Jules' Garlic Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

     Luckily, the love of my life also happens to make the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had, and he has agreed to share the recipe with you.  After you try it, he will also be the love of your life.  

Ingredients

sliced organic whole wheat bread
organic aged sharp cheddar cheese
1 package organic Bacon*
reserved bacon lard, cooled until solid 
1 large clove of garlic per sandwich, finely chopped

     In a cast iron skillet, cook a package of bacon to desired crispiness, placing cooked bacon on a plate covered with a paper towel. Reserve all drippings in a bowl or sanitized jar and cool, until solidified, in the refrigerator.  This picture is of turkey bacon, but I suggest using beef bacon, because turkey bacon really doesn't have enough fat to make drippings.  Luckily, I already had some bacon drippings saved in the fridge. 

       Once the drippings have solidified, spread a thin layer of the lard on one side of each of the slices of bread.  Cut thick slices of the aged cheddar and arrange on the un-larded side of one slice of bread, place a single layer of bacon slices on top of the cheese, and cover with one of the remaining slice of bread for each sandwich, making sure the lard side is on the outside of the sandwich.  This is basically the same as prepping a normal grilled cheese sandwich, but substituting bacon lard for butter or margarine.  I know that some people butter both sides of their bread when making grilled cheese, but bacon fat has enough flavor and salt that it would be overkill if spread on both the inside and the outside of the sandwich.

          Heat a teaspoon of the lard in a cast iron skillet.  Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of the minced garlic within a sandwich-sized area of the pan.  Place one sandwich on top of the sprinkled garlic in the pan, lard-side down and heat until the cheese is melts, flipping as necessary to avoid charring the bread.

       At this point, depending on the texture of the bread you are using, you may have to press the sandwich to get it evenly toasted and to ensure the cheese melts completely.  I have developed a seemingly strange, but effective apparatus to do this, and I encourage you to come up with your own effective system, or adopt one similar to mine.  I place a wide, but very thin spatula on top of the sandwich to distribute the weight of a small custard ramekin, and I place the frying pan lid on top.  I find that by using a frying pan lid as a weight, it also helps to keep some heat in the pan, but is up high enough from the pan that steam doesn't fall onto the sandwich and make it soggy.  I know Pampered Chef and Williams Sonoma actually sell really nice, cast iron presses that are specifically for this purpose, but I don't feel an immediate need for one, especially when I can use my own really hip looking pressing technique.  

       The photo of the final product is below, in my wonderful Tomato bisque post, which is exactly what we like to eat with this amazingly rich garlic bacon grilled cheese sandwich.  Let me know what you think.  Enjoy!

* When I eat meat, I use USDA certified organic meats and dairy, whenever possible, because "The USDA organic seal verifies that producers met animal health and welfare standards, did not use antibiotics or growth hormones, used 100% organic feed, and provided animals with access to the outdoors." 

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateN&navID=OrganicStandardsLinkNOPResourceCenterRegulations&rightNav1=OrganicStandardsLinkNOPResourceCenterRegulations&topNav=&leftNav=NationalOrganicProgram&page=NOPOrganicStandards&resultType=&acct=nopgeninfo

My only alternative to USDA Certified Organic meats and dairy, is buying meats that I feel come from animals that have been humanely treated, based on the Whole Foods 5-step Animal Welfare Rating Standards system.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/about-our-products/quality-standards/animal-welfare-standards

I encourage you to use these systems to make your own judgements about where your food comes from and how it has been raised.

Incline Public House Provides Peak Flavors

   

 

       Wow!  What an incredible location.  It has the view of Prima Vista at a fraction of the cost. The prices are very reasonable. The ambiance is lively and down-to-earth.  Incline Public House is a great place to go with friends or family who don’t mind talking over loud-ish music.  I went on a weekday night and the food came out faster than almost any other joint in Cincinnati. The staff was really upbeat and efficient.  

I had a Honey Bee cocktail, which was delicious, not too sweet, and averagely priced.  Even my partner liked it, and he’s not into sweet cocktails.  The beer list here is extensive, so there is something for everyone. 

Incline Pub specializes in wood-fired pizzas and hot sandwiches.  AND THE ONION RINGS.  Oh my gosh. Just try them.  They were perfect.  The best I’ve ever had. Ever.  Anywhere. Perfectly breaded, really crispy and fresh tasting.  I’m not an onion ring aficionado, in fact I rarely eat them, but these were exactly right. 

