Blue Cheese Bacon Dip

Blue Cheese Bacon Dip

So it's a Friday night and we're going to our friend D Day's who usually has an open door policy for Friday nights in the barn. Boy I wish I had a barn like that it's more of a party palace. LOL. Always a fun time to be had there with great folks.

My original plans were to take over the Blue Cheese Cakes I made for our anniversary, but I came across this recipe I wanted to try instead. It has some of my all time favorite flavors, oh yum. You can't really go wrong with Bacon or Blue Cheese in my opinion.

Blue Cheese Dip 

Preheat oven 350*

2 Packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (room temp)

6 oz Blue Cheese 

1/3 cup Half & Half

7 Strips of thick cut Bacon

2 cloves Garlic finely minced + 2 Tbls bacon fat

1/4 cup of Green onion, or Scallions, or Shallots (I used Green Onion in this but am looking forward to substituting Shallots the next time.)

On medium heat in a skillet fry up the bacon until just crisp and remove from pan and let cool on paper towels. Cut bacon into bite size pieces once cooled. Reserve the bacon fat. Finely mince the garlic and brown in bacon fat on med. heat about 2 minutes, being careful to not over cook it. Remove garlic from hot pan along with about 2 Tbl spoons of the Bacon fat. Chop the onions into small pieces. Beat the cream cheese that  has been warmed up to room temp. on med speed with a mixer until soft. Add all ingredients reserving 1/2 of the onions for the top of the dish. Continue beating with mixer on med speed until all ingredients are combined. Place in a greased baking dish and top with remaining onions.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350* until just brown on the top. Serve warm with Crostini's or Pita chips. 

All of the ingredients 

The dip prior to baking

The dip was huge success and we will definitely be making it again. 

Kale Chips 2 ways

Kale Chips 2 ways

Mark brought home a couple of bunches of Kale and we thought we'd try a second time to make Kale chips. The last time we made them on a dark cookie sheet and they browned too much. 

This time they turned out perfect. They are very easy to make and hard to stop eating at just a few, yet such a healthy snack. 

Parmesan Kale Chips

Sesame Chili  Kale Chips these have a great little zip because of the pepper

Sesame Chili Chips on the left and Parmesan Chips on the Right.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Parmesan Cheese Kale Chips

1 Bunch of Kale
1 Tbl spoon of Olive Oil
1 tsp Kosher salt
Parmesan cheese to taste

Clean and dry thoroughly the Kale and tear into bite size pieces being careful to tear out all ribs. On a cookie sheet (I used an airbake) pour 1 Tbls oil on Kale add salt and mix with hands. Layer in single layer on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes pull out of oven and grate Paremesan Cheese onto Kale to taste we used approx. 1/4 cup. Finish baking about 5-8 more minutes, checking frequently as they can become over cooked quickly. Let cool slightly on pan and then remove to serving bowl/plate.


Sesame Chili Kale Chips

1 Bunch of Kale
1 Tbl spoon of Sesame Chili Oil (can be purchased or we made our own just by infusing some sesame oil with Cayenne chili peppers we grew ourselves.)
1 tsp Kosher salt
Cayenne Pepper to taste may omit if you wish

Clean and dry thoroughly the Kale and tear into bite size pieces being careful to tear out all ribs. On a cookie sheet (I used an airbake) pour 1 Tbls Sesame Chili Oil on Kale add salt and Cayenne pepper to taste and mix with hands. Layer in single layer on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 16 minute checking frequently as they can become over cooked quickly. Let cool slightly on pan and then remove to serving bowl/plate.


A couple of hints if you use too much oil it will require a longer cooking time and they won't get as crisp. If you don't layer them in a single layer some will be cooked while others are soft. We prefer eating immediately they can be stored in an air tight container but can get stale quickly. If you stack them on top of each other while still warm the top ones will get soft from the steam of the bottom chips. 

 Enjoy your Thanksgiving and blessings to all. 

Hot spirits

Hot Spirits 

or Habanero infused booze

Last year on our vacation to Disney World we spent some quality time enjoying some great tequila and Margarita’s in the Mexican pavilion at Epcot. At La Cava del Tequila we did a tequila flight which was wonderful and then we each had a Jalapeño Lime margarita or two. 

