I will have to make this again, as I just ate it for dinner and didn't snap a photo. There are many ways to make fried rice and it starts with a pot of leftover steamed rice from the previous day, or whenever. It's up to you whether or not you want to make this with white or brown rice, short or long grain. The preferred is long grain rice because it's not as sticky.
Ingredients
1 c steamed or baked rice (per serving)
1/2 c homemade kimchi, chopped
1 green onion stalk, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 strips of cooked bacon, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
Directions
If you don't have cooked bacon on hand, fry fresh bacon in the large skillet. Once cooked, remove bacon to a cutting board and dice. There should be 1-2 tbsp of bacon lard in the skillet Proceed with the rest of the recipe, omitting the olive oil.
In a large skillet, warm oil over medium-high heat. Add scallions and garlic. Fry until fragrant. Add rice before garlic starts to brown. Add kimchi. Mix it all up until thoroughly combined.
Fry the rice for about 5-10 minutes, until the rice warms up and everything is about the same temperature.
Serve hot.
Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bacon. Show all posts
Buttermilk Waffles with Bacon
Because bacon makes everything taste better, even waffles. The fact that the waffle maker was a $2 garage sale find makes it even more awesome. But, the prep and ingredients required to make the batter for the waffles is why I don't make waffles that often.
Ingredients
1.75 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1.5 c buttermilk
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 lb bacon, any variety, cooked and drained
Directions
Preheat waffle iron (turn on the waffle maker; I set mine to light waffles)
0. Fry the bacon. For this I used 1/4 lb applewood smoked bacon. Reserve bacon lard.
1. In a 2-cup measuring cup, beat eggs until frothy and combined. Add vanilla extract and beat again. Add buttermilk and melted butter. Mix to combine.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add wet to dry and stir together until no dry bits remain.
4. Add waffle batter to hot waffle maker. Add strips of cooked bacon, then cover bacon with some batter. Close the waffle maker and cook until golden brown.
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| Buttermilk Waffles with Bacon |
1.75 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1.5 c buttermilk
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 lb bacon, any variety, cooked and drained
Directions
Preheat waffle iron (turn on the waffle maker; I set mine to light waffles)
0. Fry the bacon. For this I used 1/4 lb applewood smoked bacon. Reserve bacon lard.
1. In a 2-cup measuring cup, beat eggs until frothy and combined. Add vanilla extract and beat again. Add buttermilk and melted butter. Mix to combine.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add wet to dry and stir together until no dry bits remain.
4. Add waffle batter to hot waffle maker. Add strips of cooked bacon, then cover bacon with some batter. Close the waffle maker and cook until golden brown.
Braised Collard Greens
Collard greens have a lot of nutrients, which would make it an excellent addition to one's weekly vegetable fare if it weren't for this recipe that destroys nearly all the nutrients that this vegetable has to offer by its long cooking time. While collards could be eaten raw, most of what is good about it is unlocked with a bit of heat from say... steaming or stir frying. Braising, on the other hand, is a cooking method takes meats and sometimes vegetables and cooks them over very low heat for a long period of time. An hour of stovetop cooking is an eternity for a vegetable. But, collard greens are pretty tough and full of fiber, even after removing the stems from the leaves. This vegetable dish does taste good, however. I have eaten this once as a side dish at a Podnah's Pit in Portland. I've been trying to replicate their flavors ever since.
A lot of braising recipes call for a cup of vegetable broth, which is silly, considering that these greens will be cooking for an hour in a bacon and garlic flavored broth. Anyhow. I just used water, wine, and vinegar for the liquid part.
Ingredients
1 bunch of collard greens, stems removed and thoroughly washed
2 slices Applewood-smoked bacon
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 c. water + more if needed (do not let the pot dry out when cooking)
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 c. white wine
Directions
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, fry two (or more, if desired) slices of bacon. Once cooked, remove bacon to a plate and dice; pour out bacon grease to a separate container (for use in other recipes). Add garlic, water, vinegar, wine, and collard greens.
2. Cover pot and simmer over very low heat for 45 minutes to an hour.
3. Transfer vegetables to a serving plate and toss with diced bacon.
A lot of braising recipes call for a cup of vegetable broth, which is silly, considering that these greens will be cooking for an hour in a bacon and garlic flavored broth. Anyhow. I just used water, wine, and vinegar for the liquid part.
Ingredients
1 bunch of collard greens, stems removed and thoroughly washed
2 slices Applewood-smoked bacon
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 c. water + more if needed (do not let the pot dry out when cooking)
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 c. white wine
Directions
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, fry two (or more, if desired) slices of bacon. Once cooked, remove bacon to a plate and dice; pour out bacon grease to a separate container (for use in other recipes). Add garlic, water, vinegar, wine, and collard greens.
2. Cover pot and simmer over very low heat for 45 minutes to an hour.
3. Transfer vegetables to a serving plate and toss with diced bacon.
Split Pea Soup with (Ham) and Bacon
When I was a kid, my family would drive up the California coast to the now-touristy city of Solvang, a Danish settlement. Along that route was Pea Soup Andersen's. One of their billboard advertisements you could see along Highway 101 featured Happea and Pea Wee, two cartoon characters splitting peas.
