Bacon Jam PopTarts with Maple-Chipotle Icing

savory, flakey & delicious!

I have two life changing words for you: Bacon. Jam.

I'd heard about bacon jam on Top Chef, and found a picture of a bacon jam PopTart on Pinterest, but it had no recipe. After some interneting to learn more about this meatalicious jam, I came up with a recipe.  With a brunch on the calendar for this morning, I thought this would be a fun contribution to the spread.

The process is actually SUPER easy - it just takes awhile to cook down to the right consistency, and it is not something that can be rushed.  The end result is a savory, meaty, smoky, rich & spicy taste of wonderfullness that really has no comparison.

Bacon Jam

• 1 lb high quality bacon 
• 1 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup real maple syrup
• 1 tsp Cholula hot sauce
• 1/4 tsp Chipotle chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cocoa poweder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• Black Pepper

In an enameled cast iron pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until the fat renders out.  You don't really want to brown it, just get the fat to render.  This will probably have to be done in a few batches. Once cooked, let cool, finely chop, and set aside.

Discard some of the fat, leaving just enough for a thin layer on the bottom of the pot. Add your onions and garlic and sauté over medium heat until translucent but not browned.

Add all of the remaining ingredients to the pot, stir well. Add in the bacon, and bring to a simmer.  As soon as the mixture is simmering, reduce the heat to low.  Continue to cook on low for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.  You want it to end up as a somewhat dry and deep brown chunky paste.  If it looks to oily, push the mixture to one side of the pot, tip it, and absorb the oil with a paper towel.  If it starts to dry too quickly before reaching a nice deep color, just add a bit of water.

When done, you can either purée it in a food processor till smooth, or just keep it chunky (that's what I did).  Remove from heat, and put into a jar.  The jam will stay good for at least 1 week in the fridge.

Bacon jam is great as a sandwich spread, burger topper, or addition to scrambled eggs. If you want to make it into a PopTart, read on!

Best Flakey Pastry
This is an excellent pastry dough to use for anything from Rugalach to Empanadas!

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 8 oz cream cheese, cut into chunks
• 2 T sour cream.

Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor just until mixed.

Then add the butter, and pulse until a coarse meal is formed.

Add in the cream cheese and the sour cream, and pulse just until a rough dough starts to form.

Remove and put onto a floured surface, push together into a cohesive dough, and divide into 3 portions.  Make a flat-ish disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 minutes (this can be made ahead and left in the freezer, just refrigerate until unfrozen but still cold before using).

Let this freeze while you prep the icing, then you're ready to assemble your PopTarts.

Maple-Chipotle Icing
Perfect for a little touch of sweet and spicy!

• Powdered Sugar
• Real Maple Syrup
• Half & Half
• Pinch of Chipotle chili powder

So I don't have measurements here - this is easy enough to 'eye' it.  In a smal mixing bowl, add about 3/4 -1 cup of powdered sugar.  Pour in some maple syrup, and stir.  Start with a little bit, and add more as needed to get it to a very thick frosting - basically just wet enough so there isn't any dry sugar left. Once you reach this point, add some half & half, a tiny bit at a time, just to thin the mixture into a drizzle-able consistency. Add in a pinch of the Chipotle chili powder to give it a little kick and to add some color. 

To assemble the PopTarts:
Roll out the pastry dough into a nice thin piece (think the thickness of a store bought pie dough)

I chose to make circular pop-tarts, so I used a 3" circle cookie cutter (the bacon jam is very rich so you don't want to make these too big). You could also cut the dough into little rectangles to be more authentic looking.

On a parchment lined cookie sheet, place half of the pastry pieces.  Spoon some of the bacon jam onto the top of the pastry and pat down into an even layer, leaving at least a 1/4 inch border on the sides.

Whisk together 1 egg white and a couple Tablespoons of milk to make an egg wash.  Using your finger, rub some of the egg wash around the edge of the jam topped pastry.  Then, take a pastry top, and do the same thing on its edge. This will help the halves stick together. Put the top on, and then pinch the edges together.  Place back on the cookie sheet, and then crimp the edges with a fork.  Brush the top of the PopTart with the egg wash, which will make a beautiful shiny golden brown finish.     Finish by using the fork to do a single punch into the top of the PopTart to let the steam vent while it bakes.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the pastry is nice and golden brown.

Let cool slightly, then drizzle with the icing and serve. If you want to make them ahead of time, wait to ice them until shortly before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Chipotle Chili with Chicken & Butternut Squash

Yummy!

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and this is one such recipe.  I had some leftovers that I needed to use up, in this case, some roasted butternut squash and some shredded chicken breast, so I decided to make them into a chili. The squash acts as a thickener for the chili, but could be skipped.  If you don't have shredded chicken on hand, you could easily sauté some chicken before you start your onions, remove and then add in before the simmering process, or skip completely and up the beans to 2 cans for a meat free version. This is a really simple, satisfying, and spicy chili - the hubs and I really enjoyed it over wild rice. I hope you like it too!



