Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata

As most of you know, I work in a kitchenware store, and the long hours coming up for the next couple of weeks are keeping me from experimenting in the kitchen. So what you'll find posted here is just like TV in the summer: reruns. I'll be posting some of my more popular and interesting posts for the next couple of weeks, and will be back with new recipes and rants in the New Year. May you all have all the best and happiest things in your life for the Christmas Season and in the New Year. And thank you for coming along for the ride with me so far.


Sometimes, I get lazy. Even though I love to cook, often I'd rather hang out with a cup of coffee in the morning, or with a glass of wine in the evening and not have to fuss much over a meal for the assembled family. This usually happens over the holidays or on vacation. Unfortunately, I also have a solid case of Italian Guilt, instilled most thoroughly by my mother years ago that I haven't been able to shake. Its forced me to find something delectable to serve the gang that won't force me to run around the kitchen at the last moment. Usually it ends up being a make ahead dish, and a good one. A strata.

In case you aren't up on just what a strata is, I'll explain. A strata is a layered dish, involving bread, eggs and usually cheese, plus whatever other goodies (generally pre-cooked) you want to add in. As it bakes, it puffs, almost soufflé-like and then settles into a rich, puffy, creamy dish that you can have for pretty much any meal. You can make them savory or sweet, both versions are great additions to your cooking repertoire.

The nice part is that a strata is much better if you assemble it hours in advance, or the night before, and let it set in the fridge until baking time. It bakes in about an hour, which gives the cook time for that second cup of coffee, or glass of wine. For breakfast or brunch with a savory strata, all you need is some fruit on the side, and maybe some pastry; for lunch or dinner, a good salad or a side vegetable, or a cold soup before the strata  is nice. If you choose to make a sweet one, it makes a wonderful breakfast  or a fabulous dessert for a light meal. I promise to give you a sweet strata recipe later into the Autumn.

I've been making this version for years, but I've adopted a technique from Cook's Illustrated recently that adds some weights on top of the casserole while it chills. I think it really does improve the texture. I always chill the assembled strata at least 8 hours before baking to be sure all the stale bread has had a chance to soak up the eggs and cream. I just make it up before I go to bed, and let it rest while I do.

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata
Serves 6-8

Spinach, Mushroom & Bacon strata. Cheesy and easy to make ahead, 
and so delicious1

Ingredients

8 slices of stale Italian bread, sliced 1/2" thick
4T unsalted butter, softened
6 slices of smoked bacon, roughly chopped
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 10oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
6 large eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. kosher salt
ground black pepper
cooking spray or butter for pan

Instructions

Spray an 8" square baking dish with cooking spray or butter liberally. Spread one side of each slice of bread with a half tablespoon of butter, and set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon until just crisp, and then remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add the onions and mushrooms to the fat, and cook until the onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes over medium high heat. Add the spinach to the pan and stir until heated through. Turn off the heat, and mix in the bacon. Set the pan off the hot burner.

Place 4 slices of the bread in the bottom of the prepared pan, buttered side up. Distribute 1/2 of the spinach mixture over the bread evenly, and then sprinkle over 1/3 of the shredded Gruyere. Arrange the remaining 4 slices on top of the cheese, more or less in the opposite direction from the bottom slices. Top with all the remaining spinach mixture, and then 1/2 of the remaining cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, the milk, the cream, the nutmeg, kosher salt and black pepper to taste, and por the mixture carefully over the top of the bread and spinach mixture in the baking dish. Place a large  sheet of plastic wrap flush on top of the top cheese layer, and place a small, heavy frying pan ( or as Cook's suggests 2 1-pound boxes of sugar) on top of the plastic wrap to weigh down the bread. Chill it weighed down for at least 3 hours, or overnight. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 325ºF, remove the weights and the plastic wrap and sprinkle over the remaining Gruyere cheese and bake for 55-65 minutes, until browned and puffed.  Serve hot or at room temperature, and remember, it will deflate just about as soon as it comes out of the oven, and that's supposed to happen...

Missing You: Frito Pie & Comfort Food

A good friend of mine, who spent his formative years in Paris, Texas, always resorted to making Frito Pie when he was sad or the chips were down. He isn't around any more, or I know he'd make it for us tonight. A basic chili was one of the few foods he could actually cook, and cook well, and he would make Frito Pie for as many people as were hanging around his kitchen on a bad day. That, and beer always cheered us up. It is very, very good. I miss him.

This morning, my sister-in-law and friend, Cammi, a funny, kind and feisty woman, lost her very short fight with cancer. She had so much life to live yet, that it makes me angry. We were planning to be cranky old women together. Loss. Another 4-letter word. Miss. Another one. My husband never thought he'd outlive his baby sister. Cancer is a bitch. We miss you.

I am in no mood to cook tonight; the day has been all phone calls and Chuck looks worn out. Comfort, though, is in the form of a dish of leftover chili from Friday's blog post "Some Like it Not Hot Chili" made into Frito Pie. To us Yankees, this isn't a "pie", it's more like a nacho eaten with a fork. But this isn't about us, it's about those who've gone before us and comforting ourselves as best we can.

I've just made a market run for a bag of Fritos. Frito Pie isn't really a recipe, although you'll often see it in recipe form, starting the chili from scratch. Just be sure to use Fritos. Nothing else will do.

While the Fritos are NOT optional, you can vary the toppings at will or whim. The bacon topping was the Texan's personal claim to fame.

Comfort food. Frito Pie...and beer.