With this recipe concoction a few things happened. First, I didn't fry up enough bacon. The two slices of bacon only yielded one tablespoon of liquid lard. Second, when it came to the immersion blender, I forgot to take out the bay leaf. And, even with the chopped bacon as a garnish, the base of the soup needs more salt. This is probably due to the fact that I only added a half teaspoon in the beginning. What is different about this recipe than the one used by Cook's Illustrated is that there are no onions nor celery in it; also, the 2.5 pound smoked ham bone.. well, that isn't in here either. I did, however, chop up some lunch meat (Hormel's natural honey baked ham) and tossed that in. *laugh* And fourth, when I rinsed the peas with cold water and set them aside in a colander, when the peas dried, they stuck like glue to the colander. I had to use a knife on the reverse side of the colander to get the peas out. Grrr.
Note to future self: Don't rinse dried peas until ready to use.
Ingredients
2 qt homemade chicken broth
1 lb dried split peas, picked over and rinsed (just before adding to pot)
3 small white, red, or Yukon gold potatoes
3 medium organic carrots, diced
1 c. cooked ham, diced
up to 2 tbsp olive oil (optional)
1 bay leaf, whole
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp powdered thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground paprika
sea salt, to taste (at least 1/2 tsp)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste (optional)
Directions
1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, fry bacon on low-medium heat until crispy. Take bacon out, chop, and set aside. Don't worry about the burnt bits of bacon stuck to the bottom, that will deglaze when the broth is added.
2. Add enough olive oil to bring the oil level in the pot up to 2 tbsp. Add carrots, garlic, salt, and spices. Saute vegetables until almost tender, 10-15 minutes. Add broth, peas, potatoes, ham, and bay leaf. Bring pot to a boil, then simmer on low and uncovered for 40 minutes. Stir soup occasionally.
3. Check the peas in the soup. If the peas look like they're about to disintegrate, turn the heat off. Remove bay leaf from pot. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. It'll be a little chunky and that's okay. It's not like you're serving this at a restaurant.
4. Serve in bowls and garnish with chopped bacon.
With this recipe concoction a few things happened. First, I didn't fry up enough bacon. The two slices of bacon only yielded one tablespoon of liquid lard. Second, when it came to the immersion blender, I forgot to take out the bay leaf. And, even with the chopped bacon as a garnish, the base of the soup needs more salt. This is probably due to the fact that I only added a half teaspoon in the beginning. What is different about this recipe than the one used by Cook's Illustrated is that there are no onions nor celery in it; also, the 2.5 pound smoked ham bone.. well, that isn't in here either. I did, however, chop up some lunch meat (Hormel's natural honey baked ham) and tossed that in. *laugh* And fourth, when I rinsed the peas with cold water and set them aside in a colander, when the peas dried, they stuck like glue to the colander. I had to use a knife on the reverse side of the colander to get the peas out. Grrr.
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| Split Pea Soup with Ham and Bacon |
Note to future self: Don't rinse dried peas until ready to use.
Ingredients
2 qt homemade chicken broth
1 lb dried split peas, picked over and rinsed (just before adding to pot)
3 small white, red, or Yukon gold potatoes
3 medium organic carrots, diced
1 c. cooked ham, diced
up to 2 tbsp olive oil (optional)
1 bay leaf, whole
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp powdered thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground paprika
sea salt, to taste (at least 1/2 tsp)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste (optional)
Directions
1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, fry bacon on low-medium heat until crispy. Take bacon out, chop, and set aside. Don't worry about the burnt bits of bacon stuck to the bottom, that will deglaze when the broth is added.
2. Add enough olive oil to bring the oil level in the pot up to 2 tbsp. Add carrots, garlic, salt, and spices. Saute vegetables until almost tender, 10-15 minutes. Add broth, peas, potatoes, ham, and bay leaf. Bring pot to a boil, then simmer on low and uncovered for 40 minutes. Stir soup occasionally.
3. Check the peas in the soup. If the peas look like they're about to disintegrate, turn the heat off. Remove bay leaf from pot. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. It'll be a little chunky and that's okay. It's not like you're serving this at a restaurant.
4. Serve in bowls and garnish with chopped bacon.
Egg Salad
The combination of hard boiled eggs, celery, pickle and mayonnaise was getting boring. I decided to kick it up in another direction. Staying with the hard boiled eggs and maybe the pickle and/or mayonnaise, I thought I might see what sorts of "salad" substitutions I could do. This version uses bacon for its salty smoked flavor and green bell peppers for its crunch factor. Although, if you dislike bell peppers, I suppose you could use a neutral-flavored vegetable like Jerusalem artichoke or the standard celery rib. You could probably use jicama which imparts a mildly sweet flavor to most salads; although most egg salad sandwiches are typically savory.
The true test of a good egg salad batch is if it can stand on its own or taste as good when paired in a sandwich, with crackers, or on flat bread.
The basic egg salad recipe is as follows:
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp organic mayonnaise
2 celery ribs, diced
1 dill pickle, diced
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of smoked paprika, for color (optional)
Mix all those ingredients together in a container. The egg yolks emulsify the mayonnaise to make it thicker. The pickle adds some tang, but can be left out or on the side.
