Recently my friend Justine posted a link to a Korean dessert called gyung-dan, which are basically little chewy cakes of rice flour, sometimes filled with sweet bean paste, and rolled in sesame seeds. Right away this made me think of palitaw, one of my favorite Filipino kakanin, or desserts. Palitaw is boiled sweet rice flour (no filling) that is then coated in sugar, toasted sesame seeds and, in the usual Filipino tropical twist, grated coconut.

This is the easiest dessert ever to make if you have the ingredients on hand. You will need sweet rice flour, such as Mochiko. Some (like my mother, of course) would argue that to make proper palitaw you really should soak sweet rice, then make it into a paste. Frankly, I will admit that with this step, I probably would never make palitaw myself, so I’ll stick to the Mochiko. She did convince me, however, of the worthwhile step of grinding the toasted sesame seeds with the sugar to “get the most sesame flavor from it”. She is right about that.

For the grated coconut, ideally you would have fresh grated coconut extracted with one of these dangerous bad boys (The way it works is you sit on the grater on a low stool, and hold the coconut and grate it with the sharp metal bit. Why do I call it dangerous? My auntie, as a child, ran into one of these, resulting in a huge bloody gash. I guess the moral of the story is don’t run in the house when there are coconut graters lying around.)

If you don’t have access to fresh coconut, check the freezer at the Asian grocery, or use desiccated (non-sweetened) coconut as I have here.

Finally, make sure to eat the palitaw right away. There’s basically no point if it isn’t piping hot; after that it gets insanely chewy and soggy. But when it’s fresh, it’s a little piece of tropical heaven.

Palitaw
serves 4

2 cups (300g) sweet rice flour (such as Mochiko)
3/4 cup (180ml) water
1 cup (90g) grated coconut
1/2 cup(100g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Stir the flour and water in a bowl until smooth. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and flatten slightly into patties.
2. In a food processor, combine the sesame seeds and sugar. Set aside in a shallow dish (you will roll the patties in them after they’ve been cooked. Set the grated coconut in a separate shallow dish (also for coating the patties later).
3. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Drop the palitaw into the boiling water. Cook until they float to the surface.
4. Roll them right away in the sugar-sesame mixture, then in the grated coconut. Serve immediately.

Caldereta is one of my favorite comfort foods. Traditionally, it is a Filipino beef stew with tomatoes. This is a dish you will often see at turo-turo places – otherwise known as point-point joints. At the point-point joint, you point at the steam tray that looks best to you. More accurately, the steam tray that looks least repulsive. They stir up the lukewarm mixture, breaking up the grease on top, and slop it into a Styrofoam container with a heap of rice. (Can you tell I’m not a big fan of the steam tray places?)

Let’s just say there’s a turo-turo place in the city I used to live in that continually seemed to get shut down by the health department. And that was the “okay” place. *shudder*

That said, it makes sense to make your caldereta from scratch because it is fantastic when it’s homemade. I’m not going to make any serious claims toward authenticity here. I add a bit of tamarind in the beginning for sourness, and a can of good whole tomatoes instead of some fresh ones. Oftentimes you find green beans in caldereta, but instead I add potatoes (you can’t go wrong with meat and potatoes) and stir fry crisp green beans as a side dish. As I’m frying the onions in the beginning, I also throw in a big pinch of red pepper flakes to add a little heat.

I use beef chuck for this, and instead of cutting it into cubes, I leave the pieces large (easier when you are browning it) and slow cook it long enough for the meat to fall apart. Also a secret addition: if you have a piece of bone-in oxtail, add it. It gives great flavor. And by the way, this is great in a slow cooker: a winter dinner that’s ready as soon as you get home from work. What can be better?

Caldereta
Serves 4-6 with steamed rice
UPDATE: Thanks to Allan’s comment below, I’ve added liver pate as an optional ingredient, and adjusted the tamarind paste also as an optional ingredient (as it’s not really traditionally used). Many Filipino cooks use liver pate as a thickener in this dish. I prefer it without, but feel free to try it!

