Bacon

BLT

BLT stands for Bacon Lettuce Tomato, which translates to a spectacular combo. Especially if you make the bacon the way we did. Want to know the secret? Keep reading.

What do we need?

4 slices of bacon
4 slices of bread
2 tomatoes
A couple of lettuce leaves
2 tablespoons of sugar
Cayenne pepper
Mayonnaise

How do we make it?

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).
Meanwhile, wash the lettuce and tomato.
On a baking tray, lay out the bacon in a single layer on parchment paper. Grind the cayenne and sprinkle it over the bacon. Sprinkle the sugar on top too, and put it in the oven once it reaches temperature.
Let it cook for about 15 minutes, until crispy and quite dark.
While the bacon is cooking, slice the tomatoes into rounds and leave the lettuce in big leaves.
Toast the bread. Once it’s done to your liking, spread a bit of mayonnaise on it and assemble the sandwich.

Tips:

You can add lots of things, even switch up the sauce. The base is the BLT trio. We added onion, but avocado works really well too.
You can make it with regular sandwich bread, but we recommend “long-life” bread (long live the king!!!!!). I think you can usually find it in supermarkets labeled as rustic bread (already sliced).

[English version] BLT* *Ingredients:

4 bacon slices
4 bread slices
2 tomatoes
2 lettuce leaves
2 tbsp sugar
*Chili powder *
Mayonnaise

Preheat oven at 200º C.
*Wash lettuce and tomato. *
*In a baking tray, place some baking paper and the bacon (in one layer). Sprinkle with sugar and chili powder. *
*Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crispy. *
*In the meanwhile, cut tomato into slices. *
*Toast bread, spread some mayonnaise in each slice and make your sandwich with all the ingredients (tomato, lettuce and bacon). *

Tips:- You can add any other ingredient or sauce that you like. The essentials are Bacon Lettuce and Tomato. We added some fresh onion but avocado is also a perfect choice. **- You can prepare the sandwich with any kind of white sandwich bread but we like to prepare it with sliced bread. *

Quiche Lorraine

As part of the campaign “No newly-independent young adult shall go hungry, even if they don’t like cooking,” here’s another easy recipe — one of those that almost everyone knows, but just in case, I don’t want to hear that you’re not eating well just because you couldn’t be bothered to do a couple of little things in the kitchen.

What do we need?

For the shortcrust pastry:

200 g (1 ⅔ cups) flour
100 g (7 tbsp) cold butter
1 egg
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar

For the filling:

200 g (7 oz) bacon
100 g (3.5 oz) emmental cheese
50 g (1.75 oz) mushrooms
200 ml (¾ cup) heavy cream
4 medium eggs
Half an onion
Salt and pepper.

How do we make it?

As you know, for the shortcrust pastry you can check here.
While we’re making the dough, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Once the dough is ready, place it in a baking pan and pop it in the oven for about fifteen minutes. Before putting it in the oven, prick it with a fork so it doesn’t puff up.
With the pastry in the oven, heat a frying pan with a splash of oil. When it’s hot, add the onion and mushrooms, all sliced beforehand. Once they’ve softened a bit, add the bacon cut into strips and cook to your liking. Set aside.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl and mix them with the cream. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the sautéed ingredients to the bowl.
When the pastry is partially cooked, take it out of the oven and pour in the mixture. Spread it evenly across the surface and sprinkle the cheese on top.
Put it back in the oven and bake for around half an hour.

Tips:

Just like we mentioned here, you can pick any kind of cheese you like or whatever you have at home.
Shortcrust pastry isn’t hard to make, but if you’d rather, you can buy it pre-made at any supermarket. That way we make sure “No newly-independent young adult goes hungry, even if they don’t like cooking.”

