Bacon Nation: 125 Irresistible Recipes (11 page)

2
Toast the slices of bread and brush each with about 1 tablespoon of the garlic-rosemary oil. Serve the slices of bread alongside bowls of soup for dunking.

Serves 8

There is something less “beany” about black beans than the rest of the bean family. When black beans are properly prepared, their taste and texture is smoother and more savory. Caribbean people have taken black beans to heart (and hearth) and added layers of flavor. We find it’s the bean soup that even bean soup avoiders finish with gusto. You’ll note the use of jalapeño pepper. It really boosts and sharpens the flavors. Also, while the use of a
sofrito
(sautéed aromatic vegetables) is common in Latin cooking, we feel that the flavors get lost if you make your
sofrito
at the outset and let it cook into anonymity with the long-simmering beans. Instead we add it at the end so the flavors and textures are multidimensional.

Some black bean recipes call for thickening the soup with a paste of flour or cornstarch, but we opted instead for mashing a handful of cooked beans with a potato ricer and then returning them to the simmering soup to thicken it slightly.

For the bean soup

12 ounces slab bacon, with rind

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound (2⅓ to 2½ cups) dried black beans, rinsed, drained, and picked over (see
page 63
)

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 medium-size onion, finely chopped

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sofrito

Olive oil, if necessary

2 medium-size onions, finely chopped (about 2 cups)

2 large carrots, trimmed, peeled, and chopped into ¼- to ½-inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped

1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped

4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1¼ teaspoons dried thyme

For serving (optional)

Balsamic vinegar or fresh lime juice

Hot sauce of your choice

Sour cream

Chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1
Prepare the bean soup: Using a sharp chef’s knife, remove the rind from the slab bacon and set the rind aside. Cut the bacon slab into ¼- to ½-inch cubes (see
page 57
).

2
Heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon cubes and cook until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat as necessary. Remove and discard any solid cubes of bacon fat.

3
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon pieces to a soup pot or large Dutch oven. Add the bacon rind to the soup pot. Set the skillet with the bacon fat aside to use for making the
sofrito
.

4
Add the beans, chicken stock, tomato paste, onion, garlic cloves, bay leaves, ½ teaspoon of salt, and 9 cups of water to the pot. Stir to blend the tomato paste into the liquid. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and black pepper to taste. Let come to a boil, then reduce the heat as necessary and let the soup simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming any fat or foam that rises to the surface with a large spoon.

5
Prepare the
sofrito:
While the beans cook, place the skillet with the bacon fat over medium heat. If the fat in the skillet is less than 1 tablespoon, add enough olive oil to measure 1 to 2 tablespoons. When the fat is hot, add the 2 onions and the carrots, red bell pepper, and jalapeño pepper and cook until the vegetables soften, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic cloves, oregano, cumin, and thyme and cook until the garlic and herbs are fragrant, about 1 minute. Set the
sofrito
aside in the skillet.

6
After the beans are cooked, remove and discard the bacon rind and bay leaves. Using a slotted spoon, transfer about 1½ cups of beans to a small bowl (don’t worry if you remove some of the bacon cubes as well; you can’t avoid them). Mash the beans with a potato masher until smooth. Return the mashed bean mixture to the pot.

7
Place the skillet with the
sofrito
over high heat, add 1 cup of water, and let come just to a simmer, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the
sofrito
mixture to the soup. Let the soup come to a boil, then reduce the heat as necessary and let the soup simmer, partially covered, until the flavors fully blend, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming any fat or foam that rises to the surface of the soup with a large spoon.