Ingredients
Vegetable oil
2 pounds (1 kg) boneless beef chuck
1 medium piece of oxtail (optional)
1 15-oz (500g) can of whole tomatoes
1-1/2 cups water
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch knob of ginger, grated or minced
1 tablespoon tamarind paste (use a tablespoon balsamic vinegar if you don’t have tamarind) (optional)
3 tablespoons liver pate (optional)
½ pound cubed, peeled red potatoes
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
A small handful of cilantro, minced for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 250 F (120 C). (If you are using a slow cooker, do everything up until step 5, then add the ingredients to the slow cooker.)
2. Rinse and dry the beef and oxtail, if using. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
3. In a large Dutch oven, heat a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil over high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, doing this in batches to avoid crowding. Set it aside.
4. In the same Dutch oven, add a little bit more oil, and fry the onions over medium-low heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tamarind, garlic, ginger and red pepper and stir for another minute. Dice the tomatoes (or, if they’re soft enough, shred them with your hands over the pot), and add them with the juice, and the liver pate, if using. Add the water, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the meat and cover. Put the Dutch oven in the oven and cook for 3-4 hours, checking it to make sure there’s enough liquid every now and then. After about 3 hours, add the potatoes and continue baking for another hour. The meat should come apart easily with a fork.
6. Serve with rice. This tastes great the next day.

Although my favorite way to eat Nutella is slathered on bread, I thought for World Nutella Day (four years old this year, I might add!) I would combine two of my favorite things: steamed pudding and Nutella.

Steamed pudding is basically a cake that is steamed rather than baked, then turned out onto a plate. What’s great is that it never gets really dry, so it’s moist and gooey, and often times light.

Usually a 4-5 quart heatproof bowl is the tool of choice for steaming the pudding in. This then needs to be set inside a larger pot that can accommodate water about halfway up the sides of the bowl.

Lucky for me, I have a steam oven (great for making siopao, by the way!), so I just set a large heatproof dish with a cover directly in the oven. For traditional steaming, the pudding bowl needs to be prepared properly. These instructions from the BBC are the best I’ve seen for preparing a steamed pudding.

This pudding is more like a souffle, and the Nutella taste is subtle in the light airy texture. To dress it up, you can prepare a little Nutella sauce, but I’m happy eating it with a spoonful of sweetened creme fraiche.

Nutella steamed pudding
serves 4-6
Recipe tip: Because Nutella actually doesn’t have a lot of chocolate (or hazelnut for that matter), the taste is really subtle when you bake with it. What I have found, however, is that if you make your own gianduja (chocolate-hazelnut mixture), you really boost the intensity of chocolatey-hazelnutty flavor. There’s a great recipe at the Cook and Eat blog. Give it a shot!

Ingredients
1 cup (240ml) Nutella
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
4 tablespoons (50g) butter (plus more for greasing the bowl)
pinch of salt
6 eggs, separated: yolks in one bowl, whites in another
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup (65g) sugar
1/4 cup (35g) flour

1. Grease the bowl generously with butter.
2. In a small heavy pan, heat the cream, butter and salt over medium low. Lower the heat to low and add the Nutella. Whisk together until totally combined. Set aside until just a bit warm.
3. Add the egg yolks to a large bowl and whisk until a bit frothy. Pour the Nutella mixture into the eggs, whisking while you add it so the eggs don’t curdle.
4. In a separate bowl, whip the egg white with an electric mixer. When the egg whites start looking foamy, add the cream of tartar and the sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks form, but don’t let it dry out.
5. Stir in about a quarter of the egg whites into the egg yolk and Nutella mixture. Gently fold the rest of the egg whites in with a spatula. Sprinkle on the flour and gently fold that in as well.
6. Prepare the steamed pudding (as directed in the video link above). Set a tea towel in the bottom of a huge pot that will hold the pudding bowl. Add the bowl and pour boiling water until halfway up the sides of the bowl. Set over medium low heat (until the water is simmering) and cover the pot. (You may need to add water part of the way through)
7. Steam the pudding for an hour. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. This is a good time to prepare the Nutella sauce, if you are making it.

Nutella sauce
1/4 cup (60ml) Nutella
3 tablespoons boiling water

Add the Nutella to a medium-sized bowl. While whisking, pour the boiling water over the Nutella. It may seize up at first, but as the water gets incorporated, it will become smooth again.

