Bacon Jam

We know when you think jam, you mind doesn't automatically jump to bacon. Well, it should. Our quest to make bacon jam started with an amazing charcuterie plate we had at a local restaurant that featured bacon jam. Of course we had to find a recipe, so Zack scoured the internet until he found this one. This savory jam went perfect on crusty bread at our holiday parties last year. Or, if you want to deliver edible treats as presents, this is the perfect gift for your foodie friends.

This one is going to be a long one, so get comfortable. We're going to be here a while.

Here's what you need:
3 lbs bacon
3 large onions, thinly sliced
10 cloves garlic, minced
9 Tbsp brown sugar
3 cups coffee, brewed
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup maple syrup
fresh cracked black pepper
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Special Equipment:
Pressure Cooker
6 1/2 pint canning jars

Here's what you do:
Cook the bacon until it just gets crispy. You'll need to do this in batches. Lots of batches. Drain the excess bacon fat off in between batches.

When the bacon is finally all finished, slice it into 1/2" pieces. Set that aside for now.

Reserve a few tablespoons of the bacon fat and add to a large heavy bottom pot.

Add the onion and garlic over medium high heat. Toss to coat everything in the bacon fat.

Cook for 10-12 minutes until the onions become soft and translucent.

Add the chopped bacon to the pot.

Next add the brown sugar.

Next comes the apple cider vinegar.

Maple syrup joins the party next.

And, then add the coffee.

Bring that whole mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.

Let that simmer for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Your mixture will look like this when it's ready to move on. Beautiful, isn't it?

We put the jam in the fridge over night to let the fat come to the top. The picture above is actually after we pulled it from the refrigerator. Scoop the fat off the top and discard.

Transfer the mixture to the blender or food processor and pulse to chop the large chunks of bacon and onion up to a finer consistency.

Return to the pot and place on the stove over low heat. Add the pepper to taste and red wine vinegar.

Let that cook for another 45 minutes or so until all of the red wine vinegar has evaporated.

Meanwhile, let's get started with our canning procedure. Sanitizing time!

Put your jars in a tall dutch oven so that the jars are submerged by about an inch.

Take some of the boiling water and pour over the top of the of the lids.

Now, scoop your jam evenly into the 6 jars.

Place inside the pressure cooker with about an inch of water.

Seal the cover of the pressure cooker and put over medium-low heat. Each pressure cooker is different, so read the directions carefully. You're going to cook it at 10 pounds of pressure for about an hour.

Now you're finally done. We warned you it was a long one!

Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

We love buffalo sauce, as you might have guessed when we made Buffalo Chicken Meatballs. So, when Michelle had the girls over for a party one day, we threw together this Buffalo Chicken Dip in the slow-cooker. It was a HUGE hit.It may not be the healthiest thing to come out of our kitchen, but everyone needs a cheat day once in a while.

We snagged this recipe from allrecipes.com and actually didn't change anything!

Here's what you need:
2 10 oz. cans of chunk chicken, drained
2 8 oz. packages light cream cheese, softened
1 cup ranch dressing
3/4 cup hot sauce (we used Frank's Red Hot)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Here's what you do:
In a high-walled skillet, heat the chicken and hot sauce over medium heat.

Add the ranch dressing.

Add the softened cream cheese and stir until everything comes together and warms through.

Stir half of the shredded cheese and stir until melted in.

Transfer the mixture to the slow-cooker and top with the rest of the shredded cheese. Turn heat on low and cover. Once the cheese has melted on top (imagine a picture of that), turn the slow-cooker to warm. 

Enjoy!

Puff Pastry Cheese Straws

Hello faithful readers! This blog comes to you just from Michelle. Zack worked a rare first shift Sunday, so I had a full day of cooking to myself. My day started with these Puff Pastry Cheese Straws. 

You see, Zack got me the Jacques Pepin book, "New Complete Techniques" as a Christmas gift and I have been pouring over the 725 pages of recipes and techniques for weeks. In true Amateur Foodie fashion, I don't follow recipes very well, but I basically followed this to the letter... aside from making my own puff pastry from scratch (but Pepin does have a recipe for that).

