Bacon Jam

This is the most delicious condiment in the world. Sweet and savory it's perfect on bread, with cheese, or just by the spoonfull. 
I found the recipe on a blog.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds Bacon
• 4 whole Large Yellow Onions, Peeled And Thinly Sliced
• 8 cloves Garlic, Smashed And Peeled
• 1 cup Cider Vinegar
• 1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• 1-½ cup Very Strong Brewed Black Coffee
• ½ cups Pure Maple Syrup
• 1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Cut the bacon slices into 1-inch strips. Add the bacon to a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon, stirring frequently, until the bacon is browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.

 Place the Dutch oven back over the medium-high heat and add the onions and garlic. Stir well and reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook for about 8 minutes, or until the onions are mostly translucent. 










In a large boil mix the Vinegar, Sugar, Coffee, maple syrup and Pepper. Add the mixture to the onions and reduce heat to low. Bring to a boil and stir frequently. After 2 minutes, add the cooked bacon. 

Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally to make sure things aren’t sticking, adding 1/4 cup of water if it seems to be drying out. When the onions are meltingly soft and the liquid is thick and syrupy, remove the Dutch oven from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the Dutch oven to the work bowl of a food processor that has been fitted with a blade. Fit the lid in place and pulse several times or until the bacon jam is a spreadable consistency. Scrape into a jar (or jars) or a container with a tight fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Can be served cold, room temperature or warmed.

Vegetarian pizza

I posted earlier in the year my homemade bacon and pepperoni pizza. Well here's one for the non meat eaters (you know who you are). 

Blue cheese

Pear

Basil

Just brush the pizza dough with a generous coating of olive oil. Then, scatter thin slices of fresh pear and dollops of blue cheese. Sprinkle some fresh basil and finish off with lots of freshly ground pepper (and a pinch of salt). 
You can also add thin slices of red onion if you want. If you slice them thin enough, they caramelize in the oven.

Christmas Lasagnas!

Omg! I have never eaten so much in so little time! Christmas lasts a day but I ate enough to sustain a small village for a week!

Of course my family made our homemade meal that we planned months in advance like every year. So here it is!

Meat Lasagna!

We made our own pasta again this year.

And our own bolognese sauce! This sauce has 4 pounds of ground beef! 

(and yes, that sauce is so thick that the wooden spoon stands vertically up)

We had 3 layers of Ricotta cheese and spicy Italian sausages.

Here is the finished Product! (That, by the way, weighed SIXTEEN pounds)

Portobello Mushroom Lasagna!

For the vegetarians in the family.

My brother found these beautiful mushrooms

Here is the finished product: (Weighed 13 pounds if I remember correctly)

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Last Christmas (2010)

It's already December and all I can think about is Christmas!!! It's a shame that there's still no snow on the ground yet but Christmas music can turn any mood cheery. Every Christmas, my family plans our meal months in advance. Last Christmas was no exception. We decided to make Homemade ravioli. It took a whole day since we had to make the pasta, roll it out and then fill it with cheese. 


Step 1. : Make dough


Pasta dough is basically 4 ingredients: Flour, eggs, water and salt.

Step 2: Roll dough out


Now this step usually requires a pasta roller. It is not necessary but makes life a lot more easier. 

You will get a very looooooong sheet of pasta now. (Extra long table recommended)

Step 3: Fill with delicious cheese or meat.

Step 4: Cut the ravioli and let dry

Step 5: Cook and Enjoy!!! :D

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If you have leftover dough, then you can just cut it in strips and make fettuccine with it.

Happy Festive Season!


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Wait, Isn't There Something Missing...

I guess you've been wondering where the "meats" part of my blog is. Well, the name was actually thought up by my mom. My brother is an amazing cook and we were imagining our own cooking/baking business. We were trying to come up with catchy names and "Sweets & Meats" popped into my mom's head. So far I've been concentrating on the "sweets" side but I think it's time for some meats.


I don't cook as often as I bake so there won't be as many posts about cooking as there are about deserts but I don't think that will make anybody sad :P


Here is what I've been making for the past couple of weeks:


Homemade Pizza

The crust is homemade and is just a simple white flour crust. I rolled it extra thin because I hate thick soggy crust under my pizza. The tomatoes sauce I used is a homemade marinara sauce made with our own fresh tomatoes that we cored and froze in the summer. There are thinly sliced red onions and you can throw them directly on the pizza without caramelizing them first. The onions are sliced so thinly that they cook perfectly in the oven and taste sweet. This saves you hours of caramelizing. You can add any topping of course and on this pizza pie there's pepperoni and fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese.


Enjoy.






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