Bacon Week Part 2: Bacon Salt

Tags

bacon, gifts, gluten free, salt, seasoning, Southern

Salt and bacon are two cooking essentials. The combination of the two is perfection indeed. Use this salt on things like eggs, potatoes, sprinkled onto steak before grilling…

For more on the inspiration of this post, see this post- Bacon Week Part 1: Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!

Bacon Salt 

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup coarse sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground peppercorns

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Lay your bacon out in single strips over a cookie rack and put that in a baking tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon is crisp and starting to blacken(It should look overcooked rather than how you’d normally eat bacon).

Once the bacon has cooled, use a paper towel to press out any excess oil. Transfer the bacon to a food processor and process until there are only small chunks and a paste begins to form. Add in the sea salt and ground pepper(note: whole peppercorns will not break up in the food processor) and continue to process until the salt breaks up into smaller pieces and mixes with the bacon. Transfer to an airtight jar and keep in the refrigerator when not using.

Salad with Salt-Roasted Beets, Pecans, and Blue Cheese

Tags

beets, food, inspiration, lemon, roasted, salad, salt, vinaigrette

Having foodie friends is a great way to get inspiration. They tell you about fabulous things they have made or tried. That is how today’s recipe came about. My friend, David (a co-worker and fellow foodie), raved about a dish he tried at a local winery-salad of salt roasted beets with baby arugula, goat cheese, red onion, and truffle vinaigrette.

Pause for a collective yummmm! 

I didn’t eat the dish so obviously I can’t recreate it. But I can be inspired!

Salad with Salt-Roasted Beets, Pecans, and Blue Cheese 

• 3 beets, washed and tops removed
• Salad greens (arugula would be ideal but I had spinach on hand)
• 1/4 pecans, toasted lightly
• 3 small spring onions, thinly sliced
• Blue cheese
• Salt
• Lemon Vinaigrette (see below)

Spread a thin layer of salt on the bottom of small oven safe glass dish or roasting pan the pan. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the beets in the pan on top of the salt. Cover well with foil; bake about an hour, or until tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to handle.

Combine the greens, pecans, onion, and blue cheese. When cool, gently peel the beets with the edge of a knife, being careful not to gouge out any of the meat. (Do this wearing something you aren’t in love with. These things are very magenta!) Slice the beets thinly and quarter into bite sized pieces and place on top of the salad. Apply Lemon Vinaigrette as desired. Serves 3.

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Combine the above ingredients well. Refrigerate any leftovers.