BACON!

For the last several weeks, I have had a package of bacon in my freezer. I do not often eat bacon, but I had it in my head to cook a big meal using bacon in more than one dish. Last night, that's exactly what happened.

I kicked the night off by baking some bacon-free biscuits. Yet another recipe from Smitten Kitchen turned out fabulous. I can only hope my recipes will someday yield such pleasing results. These buttermilk chive biscuits would be a great addition to many meals, and they sure were to mine!



Next, I moved on to the BACON! I chose to make black eyed peas, a dish that will always remind me of my grandmother, who is from Texas. This recipe is adapted from the one on the package of the peas, but I'll give it to you anyway.

Ingredients:
1 6.5 oz. package dried black eyed peas
1 cup long-grain white rice
4 cups water
2 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
2 large bay leaves
5 strips bacon
1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2 green chillies, because I love them
Salt and pepper to taste

First bring the dried peas to a boil in a pot of water. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Then cover, and soak peas for one hour. Drain the peas, and then add them to the uncooked rice. Add the 4 cups of water, and simmer with the thyme and bay leaves until rice is cooked and water is mostly absorbed.

Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Drain it on a paper towel, and discard all but a small amount of the bacon grease. Saute the vegetables, garlic and chillies in the bacon grease. Add the vegetables to the peas and rice. Chop up the bacon and add to the mixture. Removed leaves. Season to taste and serve.



Finally, this dish was supposed to be the main event, but it sort of fell flat. I think I used too much bacon. Due to this mistake, I will condense my recipe as I explain.

Obtain 1 large fish fillet. I used fresh cod. Season it with lemon and dill. Cut into medium sized pieces and wrap with bacon. Fry pieces lightly on each side. Place in baking dish, and bake for about 20 minutes, doing what you can to remove excess grease.

Lesson learned, use the bacon sparingly!