3693. RIGATONI with BACON VODKA SAUCE

serves four 


1 onion, diced
6 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
1 cup of vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 quart of marinara or other red sauce
1 pound rigatoni

In a skillet over medium high heat, cook your bacon until it is browned, about 10-12 minutes. If you prefer, drain fat. Add onion to the bacon and cook 2-3 minutes more. Add your quart of red sauce to the pan, stir and bring to a simmer. Add the vodka, simmer and reduce for 20 minutes. While the sauce is reducing, bring a big pot of water to a boil and add your pasta. Cook according to manufacturer's directions and drain. When the vodka is reduced, stir in the cream and combine. Add the parmesan cheese and allow to cook until it's melted. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta and stir to combine.


bacon recipe source: Bossy Italian Wife, March 2013

3523. BACON and PEPPER INFUSED VODKA

serves twenty


2 slices cooked bacon
1 serrano pepper, halved
1 habañero pepper, halved
1 chili pepper, halved
32 ounces vodka

Combine all ingredients in a jar, cover with a lid and let sit in a cool, dark place for 48 hours. Strain, using a coffee filter and/or strainer. Serve with bloody marys.


bacon recipe source: Megan Porta, Pip & Ebby (@pipandebby), January 25, 2011

3158. MAPLE BACON MARTINI

serves one 


2 ounces vanilla vodka
½ ounce maple syrup
1½ ounces half-half
1 slice bacon, fully cooked (garnish)

Combine ingredients into a shaker filled half-way with ice. Shake vigorously for 20-30 seconds. Strain and serve into a chilled martini glass.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Daydreamer Desserts, November 2, 2012

2687. CANDIED BACON MARTINI

makes four servings 


Candied bacon

8 slices smoked bacon
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, shiny side up. Dredge the bacon on both sides in the brown sugar and arrange the slices so they do not touch on the sheet. Bake until the bacon is richly caramelized, 15 to 25 minutes. Use a pair of tongs to transfer the bacon strips to a cooling rack and allow the excess fat to drain. Serve warm as candy or cool until hardened for the martinis.

Candied bacon martinis
6 ounces premium vodka
4 ounces Applejack brandy
2 ounces amaretto liqueur
2 ounces maple syrup, preferably grade "B"
4 thin slices tart apple, such as Granny Smith
2 slices candied bacon, halved crosswise

 

Chill 4 martini glasses. In a large cocktail shaker, combine the vodka, brandy, amaretto and maple syrup with ice. Shake until combined and chilled. Strain the cocktail into the 4 chilled glasses and garnish each with an apple slice and half a slice of candied bacon. Serve immediately.

 

 

bacon recipe courtesy of: Los Angeles Times, 2012; candied bacon recipe courtesy of: The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations From Two Great American Cooks, by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock.

2455. MEZCALTINI with BACON

1 oz. mezcal
⅓ oz. scotch
⅓ oz. Campari
⅓ oz. pepper vodka
2 dashes orange bitters
A quarter-size piece of crispy bacon
1 jalapeno, halved, de-seeded, de-ribbed, and sliced long-wise

In an ice-filled shaker, pour the mezcal, scotch, Campari, vodka, and bitters and add the bacon. Shake thoroughly until the bacon is pulverized. Strain into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with the jalapeno sliver.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Grant Skokan-Guinn, formerly of Grady's Restaurant, Fort Worth, Texas | ElMezcal.org, August 11, 2011

2335. CHEESE TORTELLINI with BACON, SPINACH and TOMATO VODKA SAUCE

serves 4-6


approx. 1 pound cheese tortellini (16-20 ounces)
6 slices bacon, diced and cooked until crisp
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup vodka
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 6-ounce bag baby spinach
1/4 cup water
grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Start by crisping up 6 diced slices of bacon in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot and getting another large pot of water going for eventually cooking the tortellini.

Once the bacon is nice and crisp, pour off at least half of the rendered bacon fat and then add 1 medium diced onion and 1 large minced clove of garlic and cook those to soften up.

