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.