Sweetened creme fraiche
1/2 cup (120ml) creme fraiche
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the creme fraiche, sugar and vanilla. Stir together until smooth.

Links:
Cook and Eat: DIY Nutella
World Nutella Day
Ms. Adventures in Italy
Bleeding Espresso

My New Year’s cooking resolution is to cook more Filipino food, specifically food that I grew up eating. The other week I was having a discussion with my 6-year-old, and told him I was cooking one of Grandma’s recipes. He was like, “oh, so you’re making Chinese food?” Um, nooooo.

I cook a lot, and I cook ‘fiesta’ food on special occasions (pancit, lumpia, leche flan), but aside from rice, I surprisingly don’t cook a whole lot of Filipino food on the regular. I plan on changing that this year: some old recipes and also, hopefully, some recipes I haven’t tried yet will make their way onto this site. I may have to rename it “Crispy Pata” to be accurate!

So in reference to our Chinese/Filipino discussion, I started the year by making siopao on New Year’s day. Siopao is basically a Filipino adaptation of the steamed Chinese char siu bao, but with a uniquely sweet/salty pork filling that is purely Filipino.

I was a bit disappointed with the recipe I ended up using for the dough, so if you have a dough recommendation, send it my way! I found this dough did not have the light, fluffy, slightly chewy quality of most Filipino siopao. (For example, I almost never see siopao that have cracks in it.)

The filling is my own because the Filipina ladies in my family would kill me if I published their top secret recipes. I guesstimated the ingredients, made it my own (I love pork belly so I used it here) and it came out incredibly close to the asado filling I grew up eating.

Siopao asado
Makes a dozen steamed buns

For the bun:
1 cup warm water (about 110F)
2-1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (if you only have active dry yeast, make sure to proof it first)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the filling:
2 pounds (1 kg) pork belly
1 cup chicken broth
1 small onion, diced (the size of a shallot)
3 tablespoons Filipino soy sauce (such as Datu Puti, if you don’t have it, a ’superior’ soy sauce will work)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons sugar

1. Preparing the filling: Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C). Combine the pork belly with the chicken broth in a baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 2 hours, or until the pork is very tender. Remove from oven and discard the broth (or set it aside for a different use).
2. Raise oven temperature to 450 F (220 C). Place the pork back in the oven, uncovered, and roast for 30 minutes, fat side up. Remove and let the pork cool, then chop it into bite-size pieces.
3. Combine the soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce in a small bowl. Heat a wok over medium high. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, swirl it around, and add the onion. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the pork and the sauce. Heat through until the sauce has thickened a bit, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste if necessary. Remove to a bowl and let the filling cool.
5. For the dough: Combine the water, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Add the flour and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic and not sticky. I take it out of the mixer toward the end and put it on a floured surface to knead for a few minutes by hand.
6. Grease the inside of a large bowl. Turn the dough into it and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 2 hours.
7. Remove the dough, sprinkle it with the baking powder and knead it until the baking powder is worked in. Separate into 12 equal pieces on a lightly floured surface. Cover again with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 30 minutes. While the dough is rising, cut 12 squares of parchment paper to go underneath each bun when it steams.
8. When you are ready to fill the dough, roll the dough out or flatten with your hands and fill with 2 tablespoons of filling. Pinch the dough closed, trying not to get filling on the outside of the bun.
9. Prepare a wok for steaming. Place the buns in the steaming basket for 15-20 minutes. (Do this in batches if necessary)
10. Serve warm, or allow to cool, then wrap them in cling wrap and keep in the refrigerator.

Last year, my sister had clued me in to the wonders of bacon jam. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but fortunately, our friends Michelle and Tuffer brought us some from Seattle last month. Yes, these are people willing to schlep over meat products across the ocean. And for that, I am immensely grateful.

For those of you lucky enough to live in Seattle, bacon jam is available at Skillet Street Food. And luckily for everyone else in the U.S., it is also available for mail order on their website. (Stocking stuffer, perhaps?)

It’s great in the obvious applications: on burgers and sandwiches, and it makes a wicked grilled cheese. But inspiration really hit when I was planning on roasting a couple of pork tenderloin one night… why not stuff it with bacon jam?

