3385. CALVES LIVER with BACON, SAUTEED ONIONS, and MUSTARD SAUCE

yields six servings


12 ounces bacon, slab or sliced, in 1 by 1/4 inch pieces
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold
6 tablespoons minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup brown veal stock or chicken stock
1/4 cup stoneground mustard
6 (8ounce) slices calf's liver, trimmed of all sinew and cut into 1/2 inch slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

 

Sauteed onions:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
3 small onions, thinly sliced across width
1/2 teaspoon salt

Fry bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and reserve.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium skillet over moderate heat. Cook shallots with salt until soft and nearly golden, about 3 minutes. Add cooked bacon, stirring briefly to rewarm. Add vinegar, turn the heat to high and reduce by half. Add stock and reduce again by half. Break remaining butter into small pieces and whisk into sauce until smooth. Whisk in mustard and remove from heat.

Preheat grill or a dry skillet. Season liver with salt and pepper. Grill or saute in melted butter over high heat, about 3 minutes per side.

Arrange liver over a bed of Sauteed onions on individual serving plates and spoon on sauce. Serve immediately.

Sauteed onions: Melt butter in a large skillet over high heat. Reduce heat. Saute onions with salt, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

bacon recipe source: Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Border Grill, California, 1997

2026. MACKEREL with BACON and CREAMY MUSTARD SAUCE

serves two


For the mackerel and spinach
2 mackerel fillets
salt and pepper
4 slices unsmoked streaky bacon
20 grams sage leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
50 grams butter
400 grams spinach
sea salt

For the sauce
25 grams butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 small glass of white wine
1 teaspoon coarse grain mustard
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
100 ml double cream

Remove the top part of the bone from the mackerel and season inside with salt and pepper. Wrap the mackerel in the bacon and sage leaves, overlapping as you go.

Lay the mackerel in a baking tray with the olive oil and 25g of butter, and roast in the oven at 200°C for 10 -15 minutes until golden.

Meanwhile melt another 25g of butter in a pan over a high heat. Add the spinach and sautée for about 1 minute until wilted and tender. Drain in a colander before serving.

For the sauce melt another 25g of butter in a pan and sweat the shallot until soft. Add the white wine vinegar, bring to the boil, and reduce for a couple of minutes. Add the white wine, bring back to the boil, and reduce again by a third (about 6-7 minutes). Then add the double cream and bring to the boil. Stir in the mustard and season to taste.

Serve the mackerel with the spinach and mustard sauce.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Matt Tebbutt, The Foxhunter, Nantyderry, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 9DN Wales | LifeStyle FOOD

1903. BRUSSEL SPROUTS with BACON, MACHE and MUSTARD SAUCE

serves four


1 pound Brussel sprouts
1 garlic clove cut into slivers
2 tablespoons chives finely chopped
1/4 pound slab bacon
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or heavy cream
bunch of mache or tatsoi


Blanch Brussel sprouts for 4-5 minutes in boiling salted water. Refresh in cold water to keep the color. Cut the bacon slab into 1/4 slice then slice again into 1/4 pieces. Saute bacon in 1 tablespoon olive oil till light browned. Reserve half the bacon for garnish...

Cut the Brussel sprouts in half, then add the cut Brussel sprouts flat side down to the bacon fat. Cook till light browned, then add the garlic slivers and cook another 30 seconds.

For the sauce: Add 1/2 the bacon, shallots, and saute in 1 tablespoon butter. Add the chicken stock and mustard. Whisk in cream and reduce till desired consistency is reached. Add mache (leaving some for garnish) and cook till just barely wilted.

Reheat the Brussel sprouts with mache and 1/2 bacon. Pour over sauce and garnish with additional bacon, mache and chives.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Greenmarket Recipes

1866. WARM NAPA CABBAGE, BACON, BLUE CHEESE and APPLE SALAD

serves four


1 head Napa cabbage
1 head radicchio
5 thick slices apple wood smoked bacon, chopped fine
1 green apple, peeled
4 ounces crumbled blue or green veined cheese
2 tablespoons neutral oil

for Mustard Sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
cold water to thin
salt and pepper to taste

Cut off bottom of head of cabbage. Pull cabbage leaves apart, wash in cold water and dry. Cut out most of hard stem leaving some for body. Stack leaves and crosscut julienne into 0.25 inch wide slices.

Save four nice outside leaves from radicchio. Wash, dry, and set aside at room temp. Repeat procedure used on the cabbage with the radicchio except crosscut julienne into eighth-inch wide slices.

On medium to high heat, cook oil and bacon pieces in large skillet or sauté pan.

Whisk together ingredients for mustard sauce in a cold bowl.

When bacon is cooked tender, push it to the top of the pan. Back tilt pan letting fat evenly coat-then pool in lower half of pan. Make sure pan is on medium-high heat. Place cabbage into fat then toss once. Add crumbled cheese, radicchio, black pepper to taste, and mustard sauce to taste (2 ounces is plenty).

Toss until everything is coated and cook for about 2 minutes until warmed through but still crisp (must not be too wilted!). One final toss.

Set out radicchio leaves on four plates. Drizzle mustard dressing around plate. Fill radicchio leaves with warm cabbage salad.

Grate some fresh apple over the top using large hole on box grater. Garnish with herb of choice. I like a touch of finely julienned sage.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Chef David Du Bois, Franklin Cafe, 278 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, 617-350-0010

1779. BOILED COLLAR of BACON with CREAMY MUSTARD SAUCE

1 kg unsmoked bacon joint
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1.2 liters chicken stock
150ml double cream
70 grams unsalted butter
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Remove any rind from the bacon then roll up tightly before soaking in plenty of water for at least 24 hours prior to cooking to reduce the salt content. When ready rinse well.

Place the bacon in a pan with the vegetables and bay leaf. Cover with the chicken stock then bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered for 90 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside to cool for 25 minutes.

Drain off 600ml of the stock to a clean pan and bring to a boil. Continue cooking until the volume has reduced by half then add the cream and continue cooking for 10 minutes before whisking in the butter, 25 grams at a time. Transfer the bacon and vegetables to the pan, add the mustard seeds then adjust the seasonings. Plate out, allowing two pieces of bacon per serving.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Celtnet.org

402. ROASTED LEG OF RABBIT with BACON and MUSTARD SAUCE

Serves 4


4 rabbit legs
110g unsalted butter, softened
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 tbs chopped fresh tarragon
1 tbs chopped fresh parsley
grated rind of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
20 thin smoked bacon rashers, rind removed

For the mustard sauce
450ml whipping cream salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. With a small sharp knife, remove the thigh bone from the rabbit leg by forming a little tunnel around the bone rather than coming through from the side. This is only slightly tricky and just takes a little time and trouble. Mix together the butter, garlic, tarragon, parsley, lemon and seasoning. Divide this between the four cavities and wrap each leg with five rashers of bacon, then place on a lightly buttered baking tray. Make sure that the ends of each rasher meet on the underside. Roast the legs in the oven for about 10 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for a further 10 minutes in a warm place.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Simply heat the cream with a tablespoon of the mustard and a little salt and pepper. Simmer for five minutes or so until slightly thickened. Keep warm.

To serve, cut three slices from the bulbous end of each leg and, being careful to collect the herby juices, arrange neatly on four plates. Sit the bony part upright alongside the slices. Add the second spoonful of mustard to the sauce, whisk, reheat and serve separately in a sauce-boat. A dish of plain boiled potatoes and a green salad would be a fitting accompaniment.


courtesy of: Roast Chicken and Other Stories: A Recipe Book, by Simon Hopkinson. Ebury Press, December 1996