Baby Baked Potatoes

I'm afraid I didn't snap a photo of these hors d'oevures either, but I did make them. It began with 400 baby red potatoes washed, halved and hollowed out with a melon baller.A small sliver from the bottom of the potato was also sliced off so the potato could sit without rolling around. Drizzled with oil, salt, and pepper and roasted on racks in the oven. Cooled and stuffed with rendered diced double smoked house bacon and shredded smoked gouda cheese. Then baked until the cheese was melted and potatoes were crisp.

The spare potato scraps can be saved and turned into round hashbrowns or mashed potatoes and the excess peels can be transformed into potato skins.

People's Choice Award: Cheesy Pasta with Bacon

This is the dish from yesterday's blackbox competition I promised I would share. In the limited time, space, and pantry I had, I tried to create a dish that the spectators would love, but also one that was refined enough that the judges would enjoy too. It seemed to be successful, I god a gold in the People's Choice Award and silver with the judges. Here is a general recipe as to how I remember making my dish.

1. Grab A LOT of bacon and quickly chop it up. Throw it in a hot pan.
2. Meanwhile, peel and dice five small red onions. Toss it in with your bacon.
3. While that sweats down, mince up some fresh tarragon.
4. Strain the bacon and red onion, reserving the bacon fat. Return the fat to the pan and add a cup of salted butter. Melt it.
5. Add about a cup or two of all-purpose flour and whisk until you have a thick roux.
6. Gradually whisk in one to two liters of whole milk and keep the heat on high, stirring often, to thicken the sauce.
7. While sauce is on the go, cook your pasta noodle sin boiling salted water.
8. Season your sauce with salt, black pepper, dijon mustard, tabasco sauce, garlic seasoning mix. Through some worchestershire and more tabasco sauce into your bacon and red onion.
9. Cube up some cheddar cheese and throw into the sauce, reserving some cheese for the end. Melt it down a bit, then throw in some parmesan flakes as well.
10. Melt the cheese into the sauce, and season it again.
11. Strain your pasta and stir in the sauce and bacon and red onion. Stir in the extra cheddar and tarragon, reserving a little of each for garnish.
12. Taste and adjust seasoning, consistency, and cheesiness and enjoy!!!

Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

Homemade bacon is not difficult to make. You simply need pork belly or pork loin and some seasonings, salt, sugar, etc. Peameal bacon is a type of back bacon made from lean, boneless pork loin. It is less fatty and more like ham. It gets in name because it is usually rolled in cornmeal.

Raw and cooked peameal bacon

This one was done with a dry cure

This one was done with a wet cure

This is just regular bacon, well actually, it's double-smoked

Bacon and Blue Cheese Sliders with Pear Ketchup

This is the first pear dish I shall feature - the appetizer. Here, the pear stars in the condiment on top - the pear ketchup. It sounds a little different and unorthodox, but using pears rather than tomatoes to make a ketchup yields a sweet, pleasant result. The appearance is more like applesauce than ketchup, but the taste is sweet and tangy. There are strange foods like bacon jam and pineapple relish, so why not pear ketchup? The ketchup is the only condiment you will need for these bite-sized, miniature burgers; no mustard or relish required! 
These burgers are actually based upon challah bread, a sweeter, rich bread, but when sliced as it is here, it works for these burgers. You could of course use miniature hambuger buns instead, but I think these special burgers require a fancier bread. Toasting the bread is definitely a smart step as well. The actual burger itself is literally just bacon crumbled together with blue cheese. Surprising, but with just two ingredients, these burgers pack a lot of punch - no further seasoning required. The texture is surprisingly pleasant and satisfying too, you would think you are biting into a pork patty. Pear and pork pair well together. These miniature burgers also have a short cooking time - a quick sear in a skillet and finished off in the oven. 

The pear jam is a mixture of pears and onions, sautéd together until soft, then combined with some apple juice, vinegar, and seasoning. The mixture is then puréed until smooth. These burgers then just need a few simple garnishes - a leaf of arugula, a cherry tomato half, or a little extra blue cheese.

Lamb Stew

This is a really new recipe my parents decided to try to surprise me, based on something they saw on television (and surprisingly not on a cooking show). We rarely eat lamb, and this stew contained some other unique flavors as well. However, there is a special component to this dish. Of course the stew could just be made as is, but the real interesting technique will be shared tomorrow, which makes this a complete dish. 

Lamb Stew
1 1/2 pounds lamb pieces, cut into one inch cubes
salt and pepper to season
1/2 slab bacon or turkey or chicken bacon, sliced in small pieces 
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, with liquid
4 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
3-5 medium white potatoes, cut in one inch cubes
2 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, roughly diced
2 stalks celery, chopped (optional)
1 cup small olives (optional)
1 1/2 cups red wine

The day before serving:
Season lamb with salt and pepper and combine with the bacon. In a separate bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and onion, and celery and olives if using.
Create three layers in a 5.5 quart (approximately) Dutch oven or large pot - a third of the meat, followed by a third of the vegetables, and repeat. Pour the wine over top, as well as any other spices you would like to add, depending on your personal tastes (cayenne pepper, fennel, cinnamon, coriander, bay leaf, basil, rosemary, mint, etc.). Cover and refrigerate overnight.

About 3 1/2 hours before serving:
Preheat oven to 400◦F. Bake stew, covered for 30 minutes, then reduce temperature to 275◦F and bake for an additional 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before serving (unless you are in a hurry). 

Just a few hints and tips on this dish: we found this dish incredibly salty. It is the combination of seasoning the lamb, the salty bacon, and the canned tomatoes. I would recommend using much less bacon and more lamb, using fresh tomatoes or a can for extra liquid with no salt added, only seasoning the meat with pepper, or a combination of these steps. Adding more potatoes would also bulk the dish up and absorb some of the salt. There can be plenty of flavor coming from a variety of your favorite spices. The wine adds an interesting depth of flavor, but I am no wine expert, so I cannot advise you on what type of red wine is best. This is definitely a stew, not a soup, so be sure to keep the vegetables and meat chunky.