So I took it from there. If I stuff it with bacon jam, why not… wrap it in bacon? And thus, we have a Trifecta of Pork.

Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin stuffed with bacon jam
Serves 4
I make a garlic and balsamic vinegar pan sauce to go with the pork tenderloin. If you prefer something milder, a classic pan sauce with wine and butter would also work great.

Ingredients
2 one-pound pork tenderloins (about 500g each)
½ cup bacon jam
4 strips of your favorite bacon (my favorite is Nueske’s. Wisconsin represent!)

For pan sauce:
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
½ cup stock or water or pan drippings
3 tablespoons butter
Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C).
2. Slice the tenderloins through to the middle. Spoon the bacon jam into the middle of it. Wrap the slices of bacon around the tenderloins and tie with a bit of cooking twine if necessary. (This will keep the bacon from unraveling when you cook it.) Sprinkle the outside of the pork with a bit of salt and pepper.
3. Heat a heavy pan or Dutch oven over high heat. Add a small glug of vegetable oil. Brown the pork loin on all sides. (Don’t clean out the pan afterwards)
4. Transfer the tenderloins to a roasting dish. Roast until the internal temp is 135 degrees F. (I like it a bit pink inside, let the temp get to 140 if you like it well done. This usually takes me 15 to 20 minutes.)
5. Take the pork loin out and allow it to rest for 10 minutes
6. The pan sauce: Take the drippings from the pan and add enough water or stock to it to make a half cup. While the pork is resting, place the pan where you browned the pork over low heat. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and the garlic. Scrape up the browned bits from the pan. When the garlic becomes fragrant (careful not to burn it), add the brown sugar and the cayenne pepper. Continue scraping the browned bits from the pan, then immediately add the vinegar. Don’t stir it for a minute while some of the acid boils off.
7. Add the stock and reduce the sauce by half. Remove from heat and add the butter. Swirl it around to combine, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Links
Skillet Street Food: Bacon Jam
Nueske’s Bacon

Whenever I crave sweets and want to bake something quickly, but don’t want to OD on chocolate, I make blondies. And when I think about making blondies, my train of thought goes to Blondie, which then goes to Heart of Glass, which is an audio parasite that immediately embeds itself into my brain for several days.

And now that will happen to you. You can thank me later.

But at least while Heart of Glass is circling its way through your head, you can be eating classic blondies. They satisfy the sweet tooth: sweet, chewy with a hit of chocolate and salt.

I’ve realized that the step that takes these to the next level is browning the butter. It gives the bars a richer, nuttier flavor. I add chopped pecans to complement the flavor, but you can leave them out if you choose. I use half white chocolate and half dark chocolate because it looks great, but you can substitute with all dark chocolate if you prefer, and which I sometimes do.

Classic Blondies
makes 16 bars

Ingredients
1 stick butter (110g, or ½ cup) (I use salted butter)
1 cup packed light brown sugar (220g)
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour (140g)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (50g) white chocolate chunks
1/3 cup (50g) dark chocolate chunks
1/2 cup chopped pecans (60g) (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (170 C). Line an 8×8 baking pan with foil or parchment paper. This will make the bars easier to remove when you are ready to cut into them.
2. Melt the butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Continue heating until it smells really nutty and fragrant and you start seeing browned bits of milk solids in the butter (be careful not to burn it).
3. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Whisk in the sugar and allow to cool until just warm. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until combined.
4. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and whisk until combined. Stir in the chocolate and nuts.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes – be careful not to overbake, so they don’t dry out. The top should be shiny.
6. Remove to a cooling rack. When it’s cooled to room temperature, remove from the pan and cut into squares.

As a Filipino-American child, what is one of the greatest things about waking up in the morning? You have the privilege of eating chocolate and rice for breakfast.

Chomporado, or chocolate rice porridge, is served hot with lots of sugar and milk to taste. My mom likes to eat it with heavy cream, and some like to eat it with evaporated or condensed milk (staying true to the Filipino love of canned dairy products.) Me? I like it with a spoonful of crème fraiche. Soooo good.

Often this porridge is eaten with salty dried fish such as dilis or daing. I never have, but can understand the appeal of the sweet and salty together.