Here's an alternate ingredient ratio:
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp organic mayonnaise
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 slices of freshly cooked bacon, drained and diced
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of no-salt tomato-basil-garlic seasoning
Combine all the ingredients and store in a covered container in the fridge so the flavors can mingle a bit more before using or serving with crackers or bread.
The true test of a good egg salad batch is if it can stand on its own or taste as good when paired in a sandwich, with crackers, or on flat bread.
The basic egg salad recipe is as follows:
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp organic mayonnaise
2 celery ribs, diced
1 dill pickle, diced
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of smoked paprika, for color (optional)
Mix all those ingredients together in a container. The egg yolks emulsify the mayonnaise to make it thicker. The pickle adds some tang, but can be left out or on the side.
Here's an alternate ingredient ratio:
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp organic mayonnaise
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 slices of freshly cooked bacon, drained and diced
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of no-salt tomato-basil-garlic seasoning
Combine all the ingredients and store in a covered container in the fridge so the flavors can mingle a bit more before using or serving with crackers or bread.
Squid with Bacon
I was trying to think of fancier names for this dish, like ones you'd find on a pretentious restaurant menu. Here's what I came up with:
Fried calamari with roasted garlic and bacon
Herb roasted calamari with apple-smoked bacon
And then I got to thinking that a lot of recipes have delicious-sounding descriptors, but may not actually be true to how the dish is prepared. Fresh herbs, for example, are almost always added after the dish has finished cooking...otherwise they'd lose their fresh green look and be all wilted. Calamari is the Italian plural word for squid (it's "calamaro" when referring to one squid). When people imagine what squid looks like, they are usually imagining a slimy, angry, beady-eyed multi-tentacled creature wrapping its giant arms around a ship at sea. No? Ok, well, maybe that's just me.
Frying is the fastest way that I know to cook it up. But, it can also be steamed, boiled, stir fried, salted, roasted, etc. Preparation of the squid itself is the hardest part of the dish because there are so many steps to cleaning it before the body gets sliced up. And, if you don't wear gloves, your hands end up all very squid-smelling.
The original recipe ratio comes from Bobby Flay. I have never watched that particular episode, so I had to surmise what he meant by lardon bacon. I'm assuming it's diced, fried bacon, until someone informs me otherwise. Flay's recipe calls for an additional two tablespoons of olive oil after the bacon has fried, but the bacon already yields roughly two tablespoons of lard, so if I do add the olive oil, it would only be to make the finished squid look shiny. Also, since I don't live near the coast, I have never seen fresh squid at the grocery store or specialty asian market; so this recipe uses frozen squid that has been thawed to room temperature.
Ingredients
1 lb squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
2 slices of bacon, diced
2 tbsp parsley leaves (optional, for garnish)
1 tbsp thyme leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Prepare the squid.
2. Fry bacon in a medium pan until it is lightly golden brown and most of the fat has rendered out.
2. Add garlic and squid, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Cook squid for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. The squid rings curl backwards and the flesh turns to an opaque white color.
3. Remove from heat and stir in parsley (optional) and thyme before serving.
Fried calamari with roasted garlic and bacon
Herb roasted calamari with apple-smoked bacon
And then I got to thinking that a lot of recipes have delicious-sounding descriptors, but may not actually be true to how the dish is prepared. Fresh herbs, for example, are almost always added after the dish has finished cooking...otherwise they'd lose their fresh green look and be all wilted. Calamari is the Italian plural word for squid (it's "calamaro" when referring to one squid). When people imagine what squid looks like, they are usually imagining a slimy, angry, beady-eyed multi-tentacled creature wrapping its giant arms around a ship at sea. No? Ok, well, maybe that's just me.
Frying is the fastest way that I know to cook it up. But, it can also be steamed, boiled, stir fried, salted, roasted, etc. Preparation of the squid itself is the hardest part of the dish because there are so many steps to cleaning it before the body gets sliced up. And, if you don't wear gloves, your hands end up all very squid-smelling.
The original recipe ratio comes from Bobby Flay. I have never watched that particular episode, so I had to surmise what he meant by lardon bacon. I'm assuming it's diced, fried bacon, until someone informs me otherwise. Flay's recipe calls for an additional two tablespoons of olive oil after the bacon has fried, but the bacon already yields roughly two tablespoons of lard, so if I do add the olive oil, it would only be to make the finished squid look shiny. Also, since I don't live near the coast, I have never seen fresh squid at the grocery store or specialty asian market; so this recipe uses frozen squid that has been thawed to room temperature.
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| Squid with Bacon and Thyme |
Ingredients
1 lb squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
2 slices of bacon, diced
2 tbsp parsley leaves (optional, for garnish)
1 tbsp thyme leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Prepare the squid.
2. Fry bacon in a medium pan until it is lightly golden brown and most of the fat has rendered out.
2. Add garlic and squid, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Cook squid for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. The squid rings curl backwards and the flesh turns to an opaque white color.
3. Remove from heat and stir in parsley (optional) and thyme before serving.
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