Greek Lamb Burger with Fried Saganaki, Homemade Bacon, and Cilantro Tzatziki [Zack]

I've been on a burger kick lately, but this Greek lamb burger with fried saganaki, homemade bacon, and cilantro tzatziki is my favorite I've ever made.  I wanted to try to make as much of the burger from scratch as I could (as a personal challenge), but high-quality store-bought ingredients are just as good.

Process:

Start by frying bacon in a medium-low frying pan to render the fat and crisp the bacon.  Remove bacon from pan when crispy and reserve the fat for cooking the lamb burger.

Mince garlic and cilantro, and combine with the mayo.  If you want a smoother presentation, you can put in the food processor or blender for a few pulses.

Toast your buns in advance so you don't have to worry about these later.

Form ground lamb into 3 patties and salt and pepper both sides.

Get 1 non-stick frying pan going over medium heat for the saganaki, and 1 cast iron or regular pan heated up over high heat for the lamb burgers.

Slice the kefalograviera (saganaki cheese) into squares and fry in a little bit of olive oil until crispy on both sides.  You can squeeze a bit of lemon on top if desired.

Cook the burger in your hot pan for a few minutes per side until it reaches your desired internal temperature.

Assemble the burger and enjoy!

Ingredients (makes about 3 burgers):
1lb of ~80/20 ground lamb
1/2lb of sliced bacon
3 burger buns

Tzatziki:
1 cup mayonnaise (or Greek yogurt)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 loose cup of cilantro leaves, minced

Saganaki:
1/2 lb kefalograviera cheese (halloumi works here too)
1T olive oil
optional 1/2 lemon

Song:  Marian Hill - Got it

Pork Belly Confit with Truffle Honey [Zack]

Confit pork belly is one of the best things you can make in your kitchen.  The belly of a pig is what is commonly used to make bacon.  Instead of the usual curing and smoking process to make bacon, you should try confit. 

When you look at the cross-section of pork belly, you’ll see alternating layers of meat and fat.  The confit process transforms the meat part into a delicate pulled pork-type texture and the fat becomes soft and creamy.  When you want to serve the belly, cut it into cubes, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, and crisp the outside.  You can choose to top it with a sauce or glaze, or just eat it right out of the pan.  I chose to drizzle the crispy belly with truffle honey.  That was a good decision.

This is a 5-ingredient recipe: pork belly, some type of cooking fat, salt, pepper, and truffle honey.  It takes a bit of time to make, but it’s all idle time, not hard work.

Process:

Ask your butcher for as much pork belly as you’d like to cook (a.k.a. how big is your pot?)  Make sure they take the bones out of the underside so you don’t have to deal with those later.  The more square the cut is from the butcher, the better your outcome will be in the end.  But I never bother with a square cut – I consider the extra scraps I cut off bonus nibbles.

Take the belly home and cure it.  I covered it with a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper and put it in a covered container in my fridge.

After about 2 days, take the belly out and wipe off the excess salt.  Place the belly in an oven-proof pot and submerge it completely in fat.  I used a combination of pork fat and canola oil, but any non-flavored oil will suit.  Bring the pot to a gentle simmer.

Cover the pot and place it in an oven at 300F/150C.  The cooking time will vary depending on how thick the belly is.  Mine took around 5.5 hours.  You know it’s finished when a knife slides into the meat side easily (similar to ribs). 

Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool off.  Place the belly in the fridge – it will keep for a week or so.  Theoretically it should not spoil as long as it’s submerged in fat and you discard the meat juice. 

The belly is easier to slice if it’s straight out of the fridge.  Remove the skin.

Cut the pork belly into cubes or strips.

Place it into a cold frying pan with a little bit of the confit fat and crisp all of the sides over medium heat.

If you’re using a glaze, pour off the excess fat and gently coat all sides of the belly.  If you can find some truffle honey, use that.

Drizzle the honey over the pork belly when it's still hot.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pork belly (skin on or off, up to you)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Pork fat or other type of non-flavored oil

Truffle honey

Glaze ideas:
A sticky hoisin sauce glaze (from this recipe)
Roasted red pepper puree and honey
Honey with rosemary and garlic

Song: Paolo Nutini - Let Me Down Easy 

Spaghetti Carbonara [Zack]

Carbonara is a pasta dish originating from Rome and is my favorite thing to eat. When we visited Rome, I was on a mission to find the best rendition so I could try to recreate it at home. This is pretty darn close. The ingredient list is extremely short and therefore relies on the quality of the inputs. If you can’t find guanciale (bacon made from pig’s jaw), use pancetta or lightly smoked bacon. If you can’t find a good pecorino romano, use parmesan reggiano.

