a cutting board, reserving the bacon fat in the pan. When the slab of bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it coarsely.

4
Add the olive oil to the pan with the bacon fat and heat over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until fragrant, without browning the garlic, 1 to 2 minutes.

5
Drain the beans, discarding the onion and carrot. Add the drained beans, chopped bacon, chicken stock, and white wine to the pan with the shallot and garlic and stir gently to combine. Adjust the heat to bring the bean mixture to a simmer and cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Season the beans with salt and pepper to taste. Chop the 3 remaining sage leaves and sprinkle them over the beans before serving.

Serves 4

The always commonsensical Mark Bittman wrote in The New York Times, “Why broccoli rabe was not a part of the American vegetable culture until relatively recently is completely beyond me. What can you not cook it with?”

He’s right. Done simply with olive oil or garlic it’s just the thing to serve with white-fleshed fish or to toss into a soup or pasta. The more mature the broccoli rabe, the stronger the flavor, and the stronger the flavor, the better suited the broccoli rabe is to being prepared with bacon. Garlicky olive oil and rosemary round out the flavor profile—a lot of flavor bang for a relatively few bucks. Prepared this way broccoli rabe is quite lovely with roasted chicken or pork.

1 bunch (about 1 pound) broccoli rabe

4 slices bacon, cut crosswise into ½-inch strips

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, as necessary

3 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves, or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary

Grated zest of half a lemon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1
Cut off and discard the bottom 2 inches of the broccoli rabe stems. Cut the remaining broccoli rabe into 3-inch-long pieces. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the broccoli rabe, cover the pan, and cook the broccoli rabe until wilted and barely tender, but still a dark green, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the broccoli rabe in a colander and set it aside.

2
Using paper towels, wipe the saucepan dry. Add the bacon to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until lightly browned and some fat is rendered, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute, stirring often. Add the drained broccoli rabe and the rosemary. Using tongs, toss the broccoli rabe to coat it in the oil, then cook, partially covered, just until tender, about 2 minutes. If the broccoli rabe seems a little dry, drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over it.