Bacon Macaroni

It has been a couple of wonderful days for me: first, it was lunch yesterday at Lucien with the Soul Twin, where we talked about all things French-inspired...and how neither us could do the Leek Soup recalibration (let's just call it a fast, shall we?).  Then it was a middle school interview for Bug yesterday, which wasn't as scary as we feared (and she felt so confident at the end because, apparently, all the math was "SO EASY"...).  Tonight, it's dinner at The Smile (don't you love that name?) with some of my favorite people: Jen, Phil, Tina, Vic, and Adam.  In celebration of everything, I'm listening to Lyle Lovett's version of "Blue Skies"...

But before the weekend starts, I'd love to leave you with one of my new favorite recipes...

Awhile ago, I came across a recipe for Bacon Macaroni.  Bacon...and macaroni.  That's. It.  Easiest thing ever and something I knew I could get my kid to eat.

It's a pound of macaroni, about 6 slices of bacon (feel free to add more!), and that's it.  Cook the mac according to the package instructions.  When the bacon's done frying up, remove it, drain, and chop up.  Add all the macaroni to the bacon pan (with all the bacon fat still in it!) over medium heat, and give it a few flips to coat evenly (and I let mine get a little crispy).  Pour into a bowl, add the chopped bacon, and voila!

I added a few leaves of spinach to justify the decadence that is Bacon + Macaroni.  Feel free to omit, or add veggies to your own taste.

And wouldn't this be a-mahz-ing with a fried egg on top???

The result?  Splurge-worthy, easy, and amazing.

Eat, drink, and give bacon the star treatment.




RECIPE NOTE: I must acknowledge that this recipe is from somewhere - I didn't make it up on my own.  However, for the life of me, I can't figure out where.  Looked through bookmarked blog recipes...looked through all my cookbooks...did a search on the Goog...looked through all my saved magazine recipes...and to no avail.  So if you do know the source of this recipe, I'd love to know so I can give credit where credit is due!

Buvette's Brussels Sprout Salad

The Soul Twin (a.k.a. my best friend, Andrea) recently celebrated a birthday.  It's the first birthday I've actually shared with her in person in...years and years.  Maybe even since we graduated college?  So I was incredibly excited to take her out to Buvette for lunch this year to celebrate live and in-person.  I'd heard amazing things about Buvette, but I just never had the chance to go...it's in the West Village after all and, like most Manhattanites, I cry and whine about having to go to the opposite side of the island.

Anyway, Buvette surpassed every expectation I had and more.  The ST and I nibbled and drank for three hours.  The restaurant folks didn't seem to care; it truly is the sort of place you can sit and enjoy as long as you want.  We had sandwiches...we had a gorgeous selection of cheeses...we had a bottle of wine...but the stand-out for us were the Brussels sprouts.  We ordered them on a bit of a whim - they were "just" a side dish and, even though we're deep into winter, we're still obsessed with trying everyone's variation on Brussels sprouts.

Buvette's were heavenly.  They were sliced very thin and tossed with walnuts and cheese.  The taste was so fresh and so light, and we desperately wanted to be able to recreate them at home.  So we asked the server how they were prepared: Brussels sprouts, Pecorino, walnuts, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  That. Is. It.  To quote Ina Garten, "how easy is that?"

So my variation is below.  Make sure to use a very dry, crumbly Pecorino, and you also want to salt liberally.  The key, though?  You need to keep tasting, tasting, tasting to make sure you have the seasoning right.  And don't skimp on the olive oil!

BUVETTE'S BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Serves 4 as a side dish


1 pound Brussels sprouts, sliced thinly
1/2 pound aged Pecorino, grated
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted 
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper


1. Trim off the dry ends of the Brussels sprouts and run them under some water.  The best way to slice them very thin is to use the slicing attachment on a food processor: feed the Brussels sprouts into the processor and they'll be finished in about a minute.  You could use a mandoline, but be careful of those fingers.  And I suppose you could slice them by hand but that'll be a long process.  Once finished, empty Brussels sprouts into a large bowl.


2. Add the grating attachment to your food processor.  Add Pecorino to grate.  Again, you can do this with a hand grater too.  Add cheese to Brussels Sprouts in the bowl.


3. Using a dry pan, toast walnuts over medium heat until fragrant and slightly darker.  Add to bowl.


4. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper to the bowl and toss well to coat.  Taste for seasoning; add more olive oil, salt, and/or pepper, as needed.  Serve.


KID-FRIENDLINESS: Who are we kidding?  Bug would never eat this.


WINE NOTES: Usually, a crisp white is the way to go with Brussels sprouts, but the Pecorino makes them a bit more red wine friendly.  I had the Foris Pinot Noir with this and liked it.  


Eat, drink, and recreate your favorite restaurant dishes.

Resto

I was thrilled when my friend Jen suggested a big group dinner out this past Friday night.

This last week was my last one at Harper (no more freelancing), Jen has had some issues at work, and the Soul Twin was starting the healing process after a family tragedy: we were a rag-tag group, for sure.  Put in charge of getting a reservation, Resto seemed the perfect place to eat.  Gorgeous quality, heavy on soul-soothing food, and a casual atmosphere was exactly what we needed (check out the dinner menu - you'll see below that they even offer large format meals with "nose to tail" options).

Friday night was a beautiful autumn evening, crystal-clear with temps in the 60s.  Perfect.  Our group of 7 scored the only table out on the sidewalk so we were able to escape the noise inside; it felt like our very own private space in the middle of a city sidewalk.

One of my favorite things at Resto is the deviled eggs.  They're served on "pork toast": a pig's head is boiled down until it's fatty and melty and then it's smoothed flat in a sheet pan and frozen.  Once solid, it's cut up, breaded, and fried.  Crispy on the outside, melty fattiness on the inside, it's nothing short of pork heaven.  A slightly spicy deviled egg is served on top.

It's insanely rich - four of us shared this and we were more than satiated.

Andrea and Brian shared the moules et frites with Dijon mustard, house-made bacon, Parmesan, onion confit, and tarragon.  Tina and Jen shared the moules et frites with green curry, lemongrass, coconut milk, and kaffir lime.

Adam and Phil both had the burger.

I ordered the skirt steak with wax beans, fine herbs, pistachios, walnuts, pine nuts, and honey.

We also ordered every one of the dipping sauces for the frites: lime pickle; mayo and onion; sweet chili; Old Bay; mayo; Cajun remoulade; Sriracha; lemon and smoked paprika (my favorite!); yogurt, cumin, and roasted garlic; gribiche.

Resto is also one of the rare places that has an outstanding wine AND beer list - it seems that most places only have one or the other. This list isn't the whole book you see below but it's damn close.  The best thing is that I've never had a server at Resto who didn't know their beers and wines from top to bottom - they can find the perfect pairing to anything, I'm sure of it.

An amazing night of good food, good wine, and good friends.

Eat, drink, and share a communal meal to cure what ails you.