[English version] QUICHE LORRAINE* Ingredients: *Shortbread pastry:

200 g flour
1oo g cold butter
1 egg
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar

Filling:

200 g bacon
100 g emmental cheese
50 g mushrooms
200 ml cream
4 eggs
1/2 onion
Salt and pepper

*Prepare the shortbread pastry. You can see here our recipe. *
Preheat oven at 180º C.
Roll out the pastry and place into a baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes. If we bake directly with the filling on it, the pastry will be underdone. To avoid the pastry to ‘grow’ in the oven, you can place a baking paper and fill up with baking beans. You can also pierce the pastry with a fork.
While the pastry is baking in the oven, heat a bit of olive oil in a frying pan. Chop onion and mushrooms and place them into the hot frying pan. After a few minutes, add the bacon cut into strips and keep stir frying for a few extra minutes. Take it out from heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs and cream together. Add salt and pepper.
Add the stir fried ingredients and mix well.
The pastry will be already slightly cooked, so take it out from oven and pour evenly the cream mix inside. Sprinkle with some cheese on the top.
Bake into the oven for around 30 minutes.

Tips:

*- As we said before here you can choose any kind of cheese you like. *

- Shortbread pastry is not a difficult task but you can also buy it in any supermarket.

Comments

yolanda del pozo (2013-04-19 09:44:08):

All the recipes on this site are easy, cheap, quick and tasty — what more could you ask for? And the photos are amazing too, just looking at them makes you want to make the dish and, above all, eat it. Congrats, great work!

silvia (2015-01-14 20:34:14):

The other day I bought shortcrust pastry by mistake… so checking out this great website, I’m bookmarking this recipe.

Just one question: what’s that about pricking the pastry before baking… do you have to pierce it? And what kind of pan works best? Like a non-stick one?

Kisses

Stuffed Potatoes

I have to admit we’re a bit like sponges — anything we see and like, we try to make at home. That’s exactly what happened with today’s recipe. A few years ago we went with friends to spend Easter week in Camposancos, a lovely little village in Pontevedra, and there Ana (with Germán’s help) made us some delicious stuffed potatoes that could have fed a regiment (well, maybe we weren’t quite that many…). The thing is, we loved the idea and ever since it’s been part of our recipe book.

What do we need?

4 medium potatoes
5 slices of bacon
1 onion
Cheese
Salt
Pepper

How do we make it?

Bake the potatoes in the oven. (You can check here if you’re not sure how to do it.)
Meanwhile, chop the bacon and onion and sauté them in a pan with a little olive oil.
When the potatoes are ready — you can check by poking them with a kitchen skewer — take them out of the oven and cut them in half.
Carefully, with the help of a spoon, scoop out the halves, leaving the skin with a thin layer of potato.
Mix the scooped-out potato with the sautéed bacon and onion. Season with salt and pepper.
Fill the potato halves with the mixture, add a bit of cheese on top, and put them in the oven to broil.

Tips:

Any kind of cheese works. We like it with Emmental (elementary, my dear Watson).
If you don’t feel like baking the potatoes, you can boil them instead, but we recommend at least broiling them with the cheese in the oven.
This is just our take on the filling. Feel free to adapt it to your taste.

Pasta Carbonara

Truth is, this is a recipe we’ve been making for ages and one that I always thought was “the original” — the way I figured this typical Italian dish was prepared by mammas all over Italy. How wrong I was… Every Italian who’s seen us make this dish has been surprised, has laughed, and has gotten outraged in equal measure when watching us prepare “their dish” with cream instead of uovo. Here you can see how they make it, and without further ado I’ll show you our version (having tried both, I’ll stick with ours :p)

What do we need?

(Serves 2)

200 g (7 oz) spaghetti
4 slices of bacon
1/2 onion
200 ml (3/4 cup) cooking cream
Salt and pepper

How do we make it?

Put the spaghetti to cook in plenty of water (once it’s boiling), lightly salted.
While the pasta is cooking — we’ll leave it for around 15 minutes — pour a splash of oil in a frying pan and add the onion.
Let it sauté a little and add the bacon.
Once it’s done, add the cream and let it come to a boil.
Add a pinch of salt — careful not to overdo it since the bacon already gives flavor to the sauce — and a bit of pepper. Set aside if the pasta isn’t ready yet.
Drain the pasta and mix with the carbonara sauce.