8
Ladle the soup into individual bowls. If desired, add ½ teaspoon of balsamic vinegar or fresh lime juice to each bowl and serve the soup with hot sauce and small bowls of sour cream and chopped cilantro for those who want them. The soup can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days or frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Serves 6

It is not a law of nature that lentils have to be boring. They only seem that way because if you are like us, you often leave them in your pantry ignoring the fact that they are losing flavor until the day that you don’t want to be bothered to go shopping and there’s nothing else to make. Anything that is neglected for that long, whether it’s a bag of lentils or a romantic relationship, is bound to lose some of its zip. But dried green lentils from the farmers’ market or the imported French ones (lentilles du Puy) don’t taste like paper towels and they plump up nicely. Wine, bacon, spices, tomatoes, and aromatic vegetables turn this basic legume into a rib-sticking restorative. If you have some sherry or port on hand, adding a couple of tablespoons to the cooking liquid can’t hurt. Pour yourself a glass while you are at it.

8 ounces slab bacon, rind removed (see
page 57
)

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 large carrots, trimmed, peeled, and chopped

1½ cups French green lentils (lentilles du Puy), rinsed and picked over

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Scant ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Freshly ground black pepper

6 cups low-sodium chicken stock

½ cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 bay leaf

Salt (optional)

¼ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

1
Cut 4 thin slices, each about 3 inches long and ¼ inch thick, from the slab of bacon. Cut the slices into ¼-inch pieces and set the rest of the slab of bacon aside.

2
Cook the bacon pieces in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat until lightly browned and some of the fat is rendered, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat as necessary.

3
Add the onion and carrots to the pot and cook over medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the lentils, cumin, coriander, and cayenne pepper and season with black pepper to taste. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook the lentils until they have softened slightly, 3 to 4 minutes. (This step allows the lentils and vegetables to soak up the flavor of the bacon drippings.)

4
Add the chicken stock, white wine, tomato paste, bay leaf, 2 cups of water, and the remaining slab of bacon. Cover the pot and let come to a boil. Then, reduce the heat as necessary and let the soup simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape, about 30 minutes, skimming any fat or foam from the surface with a large spoon.

5
Discard the bay leaf and the slab of bacon. (Or, if you like, trim and discard the fat from the slab, then dice and return the bacon pieces to the soup.) Taste for seasoning, adding salt and more black pepper as necessary. If the soup seems too thick, add ¼ to ½ cup more water to thin it to the desired consistency. Ladle the soup into individual soup bowls and garnish it with the parsley. The soup can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 5 days.

Serves 4

No doubt you have noticed that whenever you ask for the soup of the day at a diner, invariably one of the choices is split pea soup. Well, too often this wonderful combination is overcooked, overpureed, and over-the-hill. Our soup is made with whole yellow split peas. Also, rather than mooshing the whole thing up in a food processor, we elected to keep the flavors and ingredients separate, distinct, and to our way of tasting, more interesting. The bacon and curry really shine forth. Sour cream smoothes out the soup and gives a long finish to each mouthful.

7½ cups low-sodium chicken stock

1¼ cups yellow split peas, rinsed and picked over

2 bay leaves

5 slices bacon, diced

Extra-virgin olive oil, if necessary

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, trimmed, peeled, and chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons your choice of hot sauce, or more to taste

1¼ teaspoons curry powder

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

¼ cup sour cream or crème fraîche

Homemade Bacon-Flavored Croutons (optional; recipe follows)

1
Combine the chicken stock, yellow split peas, and bay leaves in a large heavy pot. Cover the pot and let come to a boil over high heat. Then, reduce the heat as necessary and let the yellow peas simmer, partially covered, until softened, 50 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2
While the peas cook, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned and crisp, 6 to 9 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the skillet. If necessary, add enough olive oil to the skillet to measure 2 tablespoons. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until the onion softens, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3
Set aside 2 tablespoons of the bacon to garnish the soup. Add the rest of the bacon, the onion mixture, the hot sauce, and curry powder to the pot with the peas. Let the soup simmer, partially covered, until the flavors blend and the peas are fully cooked, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the soup with black pepper to taste, adding more hot sauce as necessary. The soup can be made up to this point and refrigerated, covered, for up to 4 days.

4
Before serving, combine the parsley with the 2 tablespoons of reserved bacon. Ladle the soup into 4 individual bowls, dividing it evenly among them. Place a tablespoon of sour cream in the center of each serving and sprinkle it with the bacon and parsley garnish.