by Jane Rodmell for All The Best Fine Foods, a ‘Certified Good Food Fighter‘
On the shelves at All The Best we have a new condiment that will knock your socks off!
Skillet Original Bacon Spread is the creation of Chef Josh Henderson, founder of Skillet Street Food in Seattle. Chef Josh took a whole lot of really good smoky Niman Ranch bacon and rendered it down, then added a heap of onions, spices, brown sugar and a dash of balsamic and let it simmer away for six hours. The resulting smoky bacon onion jam is addictive.
We’ve tried the bacon jam with grilled steak, on top of a burger with crumbled blue cheese, stirred into smashed potatoes and folded into an omelette. We’ve added it to our grilled cheese sandwich, stuffed it into mushroom caps, stirred it into our hot cheese dip and spread it on crostini with melting Gruyère on top. All delicious… and super easy! Instant smoky bacon and onion flavour by the spoonful-how can you go wrong?
Skillet Bacon Chicken with Mushrooms
Just a spoonful of Skillet bacon jam stirred into pan juices turns into a dynamite sauce for sautéed chicken. Add a dash of cream for pure delicious indulgence. Other chicken pieces work well, just adjust cooking time. If you are lucky enough to have any leftovers, shred glazed chicken and pile on a crusty bun with some aged cheddar.
1 tbsp (15 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp (15 ml) butter
4 whole chicken legs
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp (15 ml) chopped fresh rosemary
8-ounces (250 g) medium-sized mushrooms, quartered
½ cup (125 ml) red wine
½ cup (125 ml) chicken stock
or ¼ cup (60 ml) stock and ¼ cup (60 ml) cream
2 tbsp (30 ml) Skillet Original Bacon Spread
Fresh lemon juice to taste
In a large frying pan, heat oil and butter over medium high heat. Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper and add to pan. Brown well, about 10 minutes on each side. Reduce heat to medium, add rosemary and mushrooms. Stir occasionally to cook mushrooms evenly and continue to cook until chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes more. Remove chicken and mushrooms to a side plate. Remove excess fat from pan and add wine and stock. Stir to release cooking juices and reduce to sauce consistency. Stir in Skillet Original Bacon Spread: heat through for a minute. Add cream, if using. Taste and sharpen flavour with a dash of lemon juice. Return chicken and mushrooms to the pan: heat briefly, stirring to coat with the smoky onion sauce.
Serves 4
Monday, September 19, we’re holding a Skillet Bacon Jam Showdown at All The Bests with Chef Josh Henderson facing off with some of our talented local chefs. Their masterpieces will be tasted by local celebrity judges. It’s going to be huge fun …with super delicious tastes to share. Come join us. Follow us on Facebook for details.
All the best,
Jane
You can easily make your own bacon marmalade (or bacon jam)..we pasture raise heritage breeds Tamworth pigs and make some marvellous creations with the whole hog. Or go find a local farmer at the market and buy some of their bacon…if they are naturally raised outdoors you’ll taste a huge difference. This jam is already unbelievably good, but out of this world with non-industrial pork. Jeremy Taft of Trenton introduced me to a cool orange brandy candy to make from slabs of oven baked pork fat bathed in a sweet concoction beforehand. Pressed down with weights, the backfat block crisps up and becomes almost like olde-fashioned brittle, but with citrus, ginger and honey notes. Oh my.
At all the best kitchen we are huge fans.of naturally raised tamworth pigs. Crispy oven baked pork fat with citrus ginger honey notes…sounds amazing. We need to taste!