Bacon in beans, bananas in French toast
Good morning, good friends, on this final day of May.
We begin as always with requests, both old and new. Still missing are Vine Street Market’s chocolate mousse, anybody’s never-fail flan and a blackberry cobbler that is as good as Mrs. Smith’s frozen version (which seems to be no longer available).
There is one new request, and it’s anonymous. “Instructions please for making poke bowls, and I prefer meat to raw fish.”
GUILTY PLEASURE BREAKFAST
It’s only appropriate to begin with breakfast. Our inspiration is Linda Green Johnson, who wrote from her Dunlap, Tennessee, home, “I thought I’d write up this morning’s breakfast and send it along.” But before she told about her French toast, she asked, “I’d love to read what others use for their guilty breakfast dish.”
“Breakfast at our house is usually fast for sure. We do make tea or coffee but then just grab a handful of nuts, a bowl of cereal or a breakfast bar. I admit that sometimes I feel guilty for not making something more and this weekend was it. “I had hubby bring home a loaf of French bread and Sunday morning I made stuffed banana French toast. I had a version of this years ago at a brunch at the beach and I’ve always had success with it. Here is my guilty breakfast dish.”
Banana French Toast
1 loaf of French bread
1 banana
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon Pinch of salt
Cut French bread in half lengthwise, and cut off the ends. Bore out a hole in the middle just big enough for a peeled banana to be inserted. Cut banana-filled bread into 1-inch thick slices, and place in a shallow dish.
Prepare the custard: Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla extract, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Pour the custard over the bread, and let soak for 10 or 15 minutes, turning once. Cook on a medium-high griddle, flipping once.
I serve mine with powdered sugar or maple syrup and a side of Benton’s bacon.
NO-SPATTER BACON
Let’s keep talking bacon. Debbie Pataky’s latest email was titled “Bacon Tip.” But it’s really more than a tip; it’s a recipe.
Bacon
1 scoop flour Bacon
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Put scoop of flour in a Ziploc bag.
Add separated slices of your bacon of choice ( I prefer thick sliced), one slice at a time.
Shake bag to cover bacon with flour. As you move bacon from bag, shake off the excess flour. Place on foil-covered baking sheet; place in oven for 10 minutes. Turn bacon over, and return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes or until desired crispness.
Drain on paper towels.
Save the bacon grease if desired, or wad up in the foil and toss it out. With this method there is no mess, no splatter, no shrunk-up bacon.
BACON-LACED BEANS
Hold onto your bacon supply, as we now proceed from the first meal of the day to the main meal, whether it be lunch or dinner, also baconlaced. Dan Cobb is our guide.
He wrote, “I’m a big fan of dried beans because they are cheap, easy and fairly good for you. This one is pretty good, and it takes just a few minutes to prepare. The only thing is that you have to remember to soak the beans the night before.”
The name of this dish hearkens back to his home, Soddy-Daisy.
Soddy Bottom Black Beans
16 ounces dried black
beans
3 slices bacon, chopped 1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons cumin ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Soak beans overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse beans.
Fry bacon pieces in Dutch oven until crisp; remove.
Pour off all but about 1 to 1½ tablespoons bacon grease.
Sauté onions and carrots about 2 minutes in grease.
Add remaining ingredients: chicken broth, bay leaves, cumin, salt and pepper.
Cover and bring to a slight boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.
Uncover and cook about 15 minutes more.
Remove bay leaves and enjoy your beans.
Variation: Add 1 jalapeno or Serrano chili while simmering; remove when done.
From a mountaintop celebration came this final bacon note for May. At an elegant local wedding, charcuterie boards were spread out on several tables beside big bowls of whipped feta, topped with crisp bacon and kalamata olives.
AMARETTO PIE
Now comes a dessert for closing out the day. Family history and communal memories combine in a once-again discussion of the Mount Vernon’s amaretto pie.
Johanna Kosik pulled out her mother’s recipe and wrote, “While this is not the Mount Vernon amaretto pie recipe, it was in the recipe collection of my mother (Kate Kosik) and noted to be similar. The source is unknown, but it is dated November 1994.”
Amaretto Pie (similar to Mount Vernon’s)
Crust:
Prepare a nice pie crust. (Optional addition: Press in either pecan halves or coarsely chopped pecans.)
Bake according to directions until lightly browned. Cool.
Pie filling:
2/3 cup white sugar
½ cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 slightly beaten egg yolks 2 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur
Mix sugar, flour and salt in the top of a double boiler. (If you don’t have a double boiler, you can find on the web some good ideas for improvising.) Add milk.
Cook filling 10 minutes or until it thickens, stirring while cooking. Remove from heat. Have egg yolks ready in a large bowl. Slowly pour half of the hot mixture into the bowl, and stir. When mixture is smooth, return it to the other unmixed half and cook until thickened. Remove from heat, stir in butter and let cool. Add Amaretto.
Topping:
Prepared meringue or
Cool Whip
3 to 4 drops of almond
extract
Season your homemade meringue recipe or Cool Whip with almond extract.
When filling is completely cool, add topping, pour into crust and chill.
Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours before serving.
Last week’s column ended with gratitude for all who came, read, wrote and cooked. Thank you, Patrick Hunter, for responding thus: “I am doing JUST THAT.” He described the Sausage Cake printed there as “a must-try.” As always, let us know what you have tried at home and how it went. Next week?