These margaritas had your typical sweetness which was only enhanced by the slight heat of the Jalapeno without being overly hot, this paired so well together. After an hour or 2 of respite from the heat and sun of Orlando’s steamy September afternoons we were ready to head back out with new attitude’s to conquer the rest of Epcot. I will say after that much tequila our personal meeting with Donald Duck was hilarious. 

This year along with all of our herbs and Cayenne Peppers we grew several Habanero Pepper plants and had them coming out of our ears. So what to do with them but of course infuse some tequila so we can attempt to make our own version of that hot sweet sensation.  While we were at it we also infused some vodka so that our Bloody Mary’s had a little more zip.  We also finely diced up some Habanero and put it in our margarita salt for our glass rims.   

First let’s cover the infusion portion of this followed by the actual Habanero Lime Margarita.

We took about 3 Habaneros and sliced them in half and placed them seeds and all in the tequila, since our bottle of vodka was 1.75 size we added 4 Habanero’s. A word of caution please wash your hands immediately after touching your peppers or else you may end up with some burning eyes if you accidentally touch them. 

Our alcohol of choice was Cabo Wabo Tequila Blanco and Smirnoff Vodka. We let them sit for about 10 days and then strained all of the Habanero and seeds out.

       

Our first batch of tequila we tried we let sit for 14 days and this was a touch too hot for my enjoyment though Mark does enjoy his heat. This second bottle was a little smoother. 

Habanero’s are only surpassed in heat by Ghost Peppers so if you are using Jalapeño Peppers you may want to let them sit longer than 10 days, since they are not as hot as Habanero's. Just taste test your spirits until they are of the heat you wish. I know it's a hard job but somebody's got to do it, who better then you!!!!!

Habanaro Salt for a robust salted rim

Marks Habanero Lime Margaritas 

1 Shot of Cointreau

2 Shots of Tequila 

3 Shots of Lime Margarita Mixer we prefer Tres Agaves Organic Margarita mix it's not as sweet or as fake tasting as some other mixers on the market. 

Sprig of Basil leaves

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes add above ingredients reserving basil for the top. Now shake, shake, shake and shake some more for that wonderful frothiness. Pour out into a glass that has been rimmed with salt. Top with a piece of freshly pinched Basil it add's an earthy note and a herbal fragrance to this marvelous marg. Enjoy immediately. 

Here’s to Happy Drinking Cheers

Blue Cheesecakes with a Champagne Pear Vinaigrette Salad with Candied Lamb Bacon & Crispy Shallots

An anniversary lunch to remember.

Blue Cheesecakes with a Champagne Pear Vinaigrette Salad with Candied Lamb Bacon & Crispy Shallots

 Mark and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary. We had plans to go out for dinner at Seasons 52 but I wanted to make something special for our lunch. There were several recipes I have been wanting to try out and this would be the perfect time to experiment with them.  

I have been wanting to try these Blue Cheesecakes since my first experience with them at Victoria and Alberts several years back. You can read that review here http://2fatfoodies.blogspot.com/2013/01/victoria-alberts.html.

 I thought pairing these little morsels of savory, heavenly cheesey goodness with a tossed salad might work well. But any old salad wasn't going to do. I had some Lamb bacon sitting in the freezer for way too long and it was calling out for me to use it.  So then the light bulb came on to try making candied bacon for the first time. While I was at it why don't I also try my hand at frying some shallots to top it off. I must say it was an exceptional homemade lunch. 

Blue Cheesecakes 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Crust

1/4 c fine bread crumbs

1/2 Parmesan Cheese finely grated

1 T melted butter 

Liberally butter a 12 muffin tin. Note these still stuck to the pan more then I preferred and next time I think I may try to spray the tins with coooking spray.

Mix ingredients together and press 1 T of mixture into each of one of the 12 muffin bases. Bake for 6 minutes.

Oh these smelled so good when I pulled them out of the oven and let them cool completely on a rack.

Cheesecake mixture     all ingredients should be at room temperature

8 oz Blue Cheese crumbled  (use good quality) I used Stilton. This is 8 oz after the rind is cut off.