The legend is that Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero, invented champorado as a use for leftover rice. I’m not really buying it because I have never met anyone who uses anything other than glutinous rice to make this dish. But I definitely like the story: a national hero who, as a child, invented one of the greatest breakfast foods ever. Only in the Philippines!

Glutinous rice, also known as sweet rice or sticky rice, is typically prepared steamed in Asian dishes such as Thai coconut sticky rice with mango, a dessert that is as delicious as it sounds. It is far starchier than regular rice, thus making it the perfect rice for porridge as it becomes thick while cooking. (My favorite Filipino dessert, suman, which is coconut rice wrapped in banana leaves, is also made using glutinous rice).

For champorado, the rice is boiled with water and dissolved cocoa powder is added. I find the Dutch-process cocoa powder makes for a really rich chocolately color and taste. Usually the sugar is added to taste at the table, along with the milk, but in this recipe, I’ve added a bit of sugar with the rice while cooking. I prefer it this way because I don’t have to add more sugar at the table as I don’t like it too sweet, but my kids always add more sugar.

The whole thing takes about 20 minutes to make and is perfect for a cold winter morning.

Champorado
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup (200g) glutinous rice (I don’t rinse it, but it is up to you – a single rinse to clean it should suffice)
4 cups (1 L) water
¼ teastpoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the rice, sugar, salt and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Give it a stir and lower heat to medium low and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Every few minutes, give it a stir. It may cook faster than 15 minutes; basically, you are looking for it to be thick, and the rice to be cooked through, not gritty in the middle. (I definitely check it at the 10 minute mark; lots of times it takes about 12 minutes to cook through.)
3. While the rice is cooking, whisk the ¼ cup boiling water into the cocoa powder in a small bowl. When it’s cooled a bit, whisk in the vanilla.
4. Once the rice is cooked, whisk the cocoa mixture into the rice mixture. Cook, uncovered, over medium low for another 5 minutes until the cocoa has absorbed into the porridge.
5. Serve with sugar and milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, half and half, heavy cream crème fraiche, or whatever dairy product you like best. You’re the boss!

Glutinous rice

The maple syrup that I’ve been able to find here has generally been disappointing. Yes, it’s maple syrup, but I think it’s the equivalent of Grade A Light in North America. My favorite is U.S. Grade A Dark Amber because it has really strong maple flavor, which is perfect for baking. (Wikipedia breaks down maple syrup grades here.) So, as you can imagine, if you are visiting us from the States, you will be schlepping maple syrup with you. And again, apologies to those of you who have had maple syrup bottles break in your luggage on the way over. And yes, this has in fact happened TWICE. (We have some maple-scented books to prove it.)

These are my favorite scones on a chilly day. There’s something about maple, pecans and oatmeal that says autumn.

Maple Oatmeal Scones
adapted from Cooks Illustrated
makes about 12 triangular scones

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups (130g) regular oatmeal (not quick or instant, and not steel-cut)
1-1/2 cups (210g) AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar (80g)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup butter (165g), cold, cut into small squares
1/2 cup heavy cream (120ml)
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped pecans (50g)

For the glaze:
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar (50g)
1/4 cup maple syrup (60ml)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Spread the oatmeal and pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 8 minutes. Remove and let cool to room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients. Remove 2 tablespoons of the oats for dusting your prep surface later.
2. Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees F (230 C) and preheat.
3. In a measuring cup, whisk together the cream and egg. Remove 1 tablespoon of the liquid for glazing, and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Scatter the chunks of cold butter over the flour. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal.
5. Stir in the oats mixture, then stir in the cream/egg mixture. Fold with a spatula until the dough clumps together into a mass.
6. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons reserved oats on a cutting board. Spread the dough out on the surface, patting it into an 8 x 10 inch rectangle (20 x 25 cm). Cut it in half lengthwise, and cut each half into 5-6 scones. Set the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the scones with the reserved egg/cream liquid.
7. Bake the scones for 12 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to a rack and cool to room temperature.
8. Prepare the glaze: Whisk together the confectioner’s sugar and syrup. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the scone. (The glaze will harden a bit in a few minutes.)