Tips:

Depending on your stove, pot, and pasta, it may be ready a little before the fifteen minutes or a little after. Keep an eye on it if you like your pasta “al dente”.
The bacon can be swapped for pancetta.
You can sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese on top when you serve the pasta.

Comments

Miguel (2012-11-07 12:01:29):

I usually make this same recipe, but when I add the salt and pepper, I take the chance to throw in a tiny bit (very, very little) of nutmeg.

And I also prefer the cream version over the egg one.

tía pi (2012-11-07 23:41:40):

For me, carbonara is without onion, with bacon, cream and egg, but I’ll give yours a try.

Palstelera (2012-11-09 21:26:49):

I love nutmeg. Truth is I always add it to béchamel but never to carbonara — I’ll try it next time :-)

Palstelera (2012-11-09 21:27:17):

Without onion? Try it, it’s delicious!

Vio (2012-12-07 20:44:34):

Boo! I love the blog, but you also know I couldn’t stay quiet knowing you call this carbonara. Maledetti!

I’ll take the chance to tell you that, aside from the amazing recipes, the site is super pretty and the photos rock ;-)

Big kiss!

Palstelera (2012-12-11 13:04:25):

hehe, Vio. It’s not that we call it carbonara… it’s that half of Spain does! That’s why, to avoid hurting any feelings, we started the post by making clear that what’s called carbonara in Spain has nothing to do with the Italian recipe… But honestly, I love the Spanish version :-)

Vio (2013-03-05 12:39:39):

Haha, sure — you, Spain… it’s all about complaining :-P

The truth is I do really like this version, but I think the Italian one is much tastier when it’s done right, with crispy bacon, lots of pepper, and nice juicy spaghetti. I will say a lot of Italians make a pretty lousy version and it really brings the dish down.

Coq au vin

Whole kitchen in their Savory Proposal for October invites us to prepare a French classic, “Coq au Vin”. Or in other words, chicken in wine — you can tell I learned French at school :p.

What do we need?

(serves 2)

2 chicken thighs
1 large onion
2 carrots
3 slices of bacon
2 cloves of garlic
50 g (1.75 oz) mushrooms
2 glasses of wine
4 glasses of chicken stock
Flour and butter
Salt and pepper

How do we make it?

Start by chopping the onion, carrot and bacon.
Heat a little oil over medium heat in a wide, shallow pot. Add the chopped ingredients.
Once they’re slightly golden, add the minced garlic, cook for a minute and set aside in a bowl.
In a zip-lock plastic bag, add a couple of tablespoons of flour, a pinch of salt and pepper. Drop in one of the thighs and shake to coat. Repeat with the other.
Once floured and seasoned, sear the thighs in a pan for about 10 minutes.
Remove the chicken, add the wine and let it reduce a bit.
Return the thighs to the pan, add the vegetables and pour in the chicken stock.
Simmer everything together over low heat for about 50 minutes.
Once the chicken is well cooked, remove the chicken and the vegetables.
With a tablespoon of flour and one of butter, form a smooth paste and stir it into the sauce.
Stirring constantly, cook over low heat for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens.
In a frying pan with a little oil, sauté the mushrooms until golden.
Finally, return all the ingredients to the pot and let everything cook together for a couple of minutes so the flavors blend.

Tips:

If you have some sauce left over, you can use it to make some tasty meatballs in sauce.
If it doesn’t thicken enough, add a tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in cold water.

[English version] COQ AU VIN* *Ingredients (serving 2):

2 chicken legs an thighs
1 large onion
2 carrots
3 bacon slides
2 cloves of garlic
50 g mushrooms
2 cups of red wine
*4 cups of chicken stock *
Flour and butter
Salt and pepper

Chop onion, carrot and bacon.
*Place some olive oil into a deep sauce pan and heat it. Add chopped ingredients. *
Cook until ingredients are slightly browned, add chopped garlic and keep cooking for one minute. Set aside.
*Put a couple of tbsp of flour, a pinch of salt and pepper into a plastic bag. Put the chicken inside and shake it well to create a thin layer on the chicken. *
Stir over a high heat for 10 minutes.
*Remove chicken, add red wine and simmer to reduce it. *
*Put the chicken back into the sauce pan, add chopped vegetables and chicken stock. *
*Simmer for round 50 minutes, cooking over a low heat. *
When chicken is soft and cooked, remove it from the sauce pan.
*In a different bowl, mix some flour and butter and add it to the sauce. *
*Keep stiring, cooking over a low heat for a couple of minutes. *
*In another pan, stir fry the mushrooms with a bit of olive oil until golden browned. *
Add all the ingredients into the sauce pan with the wine sauce and cook for a couple of minutes in order to combine all flavors.