I really appreciated the vegetarian options here, both for pizza and sandwiches. Although the food comes out as fast as lightening, everything is made fresh and from scratch, whenever possible. The portabella mushroom sandwich was overflowing with roasted peppers and goat cheese.  I could easily say it was the most flavorful portabella sandwich I’ve ever had, and was served hot.  There was no soggy, cold portabella experience (the worst!) here.  The pizza was excellent too.  The crust was crispy with delicious cheese and zesty veggies.

The seating arrangement doesn’t allow for as many people as I would think could be packed into this place, but there is a decent sized deck along the entire city-facing side of the building, which will allow for a lot more seating during warm months. I’m looking forward to returning soon to eat outside.  

     

       Sorry, I would have loved to show you a beautiful food photo from Incline Public House, but I was so focused on the food that gobbled everything up before I came to my senses and realized I should have photographed the meal!

For a full menu and more info visit the Incline Public House website: http://www.inclinepublichouse.com/asp/index.asp

Roasted Tomato and Onion Pesto Bisque

 
     This soup recipe can be made two ways, either using entirely fresh ingredients or the weeknight cheater way, which uses the help of canned roasted tomatoes.  I originally started making this recipe for a few weeks last summer when we were getting 7-12 pounds of tomatoes per week from our CSA (community supported agriculture), http://www.enright-csa.org.  I needed a way to use the mountain of tomatoes piling up in my kitchen before they all went bad, and I wanted something more substantial than salsa.  The result was a chunky, flavor-packed tomato bisque that we usually pair with my partner's insanely delicious garlic bacon grilled cheese sandwiches.  Go do a triathlon before eating this meal.  It's a hearty one!

Ingredients

For roasting:
2-3 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
4 lbs. Roma tomatoes, halved
2 onions, roughly chopped.
Kosher salt

For pesto:
3-4 garlic cloves
Fresh basil (enough for 2 cups when finely chopped)
1/3 cup natural almond butter, without any salt or sugar added
Kosher salt

For bisque:
1/2 6 oz. can of tomato paste (I use Muir Glen Organic Tomato Paste)
2-3 cups organic free range chicken broth
1/2-1 cup organic greek yogurt, which can be substituted with cream or half & half, if desired
Freshly shredded Parmigiano Reggiano as garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Halve all of the Roma tomatoes and place them skin-side down on the baking sheet.  Place chopped onion around the tomatoes where there's room.  Drizzle olive oil over everything and sprinkle with salt to taste, tossing by hand to coat.  Roast for 30 minutes or so, until skin on tomatoes is wrinkled and tomatoes are bubbling.  If you have left-over onions and tomatoes that didn't fit into the baking sheet, just sauté them in your soup pot with a little bit of olive oil and kosher salt.

In a food processor, process the garlic cloves and add the fresh basil leaves until you have about 2 cups chopped basil.  Add about 1/4-1/3 cup of EVOO and a pinch of salt to make a paste.  The paste doesn't need to be very runny at this point, just wet enough to not fly all over the place in the food processor.  At this point, I pulse in about 1/3 cup almond butter to the basil mixture, in lieu of the traditional pine nuts, because almond butter is something I usually have around the house more often than pine nuts.  If pine nuts are more accessible for you, then try substituting them after lightly toasting them in a pan over the stove.

When the tomatoes and onions are done roasting*, transfer them and roasting juices to your soup pot.

Add the pesto and tomato paste, stirring to combine.

Heat this mixture, stirring occasionally, bringing it to a simmer to incorporate the flavors a bit before adding the chicken broth, maybe for about 5 minutes or so, depending on how much liquid you have from the tomatoes.  Do not let the mixture stick to the bottom of your pot.  If that starts happening, it is time to add some broth.  Add the 2 cups of broth or more, based on preferred consistency, and simmer on very low for about 20 minutes.  Blend with an immersion blender**.

Cool slightly and then mix in the greek yogurt to create a creamy bisque.  This last step it completely optional.  I sometimes skip the yogurt if I am in the mood for a really tomato-y bisque.  Be aware that adding the creamy component will dull down the flavor slightly.