The Guy from Paris, Texas's Frito Pie
Serves 4

6 cups Homemade chili (See last Friday's Post)
1 big bag Fritos Corn Chips

Toppings:
1/2 cup chopped onion or scallion
1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapeno peppers
1-1/2 shredded cheddar or jack cheese
1 cup crisp-cooked crumbled bacon
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro or parsley

Heat the chili until piping hot. Place a handful of Fritos on each dish, and ladle or spoon the chili on top. Add as many of the toppings as you want, although in our house, cheese is NEVER optional. If there are Fritos leftover, toss some on top of the toppings. Goes best with beer, iced tea and a heart that needs cheering.
6/12/12

Bacon from the Boot: Cauliflower with Basil Pesto, Speck & Gorgonzola

Cauliflower with Basil Pesto, Speck and Gorgonzola in my new blue dish!

Bacon and cheese, geez. It's a go-to combo in so many ways. Atop burgers or nestled inside them,   mac & cheese with bacon, even in the ubiquitous drive-thru breakfast sandwich, it raises the deliciousness factor by at least 10. Not much that isn't improved by smoked meat and cheese. I often like to use speck, which is the Italians greatest gift to us smoked meat lovers, in pasta dishes and anywhere else I can get away with it. Technically, what it is, is smoked prosciutto, but it's meatier than our regular bacon, porkier, and well, a little smokier in my estimation. You can get it sliced to order in good delis, and already diced in many good supermarkets. Sometimes I just dice it up, crisp it up in a little good olive oil, and use that as the base for a good vinaigrette. Wonderful stuff from The Boot.

Yesterday, my local Whole Foods had a terrific Friday Deal on bone-in rib steaks, and I picked up a gorgeous 3" thick 2-pounder to butterfly and grill for our dinner. Also a lovely organic cauliflower that I originally intended to puree with cheese. We've had some carb-heavy meals lately and I wanted a good, low carbs side dish. The Gorgonzola and the speck caught my eye in the fridge drawer, and I thought they would make nice partners in a rustic baked casserole. I was right. It's a little homely, but it's a great accompaniment to grilled meat, and can bake unattended while the grill does it's magic on the rest of your dinner.

Cauliflower with Basil Pesto, Speck and Gorgonzola
6 servings

1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 oz. diced speck or smoked bacon
1/2 cup of red bell pepper in 1/2" dice
6 cups of al dente cooked cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
3 T Basil Pesto ( I like the Basil Pesto from Stonewall Kitchen if I don't have any homemade)
4 oz. crumbled Gorgonzola Dolce
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Heat the olive oil is a large nonstick skillet that has a cover and add the speck. Cook on medium, about 5 minutes until the speck is starting to crisp. Add the bell pepper, raise the heat and continue to cook about 2-3 minutes longer until the pepper is starting to soften.

Adds both color AND flavor.

Add the cauliflower, give it all a big stir, and add the white wine. cover and let steam-cook about 2 minutes until most of the wine is gone. Stir in the basil pesto, mixing thoroughly. Turn the cauliflower mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil or a lid. Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the cover, sprinkle the Gorgonzola over the top, and return to the oven for about 5 minutes, uncovered until the cheese begins to melt.

Remove, stir gently to mix in the cheese, sprinkle the basil or parsley over the top and serve.

Hot or Not: Apricot Bacon Jam

Apricots, bacon and peppers, oh, my!

I found these lovely apricots in the market a week ago. They're newly in season, and it's about the only time of year they are delicious as they don't travel so well from too far away.  Wanted to do a blog post on grilling them for the Memorial Day weekend. Stuff happens and the apricots, half of them now too soft to grill, are still sitting in my fruit bowl. I figured I'd just turn them into a bit of jam for our breakfasts for the next few days and hit some of my favorite blogs for inspiration. While I was reading through Lisa Fain's take on apricot jam, on her blog Homesick Texan, I also saw a link at the bottom of her page to the recipe for her famous Bacon Jam, and a little switch went off in my brain. Apricot Bacon Jam. Why not? God knows I always have enough bacon in my freezer to feed a platoon.

This isn't a traditional spread-on-toast sort of jam, this is more of a condiment or a chutney, good on bread, crackers, with cheese, with beer...and will be divine on the turkey breast sandwich I'm taking with me to work tonight. Actually, I think I may also have some tomorrow, spread on toast, with scrambled eggs for breakfast. So much for this not being a breakfast jam.

Just a little snack before lunch.

Notes:  Hot or not is your pick, although I suggest using just half of a seeded jalapeno pepper if you don't want any obvious heat. If you want hot, leave in the seeds, and use up to 2, although if they are as hot as the current batch at my market, I think that would overpower the other flavors and suggest sticking to one pepper, seeded and minced. If you can get double smoked bacon, you could cut back on the smoked paprika to keep it from being too smokey.

Apricot Bacon Jam, Hot or Not
Makes about 3 cups

8 oz. smoky sliced bacon, in 1/2" bits
1 large yellow onion, 1/4" dice

1 large red bell pepper, seeded, in 1/4 " dice

2-3 big garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 lb. fresh apricots, pitted and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 sprigs thyme, bundled with butchers twine
1-2 big, hot Jalapeno peppers, minced (see note)
1 Tblsp kosher salt
2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika

Place the bacon in an unheated, shallow, deep pan on the stove and turn the heat to medium. Slowly render out the fat and cook the bacon until it is nice and brown. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon or skimmer to a bowl and set aside. Remove all but about 3 tablespoons of bacon fat from the pan and discard, (or set aside for other cooking).

Add the bell pepper, the onion and garlic to the hot bacon fat and stir well, and cook until the vegetables have begun to soften and the onions are starting to look golden. Add everything else, including the cooked bacon and stir well. Bring up to a gentle boil, and cook until the jam will mound on a spoon. Let cool slightly, spoon into jars or a bowl and chill.

Will keep about 2 weeks covered and refrigerated.