Here's what you need:
1 sheet of pre-packaged puff pastry
1 large egg, beaten
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp Paprika
A bit of flour to sprinkle over the working surface

Here's what you do:
Preheat you oven to 400 degrees. 

Sprinkle your board with as little flour as possible. These are going to be twirled, so you don't want flour getting trapped inside the twirls.

Roll the puff pastry out so that it's about 1/8" thick.

Brush the beaten egg over one side of the puff pastry.

You can combine the Parmesan and paprika ahead of time if you with. Jacques Pepin told me to, but I just didn't want to, so I sprinkled the two separately. 

Rub the Parmesan and paprika into the dough.

Flip over and repeat with egg, Parmesan and paprika.

Cut into strips with a knife or pizza cutter.

Starting at the top, roll the puff pastry toward you at an angle to twist it. This was my first attempt at this, so of course I didn't get the hang of it until the last couple, and by then, I had forgotten to snap a picture.

Place the twisted puff pastry in a cookie sheet over a bit of parchment paper. Press the ends of the pastry into the cookie sheet so that they stick. This will prevent the pastries from shrinking up while they bake.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until nicely browned. Cut into 5" pieces and serve. Or, make ahead of time and keep in a Ziploc bag until you're ready to serve them.

Enjoy!

Chicken Meatballs: Traditional & Buffalo

We made these meatballs for our annual Super Bowl party with Zack's parents. We made two different versions, buffalo chicken and traditional chili sauce. The actual meatballs are exactly the same, we just cooked in the sauces after the meatballs were cooked through. They turned out great! 

We made 3 pounds of meatballs (2 lbs of traditional meatballs and 1 lb of buffalo), so adjust your quantities as needed.

Here's what you need:
Meatballs:
3 lbs ground chicken
3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs (You may need more depending on the consistency at the end)
1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 eggs
3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
Kosher salt & black pepper

Chili Sauce:
2 jars Heinz chili sauce
1/2 cup grape jelly

Buffalo Sauce:
1 1/2 jars Louisiana brand wing sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
This turned out really spicy, we added some Ranch dressing to the sauce to cool it down and save our taste buds. You could also use sour cream to cool it down.

Here's what you do:
Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix with your hands to combine. You can try mixing with a spoon, but by hand is really the best and easiest way.

Don't over mix. You want the meatballs to be moist, but not super wet. If you need to add breadcrumbs, just add a few at a time until the meatballs hold together well.

Roll the meat into one inch balls between your palms. Don't over roll them. You don't want to heat the meatballs up too much. We placed on the cookie sheets we'd be baking them on for the time being.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a 12" skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs on two sides. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked to 165 internal temperature. We just broke one open to check the center.

Remove from the oven, and dump them in their respective slow cookers.

Mix the buffalo sauce and chicken stock in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the sauce over the meatballs destined for buffalo sauce and keep on low in the slow cooker.

Pour the chili sauce and grape jelly over the other meatballs and give it a good stir. Put that one on low in the slow cooker as well.

We cooked the meatballs for a few hours the day before and then stored them in the fridge overnight. The longer the meatballs can soak up the sauce, the tastier they'll be.

Enjoy!

Hot Corn Dip

We've got a few blogs in the works, but we wanted to be sure to share this dip with you. It's great for holiday parties. Michelle took it to a work party and it was almost completely gone before lunch even started. If you notice in the picture above, there are already some spoonfuls taken out when she ran to grab her camera.

We found the original recipe on Tasty Kitchen, but in true Amateur Foodies fashion, we used it as a guide, not a rule. Also, we doubled the proportions since this was for a work party.

Here's what you need:
2 cups Mild Cheddar, shredded
4 cups Cheddar/Pepperjack blend, shredded
2 15 oz cans Sweet Corn, drained
2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, finely diced
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and ribs removed, then finely diced
1 cup mayo (we used olive oil mayo)
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Here's what you do:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine cheeses, corn, chipotles, jalapenos, mayo and garlic powder. Stir until all ingredients are combined.  Transfer to a large casserole dish.

Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and stir to mix the cheese in the center and allow it to melt. (If you halve this recipe, you won't need to stir halfway through, but it may be close to finished at this point). Bake for 10-20 more minutes, or until the top is slightly browned and cheese is bubbly.

Garnish with cilantro, tomatoes and onions. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!