The recipe has 3 steps: 1. Slowly render the bacon until it becomes crispy 2. Cook the pasta 3. Remove the bacon pan from the heat, add the noodles, and toss the pasta in the rest of the ingredients. The sauce becomes surprisingly creamy due to a combination of eggs, bacon fat, reserved pasta cooking water, and pecorino romano cheese. It’s bliss.

Process:

Slice the guancaile into match sticks and place into a cold frying pan. Turn the heat on medium, and let the fat render out of the bacon until it’s crispy and brown. Pour off the fat until about 1T remains and set the pan aside.

Prep your ingredients in advance because the last steps happen quickly. Crack the eggs into a bowl and lightly scramble them. Grate the cheese.

Salt a big pot of water until it tastes like the sea and bring to a boil. Cook your spaghetti until al dente. A few minutes before the pasta is finished, return your frying pan with the bacon to medium heat. Grab a coffee mug and scoop out a cup of the boiling pasta water to use for the sauce later. Strain the noodles.

Take the bacon pan off the heat. Bacon pan, I like the sound of that! Add the spaghetti, pasta water, and cheese, tossing vigorously with tongs to mix. You don’t want the eggs to curdle, which is why you remove the pan from the heat and mix quickly. Crack black pepper until your arm hurts, and serve immediately with a glass of nice Italian wine.

Ingredients:
Makes 2 big bowls -
½ lb spaghetti noodles
2 whole eggs, beaten
2T-3T of pasta water

¾ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
100 grams guanciale chooped in matchsticks (this was about 3 thick slices for me)
freshly ground black pepper

optional:  chopped spring onions or 1 large clove of garlic

Song:  Missy Elliott - Hot Boyz

Spicy Pancetta Red Sauce [Zack]

This pasta dish is perfect for a quick fix.  I was in a rush to cook dinner and was able to cook this start-to-finish in 30 minutes.  It's fresh, savory, and perfect after a long day at the office.

The simplicity of this recipe relies on the quality of the ingredients.  I was given some free homemade fresh pasta from the opening of the new Italian Specialties store Sette Piatti.  I found some quality pancetta in the fridge (I'm glad I'm a hoarder), and the rest fell into place.

Process:

Get a sauce pan going over medium heat and toss your pancetta in the pan.  While that is slowly crisping, set a pot of hot salted water over high heat.  Slice the red onions, garlic, and hot pepper and set aside.

I'm lazy and I hate grating cheese, so I just throw chunks of parmesan reggiano into my food processor.  Boom, grated cheese.  Set the cheese aside and add the 4 loosely chopped tomatoes and puree until chunky.

When the pancetta is nice and crispy, add the red onions and hot pepper into the pan.  Saute for 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, cook 1 additional minute, and then put the tomato puree into the pan.  Add the red wine and cook down for about 10 minutes.  You may need to add a dash of salt, but be careful as the pancetta will already add some salt.

Cook your pasta, toss it all together, and add reggiano like a madman.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1/4 lb or 100g pancetta cut into matchsticks
1 clove garlic diced
2 red onions sliced
1/2 glass red wine
1 hot pepper sliced

4 large tomatoes

enough parmesan reggiano to make you feel like a king (aka to taste)

1/2 lb or 250g macaroni pasta (fresh if you can)

Song: St Paul and the Broken Bones - Don't Mean a Thing

Hipster Grilled Cheese [Zack]

Grilled cheese: white bread + American cheese? How predictable.

You should know about real grilled cheese. You should source the best local ingredients possible. Not some big hoyty-toyty supermarket garbage. That's why you need to use ingredients most people haven't heard of.

Real grilled cheese should be constructed with:

• multigrain wheat bread (from the best bakery in town)
• Chimay cheese (made by the Trappist Beer monks in Belgium)
• 2 types of bacon (2 different types of smoked bacon from the Ardennese mountains)
• local honey (found near Brussels on a bike ride - unfortunately I wasn't on my fixed gear)

You'll fry up the bread in some French butter (not local, but it's FRANCE), and then cut the sandwich into ironic mustaches. Serve with a heirloom tomato soup with a spoonful of homemade pesto in it.