Once the onions have softened up, add a pinch of red pepper flakes, 1 cup heavy cream and 1/3 cup vodka and let that reduce down a bit.

After the cream has been reducing along for a couple of minutes, add about 1 pound of cheese tortellini to a large pot of boiling water.

Next, add 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes to the cream and 1 6-ounce bag of baby spinach and continue to cook that along.

Rinse the tomato can with 1/4 cup water and add that liquid to the pan with the tomato, spinach cream and, once the spinach has wilted…and the sauce is nice and hot....and after the cheese tortellini have been boiling along and floating on the surface for 4 minutes or so.....use a slotted utensil to scoop those right into the pot with the tomato vodka sauce.

Serve it up in individual bowls with a little grated parmesan cheese over the top.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Dan Eaton, Finger Lakes YNN, Your News Now, 71 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, New York 14620, February 26, 2011

2185. SPAGHETTI and MEATBALLS in BACON VODKA SAUCE

Kosher salt
12-16 oz pasta
16-24 meatballs, thawed if frozen
3-6 slices bacon
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1-2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup vodka
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
Handful of fresh basil leaves, torn, plus more for topping

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook as the label directs. Drain the pasta.

Fry bacon until crisp in a large skillet. Remove to paper towels. Add the onion and shallots to the bacon drippings in the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, a minute more or until fragrant. Crumble the bacon into the skillet over the onions and add the meatballs, cooking until the meatballs are warmed. Stir in the vodka, tomatoes and salt to taste. Return the skillet to medium heat and simmer, stirring often, until the alcohol cooks off, 7-10 minutes. Stir in the cream and cook until the sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in the parmesan and basil.

Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Season with salt. Serve topped with more parmesan and basil.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Krista, Krista's Kitchen, March 9, 2011

2072. BACON and HABANERO INFUSED VODKA

makes 1 liter


6 strips of bacon
3 habanero chili peppers
2 serrano chile peppers
1 liter good quality vodka

Add strips of bacon to a dry, cold, large skillet. Warm the skillet over low heat. Cook bacon until crispy, flipping the bacon several times throughout the process. Transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside to cool.

Remove the stems from each chili pepper and slice in half lengthwise. Add peppers (with seeds) to a large, airtight jar. Once cooled, add bacon to the same jar. Fill the jar with vodka to cover the bacon and peppers. Seal the jar and let steep for 7 days in the refrigerator. (see note)

After 7 days, strain the vodka through a cheese cloth lined fine mesh basket strainer into a clean jar or bottle. If you see any major particles floating in the vodka, strain a second time. Discard the bacon and peppers. Store in the refrigerator.

NOTE: Letting the vodka steep with the chili peppers for 7 days will result in an extremely spicy infusion. If you have a low heat tolerance, steep for a shorter period of time. You can start tasting half way through and strain the infusion once you reach your desired heat level. Keep in mind that this vodka will be used in a bloody mary. You want it to be overly spicy because the tomato juice will turn down the heat level a bit.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Brandon Matzek, Kitchen Konfidence, San Diego, California, December 9, 2010 | Croce’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar, 802 5th Avenue, San Diego, California 92101

1352. RAMP UDON SOUP with BACON CONSOMME and ASPARAGUS TEMPURA

bacon consommé (recipe below)
udon (recipe below)
asparagus tempura (recipe below)
ramps
safflower oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Start making the bacon consommé (recipe below) at least a week in advance. Start making the udon (recipe below) about 4 hours in advance. Make tempura batter about 1/2 hour in advance. You can even saute the ramps in advance, if you like.

Clean the ramps and cut off and discard the root ends. Cut each ramp into three sections by first cutting the leaves from the stems/bulbs, then cutting the stems/bulbs in half.

Saute in a bit of safflower oil, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Mix with udon in a bowl. Pour bacon consommé over the udon and ramps. Serve with asparagus tempura.