*If you don't have enough fresh tomatoes on hand or don't have time for roasting, use two 28 oz. cans of fire roasted, diced or crushed tomatoes as a substitute and add them after starting by sautéing the onions in the pot with EVOO and kosher salt.  I prefer Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes, because the flavor is very similar to home-roasted tomatoes.

**An immersion wand blender works best for pureeing soup safely. If you do not have an immersion blender, carefully transfer the soup in small batches to a regular blender, taking care to open the top vent, cover with a towel, and hold the lid down firmly while blending, using the lowest speed possible, so that the heat and pressure do not make the blender top fly off and scalding soup fly all over!  The blender should never be more than half full when blending soup.  If you are using an immersion blender, take care to keep the blade portion below the surface while blending so that hot soup does not fly out at you and your kitchen.

How To Properly Cut An Onion

       One thing I notice whenever I cook with friends and family is that some people really seem to have a heck of a time cutting onions. It takes people forever.  Let's be honest, you want to get it over with as soon as possible.  I'll admit, I learned my technique from Food Network's, Anne Burrell, on her show Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.  If I ever get to see her in person, she is going to have to endure a giant, smothering hug from me, because she has saved me so much time and has probably also saved my fingers.  This is the fastest, safest way to cut an onion that I have seen.

       To start, look at your onion.  On one end, there is a mass of roots, and on the other end there is a point of onion peel.

Your first cut, should be cutting of the peel end, just slightly behind this point of onion peel and almost completely through all of the layers of peel, but not quite.  You want to be able to use that cut to help you peel the onion, by grabbing that cut mass of dry peel and peeling it toward the root ball.

You may be able to get all of the peel off this way, but another easy option it to cut the onion in half from end to end (from the tip of the dry peel to the end with the root mass).  Then you should be able to peel the onion very easily from each half.  It is extremely important to halve the onion, so that it doesn't roll around in the following steps, which would be a dangerous way to cut.

After peeled and cut in half,  make even cuts of whatever thickness you need going almost all the way to that root mass.  You want to avoid going all the way through, because that root mass is holding your pieces together to make it easier to cut in the opposite direction, which is the next step.

Once you have your even cuts to the root ball, make cuts of the same thickness going in the opposite direction, giving you diced pieces of onion.  Even if you don't need diced onion, you can still start off by making cuts toward your root mass and then cut off the root mass to dislodge your slices.  I find that using that method to help hold all of the onion slices in place is safer for me than dealing with onion layers that keep slipping around.  Or if you want thinner onion slices, you could skip making the cuts toward the root mass and make thin slices in the perpendicular direction that I use for the final dicing step.

I usually store my onions in a dark pantry, away from other food so that my other food doesn't absorb the onion flavor.  My final tip is to place the onion in the refrigerator or freezer for a bit before you plan to cut your onion, especially if you will be cutting multiple onions.  This can really help with the intensity of the onion fumes, so you won't tear up as badly.  Happy chopping!

Taste of Belgium Serves Winning Brunch

        I know you think of it as “the waffle place,” and it’s true.  Their waffles are amazing and even better when they serve them warm with berries and fresh whipped cream, or with bananas and Nutella.  However, there is way more going on at Taste of Belgium than their waffles, and I highly recommend going there for weekend brunch.  

To start, they really have incredible coffee.  It’s always just the right intensity and really hits the spot on a weekend morning after a long night out.  They also serve traditional breakfast cocktails, like mimosas. They make wonderful crepes with fresh ingredients, which are great for a light morning meal.  The lavender sugar and lemon crepe is an excellent adventure, but it's not for everyone.

Another delicious option is the Mitraillette, which is a lamb sausage sandwich on a baguette, with chipotle mayo and served with frites (fries).  All of their sandwiches are very fresh. But if you know me at all, you know that I like my breakfast late and heavy.  And that’s where the Goetta Hash comes into play.  It’s delicious.  I don’t care if you think you don’t like goetta, you have to order this hash.  It comes in a bowl with a fried egg on top, which makes this wonderful creaminess when everything is mixed together along with the onions, peppers, and cheese and it reminds you of what morning must have looked like growing up on a farm with a mother who loved you and had growing boys to feed.  I’m telling you, I wish I were a growing boy with unclog-able arteries so that I could eat a breakfast like this every morning.  