You're welcome,
Hipster Zack

Process:

Organize your ingredients.

Fry up the bacon on low heat by starting it in a cold pan.  Cook, turning when the fat starts rendering to brown and crisp it evenly.

Slice your Chimay cheese into circles about 1/4 an inch thick.  Put one layer of cheese down on the bread, add the 2 types of bacon on top.

Add one more layer of cheese (because we're making grilled cheese!), and then drizzle 1T of honey on top.  

Press the top layer of bread down, and start a pad of butter in a pan over medium heat.  Brown both sides of the sandwich in the pan.

Remove the grilled cheese from the pan and grab your Crustache Sandwich Cutter and press it down firmly to cut your bread into fancy mustaches (Thanks Megan!!!)

Serve the hipster sandwich with some heirloom tomato soup and a large spoonful of homemade pesto.

Ingredients:

• multigrain wheat bread (from the best bakery in town)
• Chimay cheese (made by the Trappist Beer monks in Belgium)
• 2 types of bacon (2 different types of smoked bacon from the Ardennese mountains)
• local honey (found near Brussels on a bike ride - unfortunately I wasn't on my fixed gear)

Creativity Options:

• Goat cheese, chives, and bacon
• Gorgonzola, caramelized onions, and steak
• Roasted eggplant, mozzarella, pesto
• Buffalo mozzarella, fried chicken, and hot sauce

There could be a follow-up post with me beer-battering the whole shebang in PBR..... THAT would be hipster.

Song to grill some cheese:  Jamiroquai - Slippin' & Slidin'

Autumn Pasta with Butternut Squash and Bacon [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: 10 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking time
Serves: 2 to 3

When it's Tuesday night, you're just walking in the door, and feel the need for both veggies and comfort food, this might just be your go-to dish. It comes from a tattered recipe by Betty Rosbottom from years back, and can morph into an impromptu creation, depending on the vegetables in your fridge. With butternut squash, fresh baby spinach, caramelized onion and, yes, a bit of that bad-boy, bacon, it's a wonderful cool weather dish.

Ingredients:
6 ounces bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 cup butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup chicken stock (go with homemade!), reduced
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
1/2 pound uncooked penne pasta
Sea salt
Handful baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes

Saute the bacon, remove, and drain all but 2 tablespoons bacon drippings. Add butter to skillet, melt, add onions, stirring, about 5 minutes. Add butternut squash, cook a few more minutes. Add white wine and chicken stock, rosemary. Reduce slightly, remove squash and onions when squash is slightly tender but not mushy. Reduce sauce a little more, add lemon juice.

Boil a pot of water, cook penne to al dente. Drain pasta, salt the penne slightly, stir in the spinach leaves, then add the sauce and reserved bacon and squash. Stir in parmesan cheese. Garnish with parmesan shavings and serve.

Suggested soundtrack: Willie Nelson's "Moonlight in Vermont"

Tie Me in Knots. Bacon Knots. Ooh baby baby ooh. [Rhonda]

TIE ME IN KNOTS. BACON KNOTS. OOH BABY BABY OOH.  [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: beginner
Time: 10 minutes prep for 1 lb of bacon, cook time 18 minutes
Serves: snack for 1 - 2 college boys, or 6 as an appetizer

Sometimes things get a little naughty, especially when bacon's in the house. But these are, quite simply, awesome. And super easy to whip up. Warning: you'll be at the prep station a while if you're doing these for a party, for two reasons. One, they are delicious and go fast...guests will scarf them. Two, with---ahem!---shrinkage while cooking, they become one-bite-wonders. So put on some Usher and go to it.

Ingredients:
(Version One)
1 lb bacon
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like things hot)
Cooking spray

(Version Two)
1 lb bacon
1/2 cup honey or pure maple syrup or mixture of both (I mixed and it was great)
Freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover a cookie sheet with foil, lightly spritz with cooking spray. Cut the bacon in half to make shorter pieces--or leave it long for a full-on effect. Loop it once to make a knot, dip in brown sugar/cayenne mixture (both sides) for version one, or for version two, place directly on the cookie sheet, then baste with honey and sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper. Be generous. Cook for 18 minutes on top rack, check at about the 15-minute mark just in case your oven's running hot.

I've done a half and half tray here. Personal favorite? The cayenne and brown sugar. Looks prettier and tastes incredible.

Suggested soundtrack: Usher's "Scream"