Ingredients:

All the good stuff

• 1 cup roasted butternut squash, fork mashed
• 1-2 cups shredded chicken breast
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 to 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped (1 full pepper makes for a very spicy stew, scale back if you're not into fiery foods, but the smokiness of the pepper is important for the flavor, so don't skip it entirely)
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (again, scale back or omit for less spice)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 T chili powder
• 1  tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano
• Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (Lee & Perrins is my preferred brand)
• 8-10 Campari sweet tomatoes, halved
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
• 1 can Habicheulas Blancas (small white beans), drained and rinsed
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp "better than bouillon" chicken

Garnish with:

• Avocado slices
• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• Non-fat plain Greek Yogurt (less guilt than sour cream, and all the taste!)
• Lime Wedge
• Serve over rice of your liking - I used long grain wild rice

Start by roasting your peppers and tomatoes.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Rub the peppers and tomatoes with some EVOO, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast on the top shelf of the oven until the skin of the peppers is blackened and the tomatoes are collapsed and beginning to caramelize, approximately 20 minutes.  When you remove them from the oven, immediately take the peppers and put them in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  The steam will help them "sweat" their skins off.  While the peppers are cooling, rough chop the tomatoes and set aside.  When the peppers are cool, use a knife to scrape the skins off.  Discard skin, and rough chop the pepper flesh.  Set aside.

How the bell pepper and
tomatoes look when ready
to remove from the oven

In a dutch oven, sauté the red onion over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, and sauté for another 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant.  Next, turn your heat to medium low and add the chipotle, red pepper flake, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, black pepper, salt, and Mexican oregano.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, and then add the better than bouillon (kicks the flavor up a notch).  Let that dissolve into the mixture, and then add your chicken broth.  Stir well and be sure to scrape up any caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan.

Next, add the honey and a few dashes of Worcestershire.  Add the butternut squash, shredded chicken, tomatoes, bell peppers, and Habichuelas Blancas. Turn heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes.

While the chili is simmering, cook your rice (if you wish to serve it over rice) according to package directions, and prepare the other garnishes.

When 20 minutes is up, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve over rice with some slices of avocado, fresh cilantro, greek yogurt, and a squeeze of lime juice to brighten the flavor profile.  Enjoy!

Boeuf Bourguignon - aka Fancy Pants Beef Stew

Bon Appétit!

Anyone who has seen "Julie & Julia" knows the significance ascribed to this dish. It just might be my favorite stew recipe ever.  It sounds fancy (shout out to my friend Kelli, who's adorable kids have dubbed me "fancy cooking pants" - this post title is for you guys!) and takes a long time to cook, but it's actually not that complicated and it tastes simply A-mazing.  The wine makes the meat incredibly tender and flavorful, and all of the butter sautéed veggies and the tomato paste add an incredible richness, while the thyme creates a woodsy heartiness.  So many layers of flavor, so incredibly delicious!

This recipe is not Julia's recipe, but the recipe that my Mom and one of my Aunts have always made.  This particular Aunt has a very discerning French husband, and this dish receives his seal of approval! It would be very French to serve it with a toasted buttered baguette, but I like it over a big scoop of mashed potatoes, a la American.  The final French touch, is a condiment - put a dollop of dijon mustard on the side of your bowl to dip the meat into - really brings out the flavor.

This makes quite a bit of stew - I would say it easily serves 6 people, so  have people over, plan for some delish leftovers, or halve the recipe.  SO without further ado - Boeuf Bourguinon.  Bon Appétit!!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs stew beef, trimmed (if it's in really large chunks, cut it into more bite sized pieces)
• 3/4 lb baby carrots, cut in half on the bias (aka diagonally)
• 1/2 to 2/3 bottle of nice red wine (nothing sweet)
• 2 cans reduced sodium beef broth
• 16 oz white button mushrooms (2 packages) cut into thin slices.
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 can tomato paste
• 1 cup of frozen pearl onions
• 1/2 cup frozen baby green peas
• 2 whole bay leafs
• 3 cloves garlic, mince
• Worcestershire sauce
• All purpose flour
• S&P
• Butter
• Olive Oil

Directions:
In a large dutch oven* melt 3 T butter and 3 T EVOO over medium high heat.  Season your stew meat with a bit of S&P, and working in small batches, brown the meat but don't worry about cooking it through.  The reason you do this in small batches is so that the meat doesn't get too crowded and steam which leads to gray meat.  When you give the meat more room to cook, it browns up to a beautiful color.  Remove the batches as they complete, and sprinkle them with some flour. Toss to coat.  The flour helps to thicken the stew later on. Set aside.