Bacon Consommé
1 lb bacon
3 quarts or so of water
Gelatin

Start this process at least a week before you intend to serve this dish.

In a large pot, fry the bacon until delicious. Add the water and simmer for an hour or so. If the flavor isn't sufficiently infused at that point, blend the bacon and water together.

Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Reduce the resulting liquid to taste.

Measure the weight of the liquid you end up with, and measure out .7% gelatin by weight. Take a cup of the liquid and set it aside to cool a bit, then stir in the gelatin. Stir back into the rest of the liquid.

Put the liquid in a ziplock bag and freeze.

Once it is frozen, set it up in your fridge in a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl. As the block melts, bacon consommé will drip through the cheesecloth into the bowl below. The gelatin that remains acts as a strainer so that the dripping liquid is perfectly clear.

You can make this in advance and freeze it until it is needed.


Udon
1 cup lukewarm water
5 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve the salt in about 1 tbsp of the water, then add the rest of the water. Set aside.

In your Kitchenaid, combine the two flours and salt. Pour in the water. With the dough hook attachment, knead on the lowest speed until it is combined and ceases to adhere to the hook. If it stays as too ragged, sprinkle in a bit more water.

Once it ceases to adhere to the hook, remove the dough from the Kitchenaid and continue to knead by hand as hard as you can for about 10 minutes on a floured surface. If it's too sticky, you can add in a bit more bread flour. (This is highly unlikely.)

The dough is incredibly stiff and hard to knead, so after about 10 minutes, just give up! Wrap the dough in a very sturdy plastic bag - or, better yet, several layers of sturdy plastic bags. On top of the plastic bag layer(s), wrap a large kitchen towel. Put the wrapped dough on the ground and stand on it.

Knead the dough with your feet by walking back and forth across on it for a minute or so.

Then unwrap the dough, give it a double fold, put it back in the bag, wrap it back in the towel and walk on it some more. Repeat this process about 4 times. Then, leaving the dough in the bag, let it rest for 3 hours in a warm place.

After 3 hours have passed, take the dough out and form it into a ball. Wrap it back up and walk on it one more time, trying to spread the dough out as much as possible with your feet.

Unwrap the dough and roll it out on a floured surface until it is a square about 1/8 inch thick. This is tough, but you can do it. If necessary, Cook & Eat suggests cutting the dough into 4 pieces and run it through the thickest setting of a pasta machine, giving them a good dusting of flour, but we didn't actually try that ourselves.

Once the dough is rolled out thin enough, fold it in half, and then in half again. Then, with one of the long edges facing you, slice the dough in 1/8 inch wide pieces. Dust the sliced pieces with a bit more flour as you go to prevent them from sticking.

Boil the noodles immediately, or cover with a towel while you are waiting for the water to come to a boil. The noodles will need to boil for about 7 minutes, stirred with a chopstick to prevent them form sticking together.


Asparagus Tempura
for the batter
1/2 cup ice water
1/2 cup vodka
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
for the asparagus and the frying
asparagus
Oil for frying (peanut, safflower, or corn oil)

Stir the batter ingredients together with a fork. Don't spend too long on this, and leave the batter slightly lumpy. Stick it in the fridge to chill until cold, at least half an hour or so.

Clean and dry your asparagus, cutting off the woody ends. (I like to snap them off, then trim the ragged end nicely for serving.)

Heat up enough oil for deep-frying to 425 F.

Dip the asparagus in the tempura batter, one stalk at a time. With your fingers, scrape off any excess batter, such that the asparagus is only lightly covered. Fry just a few stalks at a time, such that the oil never goes below 375 F.

Deep-fry the asparagus until golden brown. This should happen very quickly, so don't walk away! Then remove the tempura with a slotted spoon and set it on a rack or paper towel covered plate to drain.

Wait for the oil to come back up to 425 F before adding in the next batch each time.

Serve immediately.


courtesy of: Gothamist, Prince Street Station, P.O. Box 510, New York, New York 10012