Bacon and Parsley Poutine

Poutine is awesome, period. I learned not long ago that this dish originates from Quebec, Canada (bless their hearts), but the first time I actually ate it and subsequently fell in love, was in Jamaica. Fun fact huh!? The dish is basically french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. Once you have these three basics you can literally experiment with different additions of meats, vegetables and spices – endless possibilities! It’s mainly thought of as a snack or side, but a wise person once told me that you can make anything a main dish if you just eat enough of it.

My version is made without the cheese curds – because I didn’t have any – but grated or chopped mozzarella would do the trick really. This is also the quick/cheat version of making it and I’m sure you’ll all appreciate how easy it is. The only thing you really have to do is to make the gravy. Everything else you just stick in the oven or fry!

What you need:

Frozen french fries

Grated or chopped mozzarella cheese

Fresh parsley, chopped

Bacon, chopped into small pieces

For the gravy:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 cup chicken stock (if you don’t have this substitute with a bouillon cube soaked in a cup of water)

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

Handful of chopped onion

Dash of ground black pepper

-I started by making the fries in the oven as directed and cooking the bacon in there too. While this was in process, I made the gravy.

1. To make the gravy, melt butter in a small pan and whisk in the flour. Stir for 1 minute.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until you get a smooth gravy. This only takes about 11 minutes total.

3. After the gravy is done take out your fries and put them on a plate. Sprinkle half the bacon on the fries.

4. Cover with the gravy then add the rest of the bacon.

5. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and parsley on top.

…AAAAnd it really is that simple. I’m thinking of making a pulled pork poutine soon and maybe a spicy one. Let me know how you like this recipe! Happy Saturday.

Happy eating,

Essie

Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

So I tried my hands at a new kind of biscuit today. I wanted them more savory than regular so I made them with cheddar cheese and bacon. This recipe is a very simple one so bake away!

Things you need:

Flour – 1 cup flour

Salt – 1/4 teaspoon

Baking powder – 1 teaspoon

Shredded cheddar cheese – 3/4/ cup

Bacon pieces – 1/2 cup

Heavy cream – 3/4/ cup

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F.

2. Make your bacon pieces if you don’t have the store-bought  kind. I chopped up strips of bacon into tiny pieces and then fried until crispy.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, cheddar cheese and bacon. Mix until everything is evenly distributed.

SIDENOTE: I used cajun bacon salt instead of regular salt. I got this on a trip to Saratoga, NY – it’s amazing in EVERYTHING!

4. Next add the heavy cream and stir till it’s just moist.

5. Remove from the mixing bowl onto a flour-dusted surface, then knead with your hands. Kneading is really the fun part. Don’t worry if you don’t know how – I sometimes need a refresher here and then. Find out how to here.

6. Divide the dough six ways them flatten out into 1inch thick circles. Bake for about 15 mins.

You can have these at any time of the day and as an accompaniment to any meal. I love eating them with some chai tea in the afternoon. Thinking of adding chives the next time I make these. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

-Essie

Beer bacon birthday cake

It’s someone very special’s birthday today so I baked him quite the epic cake! This is a pretty manly cake if I do say so myself. It’s not the easiest thing to make but once you get the hang of it, it’s very straightforward.

I’m not going to go over the cake mixing part because it will make this too long, but you can find a good recipe here.

What you need:

Cake ingredients (except water)

Beer

Bacon

Brown sugar

Frosting

Waffle iron

First cut the bacon into short strips and lay them flat on a baking sheet. Cover the strips with brown sugar and bake at 400F until crispy.

Chop the remaining bacon up into tiny pieces and throw in a frying pan. Sprinkle very little brown sugar on the bacon and fry until crispy.

Now on to the cake layers. Mix the cake according to the directions/recipe but substitute water for beer. Pour the cake mix into a waffle iron and sprinkle with some bacon. Make sure you cook the waffle cake layer until its just browning. Remove from waffle iron and set aside to cool. Do this until you’ve used up all the cake mix.

 

Mix the remaining beer into the frosting and frost in-between each cake layer, making sure to cover it completely. Frost the top and the outside of the cake next.

Top with remaining bacon pieces and enjoy your amazing creation! We haven’t cut into it yet but from the little that I tasted it’s absolutely delicious.

 

-Essie