Tips:**- If there is some sauce left, you can use for preparing meatballs. It will be delicious!*
- If you want a thicker sauce, add some corn flour.*

Comments

tía pi (2012-11-18 22:03:03):

Today I made the coq au vin following your recipe — delicious! I didn’t make it with rooster, I used a free-range chicken, one of those that look like they’ve got hepatitis, and honestly it was finger-licking good. I had some sauce left over and I’m planning to poach a few eggs to keep dipping bread. Thanks, piggies.

Fresh Stuffed Pasta

Whole Kitchen in their Savory Proposal for the month of September invites us to make an Italian classic: “Stuffed Pasta.” With this recipe we kick off a new adventure on this amazing food blog, where every month we’re challenged to make a savory dish and a sweet one. We love the idea — it’s original and pretty useful, since it pushes you to make dishes you might not normally tackle, and it also lets you check out what the other participants come up with.

What do we need?

(Serves 4)

For the dough:

```
  300 g (2.5 cups) flour
```
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  1 egg and 1 egg white
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  2 tbsp olive oil
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  1/2 tsp salt
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  1 tsp vinegar
```

For the filling:

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  2 small onions, finely chopped
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  1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
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  300 g (10.5 oz) mushrooms
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  2 tbsp parsley
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  Salt
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  40 g (1.5 oz) aged cheese
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For the sauce:

  200 ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) heavy cream

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  4 slices of bacon (thick-cut)
```
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  Salt and pepper
```

How do we do it?

Put the flour in a bowl, make a well in the center, and add the egg, the egg white, the salt, the oil, and the vinegar.
Knead until you get an elastic dough, adding a splash of water if needed.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
Heat a little oil in a large pan, add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook gently over low heat until all the liquid has evaporated.
Stir in the parsley and season. Add the finely chopped aged cheese and mix well (with the heat off). Let it cool.
Once the dough has rested, divide it in two and roll out one half with a rolling pin until very thin. Ideally you’d use a pasta machine, but not everyone has one at home, so a rolling pin will do the trick.
Place small mounds of filling on the pasta sheet, leaving space between them.
Roll out the second half of the dough very thin and lay it over the first one. With your hands, press around the mounds to shape the ravioli.
Finally, cut out the ravioli with a round cutter (like a pizza cutter) with fluted edges. Set the ravioli aside while you prepare the sauce.
If instead of ravioli you’d rather make tortellini, roll out the dough very thin, fill it, and fold as shown in this [video](

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For the sauce, use the leftover filling. Sauté the bacon cut into small cubes, add the leftover filling and the cream, and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Cook the pasta, drain it, add the sauce, and… buon appetito!

Tips:

The dough has to be very thin. If you’re using a rolling pin, that means once you think it’s thin enough, roll it out at least three more times. I also recommend making your ravioli or tortellini small, since they’ll grow when cooked.
If you don’t have a pasta cutter, you can use a regular knife, but make sure to seal the edges well afterward or you’ll lose the filling during cooking. You can seal them with your fingers, a fork, or the edge of a serrated knife.
Our pasta took quite a while to cook (15 minutes) because the pieces were too big and chunky.

Two-Flavor Pizza

This pizza was two flavors but it could just as easily have been one, five, or twelve. The important thing is to realize that with just a few ingredients you can put together a quick and easy meal. Plus, for all of you who have friends who are a bit picky with food (yes, we all have one of those) who don’t eat onion, tuna, or tomato, the idea of splitting the pizza into different flavors will satisfy everyone’s tastes without having to make a million different pizzas.

What do we need?

Dough:

```
  200 g (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) water
```

  300 g (2.5 cups) flour (bread flour is best)

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  1/2 teaspoon salt
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  1 packet of dry baking yeast (or 20 g fresh yeast)

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  15 g (1 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
```

Hawaiian side:

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  BBQ sauce
```
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  1/2 onion
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  3 slices of fresh pineapple
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  4 strips of bacon
```

Carbonara side:

```
  Heavy cream
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  1/2 onion
```
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  4 strips of bacon
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  4 slices of goat cheese
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  1 egg
```
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  Salt and oregano
```

How do we make it?