One of my favorite combinations for fruit desserts is nectarines with berries. I end up using nectarines more frequently than peaches because, well, I’m lazy: nectarines, unlike peaches, don’t require peeling. The skins are thinner so they aren’t so noticeable when baked in a dessert, so it’s a great fruit for quick desserts like crumbles and cobblers.

I love the nectarine/berry combination in a classic pie crust. For this crust I used all butter, and using a tip from Cooks Illustrated, replaced some of the water with sour cream so the crust is more tender.

I used strawberries for this recipe, but as they are no longer in season in most places (we are seeing the last of local strawberries this September for some reason), other berries - especially blueberries - go well with it. It’s also delicious if you want to skip the berries — just add another nectarine and adjust the sugar.

Sooooo good with ice cream.

Nectarine and berry pie

Ingredients
For the crust:
2-1/2 cups AP flour (175 g)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup, 225g) butter, cold and cut into small cubes
3 tablespoons sour cream
1/3 cup ice water

For the filling:
3 medium nectarines, pitted and sliced into eighths
2 cups strawberries or other berries (blueberries are nice)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch lemon zest

Making the crust:

1. Stir together the sour cream and water.
2. Stir together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, and using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture. Don’t mix too much; you should still have some larger pea-sized chunks of butter.
3. Stir in half the sour cream mixture with a fork. Add the rest of the mixture if the dough still seems too dry (it should come together and be just a little bit sticky.)
4. Form into 2 disks and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Make the filling:

1. Place the berries (if you are using them) in a large bowl. Put the nectarines in a medium saucepan with the sugar, cornstarch and lemon zest. Sir to mix. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, allowing the juice to thicken.
2. Turn the mixture out into the berries and stir to mix. Taste for sweetness. If not sweet enough, add a bit of sugar. If it’s too sweet, add a bit of lemon juice. Set aside to cool slightly.

Put them together:

1. Roll out each disk of dough on a floured surface about 11 inches in diameter. Set the bottom round into the pie pan.
2. Add the filling.
3. Add the top of the pie crust. Press the edges of the crusts together and crimp them shut.Make slits in the top of pie crust so that it can release steam while baking. Brush the top with a little bit of egg white or milk, and sprinkle with sugar. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375 F (180 C). Set the pie on a large cookie sheet (just in case it bubbles over). Bake for 45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling.
5. Set on a cooling rack and allow to cool until just warm. This is great with ice cream.

When my mom came to visit last month, she brought one of the best gifts a mom from Wisconsin can give: several pounds of Nueske’s bacon. Oh, you don’t know Nueske’s bacon?

Then, my friend, you have not had bacon. Nueske’s is like, the cream of the bacon crop. The sort of bacon that makes you happy to be a carnivore. I know I’m prone to hyperbole, but really, it’s no joke.

Because I have a large but limited supply every time she visits, I try to stretch it out, and believe me, a little goes a long way. This, combined with my ‘eat-less-meat’ household campaign, and you get lots of bean dishes flavored with bacon.

This is one of my favorites lately. I use French, or Puy, lentils, the little speckled dark green ones. They are really nice for this because they keep their shape better and still look really pretty when cooked, unlike the larger tan ones which fall apart more easily.

Three strips of bacon. That’s all it takes to take this dish from silver to gold.

Lentils with bacon and mint
Ingredients
1 cup French lentils
3 strips of your favorite streaky bacon, diced, preferable Nueske’s, if you can get your greedy hands on it
4 cups water
1 bay leaf
½ medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
a handful of mint, chopped finely
a couple of grinds of black pepper

1. Pick over and rinse the lentils. Place them in a large saucepan or Dutch oven, and cover with the water. Add the bayleaf. Bring the lentils to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
2. When the lentils are cooked, drain them in a colander, reserving about a cupful of the liquid. Discard the bay leaf. Set aside the lentils.
3. Set the saucepan or Dutch oven back over medium heat. When hot, add the bacon. Fry until crispy and brown. (Don’t drain the oil). Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is soft. Add the cumin and fry until fragrant.
4. Add the lentils and salt and pepper. If the mixture looks dry, stir in some of the reserved liquid. Simmer for another couple minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the mint.
6. We eat this with rice, but it’s probably also very good with crusty bread.

Links
Nueske’s bacon
Crispywaffle: Tofu with peanut sauce