P. 216: Sautéed Apples & Bacon

This past weekend was something of a cooking bonanza.  I spent a few days at my parents’ house and, as we usually do, my mother and I spent much of our time cooking, deciding what to cook, talking about things we’d like to cook, and eating.  Every spring and summer I find myself with massive grill envy, so my one request was the spend some time throwing some meat on the ‘cue, which was easily accomplished with the likes of lamb chops (accompanied by a mint chimichurri sauce courtesy of Cooking Light), salmon, chicken drumsticks, and a ham that had been saved from Easter.  Lest it seem like a meat-fest, I also threw some on skewered cremini mushrooms, eggplant, and zucchini that had been marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette.  For breakfast one morning I made a spinach and bacon frittata that came from the pages of Everyday Food and that I think will make a regular appearance at family breakfasts, cheddar biscuits made with half whole wheat flour that I had my doubts on that turned out to be moist and fluffy and rich with cheddar goodness, mint chocolate chip cookies, and two versions of lime cookies that we’re trying to tweak for optimal lime flavor. 

I left on Sunday, so we decided to do a breakfast in the morning.  I didn’t have the Joy with me, but I did happen to have this recipe for Sautéed Apples & Bacon in my computer, so I proposed trying it out along with Mark Bittman’s recipe for buttermilk waffles, which I altered by using half whole wheat flour and tossing in some minced fresh ginger, and some homemade hash browns.  Because I was at my parents’ house, I don’t have any pictures of the finished dish (I didn’t have my camera with me and while I am savvy enough to have a phone with a camera on it, I’m not savvy enough to have the device that gets the photos off the phone since that costs extra money and I only got this phone because they didn’t make replacement batteries for my original phone), but you don’t really need a photo to be convinced that apples and bacon look as fantastic as they sound, do you? 

This is another recipe that hardly needs a recipe.  Fry up 8 strips of bacon, reserving 2-3 tablespoons of the rendered fat.  Toss in peeled and sliced or coarsely chopped apples and sauté until tender and beginning to brown.  Top with 2-4 tablespoons of white or brown sugar and stir all that up so the sugar melts and coats everything all nice and good.  My decision to use Gala apples proved to be a good one since they were both sweet when raw (I’m not a fan of raw apples, so the fact that I liked these is huge) and maintained their firmness when cooked.  If you don’t eat bacon, you can use butter instead, which I did for my father since he can no longer eat such delicacies as wonderful, wonderful bacon.  The butter-only apples were fantastic in their own right, but the bacon added just enough of a meaty, salty, savory element that brought the dish from something good to something special.  They were the perfect compliment to the waffles, which had their own nuttiness from the whole wheat and spiciness from the fresh ginger.  My mother and I both agreed that this should be added to our holiday recipe repertoire.

Next visit I will have to bring the Joy with me.  I can only imagine what possibilities will come to fruition when I’m in a real kitchen, working with someone who knows their way around and loves food as much as I do.