8 oz Cream Cheese 

2 med eggs

2 shallots finely diced........you can substitute garlic if you prefer

1 t fresh tarragon leaves minced

1/4 t kosher salt

1/4 t fresh ground pepper

In a food processor mix Blue Cheese & Cream Cheese until smooth. Do not over beat as adding too much air to cheesecake will make it rise and then it will fall and crack as it cools. Add dry ingredients and 1 egg at a time just until mixed.

I used 2 jumbo eggs and my mixture was very runny. I will use 2 med eggs next time and probably a little more then 8 oz of Stilton.

Pour 2 1/2 T into each cup of the tin and bake for 22 minutes at 325 degrees F.

This is what they looked like when I pulled them out of the oven. I think I may have beat the mixture too long and incorporated too much air, along with the mixture being runny.  

Since they weren't the prettiest things I turned them over when served. They tasted delicious even if they weren't that pretty.  

I found several different Blue Cheesecake recipes and studied them and adapted them to come up with this one. I'm looking forward to perfecting this. 

Now that I had the Blue Cheesecakes cooling slightly it was time to try the candied bacon.

Candied Bacon

preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

12 slices of Bacon 

Cayenne Pepper to taste

1/3 c Brown sugar I probably didn't use but  1/4 c

Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Spray a baking rack with cooking spray. Place strips of bacon out on baking rack do not over lap. Dust cayenne pepper lightly on both sides of the bacon and then heavily spoon the brown sugar on the top only. Tip do this step prior to placing baking rack on baking sheet so no excess sugar falls onto baking sheet and burns stinking up the kitchen. Place baking rack in baking sheet and bake for 14 minutes or as long as 22 minutes. Keep a close eye on it as it can burn very quickly. In my oven it was more then ready in 14 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes take it off any later and it will tend to stick and tear into strips. If you take it off too soon the sugar won't have solidified and will want to slide off. Next time I make this I will put a little heavier coating of Cayenne Pepper. 

 Let it sit only 2 minutes on the racks. The sugar needs to solidify somewhat so it doesn't slip off the bacon. If you wait too long, it will stick to the rack and come off in multiple tears. Let it sit on the plate another 4-5 minutes and it's perfect. PERFECT!Let it sit only 2 minutes on the racks. The sugar needs to solidify somewhat so it doesn't slip off the bacon. If you wait too long, it will stick to the rack and come off in multiple tears. Let it sit on the plate another 4-5 minutes and it's perfect. PERFECT!

 This Candied Bacon recipe was an adaptation from many different recipes also. 

Crispy Shallots from Ina Garten 

1 1/2c olive oil

3 T butter 

5-6 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings

Heat oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it reaches 220 degree F on a candy thermometer. 

Reduce the heat to low, add the shallots and cook for 30-40 minutes, until they are a rich golden brown. The temperature should stay below 260 degrees F. Stir the shallots occasionally to make sure they brown evenly. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well, and spread out to cool on paper towels. Once they have dried and crisped, they can be stores at room temperature, covered for several days. 

5-6 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings so they can get crispy.

 

Heat oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it reaches 220 degree F on a candy thermometer. Reduce the heat to low, add the shallots and cook for 30-40 minutes.

 A rich golden brown.

Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well, and spread out to cool on paper towels.

Now that we had everything cooked and ready to go it was time to assemble the salad. We placed a handful of mixed greens on a plate added a few seedless red grapes and shaved thin slices of pear on top. There is a Champagne Pear Vinaigrette that we love from Trader Joe's that we poured on top. We then topped off the salad with the Candied Bacon followed by shredded Parmesan cheese and the Crispy Shallots. . 

This wonderful lunch paired beautifully with a bottle of Blanc de Blanc Champagne.

We had plenty of Crispy Shallots left over and they were very good on Tomato soup and a Ham, Cheese and Sour Cream Omelette. I also enjoyed the left over Blue Cheesecakes after letting them come up to room temperature after being stored in the fridge, though they were definitely better when the were freshly made. 

Oh Yum my mouth was watering the whole time I was writing this post. Looking forward to making these again.