If that isn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, try the Brunch Burger, a big piece of beef, covered with a slice of cheese, bacon, a fried egg, and a pancake, all smothered with local maple syrup within a hamburger bun and served with frites.  The sweet and salty savory combination is incredibly rich and really only appropriate for brunch. I promise I strive to be an everyday vegetarian, but this place always tempts me out of my PETA-approved weekday diet into a shameless carnivorian frenzy. Rest assured, eco-minded among you, their meat it locally sourced. I could never eat it as part of a guilt-free, three meal day. This is something I would love to re-create at home, especially for kids, or in a smaller slider version for a late-night Saturday snack.  

     Taste of Belgium is definitely one of my first choices for brunch.  I like to sit outside to people-watch, but their shared chef's table also offers a unique dining experience. Arrive early.  They fill up fast.    

OTR's Kaze, Take Two.

      After an underwhelming first visit to Over-The-Rhine’s newish Japanese gastro-pub, a Sunday evening with friends and few other OTR restaurants open brought me back for a second try at Kaze.

I have to admit, my first visit’s failure may have been a fluke.  There were so many things that I immediately loved about Kaze, which is co-owned and operated by Jon Zipperstein, who also owns Embers restaurant near Kenwood Mall, and Hideki Harada, who has been a chef at both Boca and Embers.  They have done a beautiful job of renovating the historic Cincinnati Color building with cozy warm colors, low lighting, comfortable seating, interesting wall treatments and ever-changing, large-scale, elaborate chalkboard drawings.  They have also done the best job of controlling the acoustics of all the restaurants in OTR.  The service is flawless.  The polite servers are more than happy to elaborate on menu descriptions and explain their dining style of encouraged sharing and bringing out plates as soon as their ready from the kitchen, not to mention help with pronunciations.  Wonderful.  So, what’s my problem?  The food.

On my first visit, we shared a couple of large sushi rolls and I ordered the Ramen Tonkotsu, which is pork belly ramen noodle soup with small portions of baby bok choy and egg.  I’m in no way a sushi snob, but these sushi rolls were mostly rice with a laughably small amount of actual sushi goodness in the center.  It was pretty low on flavor.  The pork belly ramen was served scalding, but unfortunately I didn’t burn my taste buds enough to mask the extremely fatty flavor of the soup, which was made with dashi broth.  I usually cook with chicken or vegetable stock at home, so I my palate may be accustomed to a milder broth, but the only flavor I could taste in the soup was fat, and I'm not talking about a bacon-y goodness, more like eating a stick of unsalted butter, but meatier.  I forced myself through some of the noodles, but overall it was inedible for me.

I am happy to say that my second visit was a complete flavor reversal.  Again, the service was amazing and they’ve even added some slatted partitions above and between the booths to make them more private.  This time, we ordered a house-infused sake, which was flavored with blood orange and ginger.  It was so delicious and fresh.  I ordered the Niku Sliders, which came as a pair and together made a healthy portion.  The sliders were the best thing I’ve tasted there, above all of my friends’ dishes and definitely a far leap from the pork belly ramen.  The sliders came with nice thick pieces of short rib, a spicy and cool cucumber kimchi, and an addicting barbecue sauce that had me practically licking my plate.  And, the buns weren’t a soggy mess.  The cucumber kimchi was a genius invention.  The cooling cucumber juxtaposed by the spicy dressing was an amazing combination.  

Again, we ordered sushi.  The Slammin’ Salmon came with a nice chunk of slightly blackened salmon, cucumber, avocado, scallion, tobiko, and yuzu creme.  Although, the surface of the salmon was charred, the fish itself was still raw, so it was extremely moist and nicely smokey. The Kato Roll with vegetarian kakiage, which is like a tempura, asparagus, avocado, and pleasantly crispy sweet potato was also surprisingly flavorful, with a proper balance of rice and a side ramekin of not-quite-enough yummy chimichurri dipping sauce.  I was totally satisfied.  What a total turn-around.  I have to conclude that maybe on the first visit I was unlucky in my choices, because everything during this visit was spectacular.

     I still need to investigate the back bar at Kaze.  I am happy to see that they are experimenting with infusions, which has me eager to try some specialty cocktails. They have happy hour from 5-7 p.m. daily, a special happy hour with food specials on Sunday and Monday nights from 9 p.m. to midnight, karaoke is on Wednesday nights from 8 p.m. to midnight, and they feature a DJ on Saturdays for a dance party from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. I suppose I'll need to return for a third take.