Pork and Potatoes

If you should find yourself in Dublin, living on the super cheap in an apartment with a bare kitchen, let me recommend the following dinner, which has the distinct bonus of not requiring any spices other than salt:

Several potatoes, boiled with salt

Several pork sausages, fried

1 rasher, fried

1 tomato, sliced and salted

Irish pork is so tasty.

Bacon at the Publican

My friend Harold and I hit The Publican for brunch last weekend. The Publican is a fabulous Chicago restaurant that prides itself on its seafood, pork and beer. If you want to eat pig, look no further. I never knew how delicious pig's ears are until I came there. 

Brunch at the Publican is a genial affair. The menu is sort of organized around small plates - there are entree sized dishes, but who can resist throwing on a side or two? Certainly not me and Harold - we ordered a somewhat embarrassing amount of food (I say embarrassing because my boyfriend just ran into the guy who waited on us when we had dinner there, and he apparently remembers us mostly for the astonishing quantity of things we managed to not only order, but also consume. I am slowly developing a reputation...). Of course, there was no way to NOT order the side of Publican bacon. And what a thing of beauty it is:

This is no thin crispy slice of breakfast meat. This is a slab of pig, crisped on the outside, chewy and gooey and marvelous on the inside, perfectly blended flavors of smoked and salty and meaty and delicious. Harold actually moaned with pleasure when he took his first bite. Loudly. It was kind of scandalous. 

But seriously. While you may complain that this isn't really the bacon you're used to, and not what you expected, and bla bla bla -listen. This isn't the bacon you're used to. This is bacon as it SHOULD be.

bacon-wrapped dates

My boyfriend and I splurged on a dinner at Mercat a la Planxa, an amazing Chicago tapas restaurant, last night. When we asked our server for her recommendations from the menu, she raved about the Datiles con Almendras - bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with almonds. So we had to give them a try.

So first off, the presentation was gorgeous. The picture obviously doesn't fully do it justice (I took it rather furtively - photographing my food at restaurants makes me feel like a total herb), but the dish materializes in front of you as a lovely glass goblet filled with greens, with the charred delights skewered on toothpicks perching delicately on top. Upon being set on the table, they're then topped off with a cheese sauce of some kind, which makes them look less like crispy critters.

The flavor is, quite simply, fantastic. I don't even like dates, or I thought I didn't, but their sweetness blended beautifully with the smoky bacon flavor, and the almonds were a wonderful nutty complement. The cheese sauce was surprisingly subtle, adding a slight saltiness (the bacon actually wasn't that salty). Texture-wise, too, it was a wonderful combination, the silky creaminess of the cheese sauce, the crumbly bacon, and juicy dates and then the smooth almond kernel. Finished off with a few mouthfuls of crunchy greens, it's just beautiful, and a much lighter dish than you'd expect from the ingredients.

Absolutely delicious - maybe I'll even give dates a try in some other dish. If you happen to find yourself at Mercat a la Planxa, definitely give them a try*.

*While we're at it, let me also make it clear that you should do your damndest to find yourself there - I give the restaurant overall a glowing endorsement. The food was great, the cocktails were great, the wine was great, the service was fantastic, the dining room is lovely and has gorgeous views of Chicago, and while we went hog-wild (as per usual, sigh), it is entirely possible to dine there without blowing inordinate amounts of money. 

  Other dishes I recommend - the charcuterie sample was delicious, and a really nice way to start the meal. The Arroz con Morels was absolutely divine. A Morel risotto that was like paradise in your mouth, topped with an asparagus salad in lemon oil, with a fresh green crunch that was an incredible complement to the buttery richness of the morels. Also, the sea bass - Baramundi con Apio-Nabo - not for the fish itself, though it was quite tasty, but for the slices of celery root that came with it, which were soaked in a vinaigrette and nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes. Also, the ice cream/sorbet desserts were lovely - the Meyer lemon-vanilla and berry-basil were as delicious as expected, but we were pleasantly surprised by the sweet pea-lavender and rosemary-olive oil ice creams, which were marvelous.

  I think this might even make it onto my Top 10 Chicago Restaurants list...

in bacon we trust

My friend Tara sent me this:

Is it an offer or just general advice?

It sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Bacon Chips Index

I've reviewed bacon chips on this blog before, but I really had no idea just how many bacon flavored chips/snacks were out there until I saw this.

Baconcyclopedia

Gwen of MyBadPad.com sent me a link to her Baconcyclopedia. Wow. It really might be the ultimate bacon reference. I'm totally blown away. Seriously. Wow. 

Breakfast Greatness

A long time ago I posted about being a fan of grits and bacon.  It's still one of my go-to breakfasts, great for mornings when you have a little extra time, ie, can do something more exciting than cereal or a banana, or cereal with a banana, but not so much time that you can make pancakes. If, however, you have a spare half hour and want to really treat yourself, then, my friends, there's a version 2.0 that you have GOT to try. You start with your grits and bacon, but then, rather than eating it, you involve senor huevo, and oh man, it is awesome. Basically, you take the grits and bacon, pour em' into a baking dish, then make some dents in it, crack an egg into each dent, and bake. 

To be specific. For a (admittedly rather large) portion for 1, I used:

2 cups water

1/2 cup grits

a few pinches of salt

3 strips bacon

2 eggs

salt, pepper

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350.

Put two cups water in small pot on high heat. Chop the bacon and fry it on low heat. When the water starts boiling, add salt and grits. Stir, turn heat to medium low, and simmer until the grits are done to your liking (generally around 5 minutes?). Your bacon oughta be done by then too. Dump both - together with all the bacon grease! - into a baking dish and stir thoroughly. Then use a spoon to make a sort of divot in the grits and gently crack an egg into it. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Slide it into the oven and bake approx 15 minutes. One could also, perhaps, go really wild and throw some cheese on there too. Oh behave!

Douse with hot sauce and enjoy.