Bacon is not Bacon everywhere

Apparently, my assumption that bacon was bacon everywhere was WRONG. (See comments on this post)

So I need to make a few qualifications about what I’m talking about when I refer to “bacon” in a recipe on here.

I live in Australia. That apparently makes a hell of a lot of difference, as UK/Aus/Canada commonly use the same cut, where as America uses a different cut.

This is what my bacon looks like:

This is what American bacon looks like:

Apparently, my understanding of “bacon” is called “Canadian Bacon” in the US. And in Aus, we call the American cut of bacon “streaky bacon”.

So when I say “1 rasher of bacon” in a recipe, I mean 1 slice of my understanding of bacon. If you choose to use American bacon I am not going to stop you, but it will mean that your dish will have a much higher fat content than my recipe intended.

I will not argue with you if you want to say that streaky bacon tastes better. Plenty of people think so. I just have a serious problem with the texture of the fat (on all meat – not just bacon fat) so I always use the leaner cuts.

Also, for a quick reference, my experience is that 300g of bacon is usually 8-9 slices of my bacon. That may help with conversions to different types of bacon (as the streaky bacon rashers look like they are significantly smaller and lighter per slice than mine is).

Hopefully that clears up any issues!

~K

Zucchini Slice

This is how I used one of the enormous zucchini I got this month.

It’s a fairly easy one to make, and it tastes good. It’s great to have in the fridge for lunches.

You can make it as a slice, or in muffin tins for easy pre-portioned serves. The other benefit of making it in a muffin tray is that all of the pieces have nice crispy cheesy edges 🙂 I made this batch in a slice pan because my muffin pans were in use at the time.

*Edit* I ended up eating all of this, Hubby didn’t have a single piece. He’s not a big fan of quiche-like things, so I guess he didn’t even bother trying it. Wuss.

Ingredients:

• 4 bacon rashers, diced
• 4-5 button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 cup grated cheese, plus extra to sprinkle on top
• 1 cup SR flour
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease baking pan or muffin tray.
2. Fry bacon until browned and slightly crispy. Cool slightly.
3. Combine bacon, zucchini, carrot, cheese, and flour in a bowl. Add eggs and milk, and mix until combined.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and level the surface. Bake for 30 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and the cheese is nicely browned. Stand in pan for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

These will also freeze well 🙂 It’s easy to make these vegetarian, by leaving out the bacon.

~K

 

Tomato Bacon Pasta

This is a something that I just threw together one day when I didn’t know what else to make, and I didn’t have a lot in the pantry/fridge. It was an instant hit with Hubby (it’s got bacon and pasta. Nuff said).

It goes together really quickly, and freezes well.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 250g bacon, diced (either pre-diced or DIY)
• 440g can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste (ish – this is an approximate measurement)
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• herbs, salt & pepper as per preference

Method:

1. Oil pan and cook onions until translucent. Add garlic and bacon and cook until bacon is browned.
2. Add tinned tomatoes and tomato paste, and herbs/salt & pepper. Cook for a few minutes, then serve with your choice of pasta.

I use 1 full packet of dry pasta to go with this (500g packet), and freeze pasta & sauce in single serve containers.

~K

 

Risotto

This is one of my favourite meals EVER.

And it’s really quite easy to do.

This particular version of the recipe serves 2, but I vary the size depending on whether I want leftovers or not.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup risotto rice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 rashers of bacon, diced
• 2 chicken thighs, or 1 breast fillet, cubed
• 4 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 stock cube (the cubes I get make 500ml of stock per cube)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped (or leek, sliced. Depends what I got in my vege box)
• parmesan cheese, grated – about 1 tbsp per serve you are cooking, but I don’t measure this – I just pour it on until I’m happy with the taste and texture
• herbs, salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in pan, and cook onion/leek and garlic until softened. In a separate container, dissolve stock cube in 500ml boiling water and set aside.
2. Add bacon, chicken and mushrooms, and cook until chicken is cooked through. Add any herbs you want at this point.
3. Add rice and cook, stirring, for about 1 min or until the rice is slightly translucent on the edges and smells a little nutty.
4. Pour in prepared stock, and bring to the boil while stirring. Reduce heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick, simmering until almost all the stock is dissolved.
5. Test rice. If it isn’t cooked through, add a little extra water (not stock). I usually do this 1/4 cup at a time, and you can sometimes need to add up to 2 cups extra water. Don’t add it all at once though. Cook uncovered, stirring often, adding more water as required, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked through.
6. Season to taste, and stir in remaining butter and parmesan cheese.