In the same pot, add another 2 T of butter, and add the carrots. Season with a bit of S&P. Sauté them for about 2 minutes and then add 3 T of flour to the pot.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Stir constantly and keep scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat bottomed wooden spoon.  If the pot gets too dry, add some more butter. (This IS a French recipe, after all... so there's bound to be butter!!) Some of the flour will coat the bottom of the pot, that's okay, and it's okay to let it get to a nice brown color, but don't let it burn (aka turn really dark brown or black).  If it starts to brown too quickly, turn your heat down and take the pot off the heat for a moment. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes.

Take the bottle of wine and pour 1/2 to 2/3 of it into the pot.  This deglazes the pot, which means that the liquid releases all of the caramelized flavor goodness from the cooking process back into the dish. Scrape the bottom of the pot very well with your wooden spoon until all of the flour coating is loosened and incorporated into the stew.

Add your stew meat back into the pot.  Next, add the beef broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and 3 shakes/dashes of Worcestershire sauce.  Stir well so that the tomato paste incorporates, then cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

As this point, the hard works is done!  While the stew is simmering, sauté your mushrooms.  Tips on the perfect sauteéd mushrooms are here.  I like to do these in butter with S&P and a sprinkle of dried thyme, I also like to cook them down over low heat for quite a bit of time so that they get really nicely browned and delicious.

After the 30 minutes have passed, add the pearl onions and simmer covered for another 30 minutes.

Have a glass of wine (not required, but recommended).

Finally, add the mushrooms and peas, and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes.  Taste to make sure your seasoning is right, adjust if necessary.  Serve and enjoy!!

* I use dutch ovens ALL the time, I couldn't live without them. If you don't have one yet, I highly recommend getting one - click here to view my favorite. The 5/12 quart size is ideal, and cobalt is super pretty.

Beer Braised Chicken Stew with Baby Bellas & Fire Roasted Tomato

Now that's what I call stew!

I am in the midst of my full blown love affair with fall food, and tonight is the first night of the season that I made a nice slow cooked meal.  Stews are a wonderful way to make a big batch of food that's perfect for leftovers - in fact, oftentimes they taste even better the next day.

The one problem that I have with stews, is that too many people make pasty, ugly, grayish-brown stews.  Cornstarch thickeners, unidentifiable proteins & vegetables bits with gloppy sauce... no likey!  This is so easily avoided by using the right blend of veggies, and carefully cooking all of your ingredients in stages.  This might take a bit longer, but it is so worth it - each ingredient is cooked properly to bring out its best, and then added back in at the end. Below, you'll find a recipe that I made up tonight where the broth is a lovely orangeish-red brew of umami deliciousness, with tender chicken and a great blend of veggies who's flavors really sing.  I served it with toasted english muffins and a simply dressed green salad on the side.

Ingredients

• 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into stew size pieces
• 8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced (each mushroom is slightly larger than a golf ball. If you can't find baby bellas, use your choice of mushroom - white button would be fine)
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 parsley stems, leaves removed and set aside. 
• 1 bottle of beer (I used Sam Adams Oktoberfest)
• 1 32 oz box of reduced sodium chicken broth
• Flour
• Paprika
• Dried Thyme
• Ground Nutmeg
• S&P
• EVOO
• Butter

Directions:  

In a large dutch oven, melt 2 T butter, and add enough EVOO to just cover the bottom of the pan.  Take your chicken pieces, and season with S&P and sprinkle with paprika, a bit of ground nutmeg, and 2 T of flour (the flour helps the broth thicken later on). Toss to coat.  Cook the pieces of chicken over medium high heat until golden, but not necessarily cooked through.  Make sure not to crowd the pan so that the meat browns and doesn't steam, so this will take a couple of batches.  Remove chicken, and set aside.

Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook over medium heat until they release their liquid. Season with S&P, a generous sprinkle of dried thyme, and a small sprinkle of ground nutmeg.  Continue to cook until nicely browned and cooked down.  Remove, and set aside. 

If necessary, you can add a bit more EVOO & butter at this stage. Add your diced onion, season with S&P and cook over medium heat until completely translucent, and just starting to brown, approximately 5-7 minutes.  Add your shallots and garlic, and cook until translucent, approximately 3-5 minutes.  Add your sliced carrots.  Sauté over medium heat for another 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.  

Add the beer, chicken broth, and the parsley stems. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release all of the caramelized cooking goodness.  Bring up to a low boil and then add the chicken and mushrooms back into the pot. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes so that the alcohol cooks out.  Remove the parsley stems, and add the can of tomato.  Turn temperature to low, cover, and cook for 20-30 minutes.  This is when all the flavors marry, and the beer does its job of tenderizing the chicken.  At this point, you can taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. You can either serve now with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley on top, or continue to cook uncovered until it reduces to your liking.

What's your favorite kind of stew?