Mix the flour with the salt and the granulated yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the warm water (if it’s too cold it won’t activate the yeast, if it’s too hot it will “kill” it) and the olive oil.
Stir well with a fork until you get a smooth dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl, then turn it out onto a floured surface.
Knead by stretching and pressing the dough with the base of your hand for 5 minutes.
If the dough sticks, you can add a little more flour to the surface or your hands, but not too much, or the dough could turn out tough.
Form a ball with the dough and set it aside in a bowl that you’ve previously greased with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let it rise for about 30 minutes.
Once the rising time is up, the dough will have grown, so press it down a bit with your hands and start rolling it out (by hand or with a rolling pin).
Place it on a baking tray and make a divider down the middle with some dough.
Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F).
On the first half (Hawaiian style) add a base of BBQ sauce, julienned onion, bacon strips, and chunks of fresh pineapple.
On the second half (carbonara style) the base sauce will be heavy cream (with a pinch of salt), julienned onion, bacon strips, and goat cheese.
Put the pizza in the oven and after 10 minutes open it up to crack an egg and sprinkle some oregano on the carbonara half.
Let the pizza bake for another 10 minutes and it’s ready to eat.

Tips:

If you want the pizza dough to come out thicker and fluffier, once you’ve rolled out the dough on the tray, you can let it rest for another 15 minutes before adding the toppings.
You can use up any ingredient you have in the fridge to make a delicious pizza.
If you’re short on time or starving, the rising times can be cut down. The dough will be less fluffy but don’t worry, it’ll never be bad.

[English version] TWO-FLAVOUR PIZZA* **Ingredients:*For the dough:

- 200 g water*
- 300 g white flour (strong white flour is best)*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt*
- 1 package dry yeast (or 20 g fresh yeast)*
- 15 g olive oil** Hawaian flavour:- Bbq sauce**- 1/2 onion**- 3 slices of fresh pineapple**- 4 bacon slices** Carbonara flavour:- Heavy cream**- 1/2 onion**- 4 bacon slices**- 4 goat cheese slices**- 1 egg**- Salt and oregano** *

Put the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well, pour in warm water (too cold water will not ‘activate’ the yeast, too hot will ‘kill’ it) and olive oil.
Bring together with a fork until the dough doesn’t stick to bowl walls. Turn into a lightly floured surface.
Knead with your hands for 5 mins.
Add a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky. But be careful and don’t add too much if you don’t want to harden too much your dough.
Make a ball and put it into an oiled bowl covered by a tea towel or clingfilm. Leave the dough rise for 30 mins.
After the rise, give a quick knead to the dough and roll it out (with your hands or using a rolling pin)
Put it into a baking tray and make a central division with the dough.
Preheat oven to 220º
Smooth bbq sauce over the first half. Scatter with chopped onions, bacon and fresh pineapple. (Hawaian style)
Over the second half smooth some cream and salt. Scatter with chopped onions, bacon and goat cheese. (Carbonara style)
Bake the pizza in your oven for 10 mins. Open the oven and add one egg and sprinkle with some oregano in the Carbonara style half.
Bake for other 10 mins.

*Tips: -If you want a soft and fluffy pizza, once you have rolled out the dough, leave it rise again for 15 mins before adding toppings.**- You can use any ingredient you find in your fridge!

No time? Too hungry? Don’t worry, you can reduce rising times. The dough will be less fluffy but always delicious!*

Comments

mir (2012-07-17 12:03:17):

I can vouch for it — it was delicious!

Cesmm (2012-07-17 16:36:18):

Thanks! :-)