Ode to International Bacon Day

I don’t go much for meat, but I admit bacon has long been a guilty pleasure.
And so it is that I found myself preparing for a potluck party hosted by my friend John, in honour of International Bacon Day. (Yup, it exists).
I mused about supplying the party with a bacontini (vodka infused with bacon grease) for novelty effect, but who wants to serve a bacon offering that has the potential to turn a celebration into an upset stomach?
A similar thought came to mind as I fleetingly considered the oddity of a bacon bourbon brownie.
Bacon, for those of us who indulge, is a form of comfort food and should be held in that regard. Since I wanted to make the most of the beautiful Ontario produce available at my neighbourhood store, I decided to make three dishes:
1)Twice baked mini potatoes stuffed with Ontario aged white cheddar, green onions and bacon
2)My own version of the BLT
3)A fresh salad of diced local nectarines, plums, red onion, basil, cherry tomatoes, and red pepper dressed in a lemony basil vinaigrette and dotted with crumbled bacon (unfortunately, I ran out of bacon before I could crown it with this finishing touch).
Having narrowed in on the BLT, I began to think about how to make it unique.
I whipped together one part cream cheese with two parts creamy goat cheese and added a tablespoon of my homemade pesto sauce that I’d just created from a motherlode of fresh basil that came from my lovely local organic produce provider, Courage Foods on Kingston Road in Toronto.
Instead of making BLT sandwiches, I decided I’d make them as open-faced hors d’hoeuvres but needed to settle on a base.
I thought of making a cheesy herbed scone but wanted a lighter offering, since every guest planned to bring a dish and everyone would be inclined to sample rather than eat large portions of one or two bacon temptations.
I found an easy recipe for parmesan crackers which looked golden, crispy, and would make a nice savoury base for my BLT. (One stick butter, 1.5 cups flour, thyme, salt and pepper, 1 cup parmesan ... mixed, rolled into a log, refrigerated for at least a half hour, sliced, then baked at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden).
The next task involved cooking the bacon, which to me is one of the more unpleasant kitchen jobs. I hate the splatter and, by the way, I’ve never been a good short order cook. I’m better with fresh ingredients that don't require cooking (pairing of flavours), or a slow cooker, or a slow bake in the oven. It's what happens when you grow up cooking for crowds.
I decided to try cooking my bacon in a 300 degree oven, lining the strips in a high rimmed cookie sheet.
Twenty minutes later I had cooked bacon but half of it had melted into the pan and was impossible to remove.
Reason prevailed and I tore a strip of parchment paper to line my cookie sheet, then I laid down a fresh layer of bacon strips to roast. It was perfection, though you do have to turn the bacon over mid-way through.
The ingredients prepared, all that was required was a quick assembly job at the party.
I smeared the room temperature goat cheese mixture onto the cracker, then I laid down a crisp one inch piece of bacon, and crowned it all with freshly halved local cherry tomatoes. (I initially tested this recipe with slow roasted balsamic cherry tomatoes but discovered the fresh tomato made the appetizer sing.
My home-styled BLT proved to be a popular appetizer but I sense my twice-baked mini potatoes were even more popular, and I wished I’d doubled the batch.
I took six mini Ontario potatoes, bathed them in olive oil and fleur de sel, then let them roast in a 350 oven for about an hour ( I could hear them seething, which reminded me that I should have poked a hole or two in them before baking).
I let the potatoes cool for 20 minutes then halved them to make a dozen offerings. I scooped out the fleshy potatoes with a spoon and mashed the insides with a teaspoon of butter and two tablespoons of cream (this is, of course, revisionist history -- there is little precision in my kitchen).
Once the potatoes were mashed into a smooth consistency I added a half cup of grated Ontario aged white cheddar, a diced green onion, and crumbled bacon. I also seasoned the mix with salt and pepper but, please learn from my mistakes and add salt cautiously – I think I stepped over the line on this front.
I stuffed the hollowed out mini potatoes with the mashed potato mixture and baked in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. To be perfect I’d have broiled the tops for a golden colour, but I wasn’t perfect. I had a party to attend.
My third offering, the fresh salad, was a symphony of freshness but I ran out of bacon and didn’t toss it in with all of those beautiful fruits and vegetables. Given the wealth of bacon dishes on offer, the celebrants of International Bacon Day didn’t seem to mind – it was a good foil to all the bacon on our plates and the one redeeming quality of an otherwise deliciously indulgent food celebration.