Bacon & Peas with Orzo

You know how I value me-time. In fact, I stand firm that it is the most unselfish act you can perform. When you take care of yourself and treat yourself to a special time that is just for you, to relax, recharge, or just buy a pair of pointy-toed fuchsia shoes without comments, you are actually doing the world a favor.

Yes you are!

You are making sure that you cultivate the most good-natured, thoughtful, and sane version of yourself to interact with other humans. Really now, who can fault you for that?

And any me-time, should also have me-food. French toast, Nutella, pancakes, cream sauces, chocolate, bone marrow, fancy-pants food in tiny but painfully pretty portions, a bowl of truffle mac n cheese as big as my head, bacon/egg/mayo sandwiches.

And peas.

Yes, peas! For the most part, at least among those I see often, I am alone in my pea-love. But I don’t let that hamper my passion. I simply enjoy them on my own.

Bacon & Peas with Orzo

• 1/3 cup orzo (about 70 grams)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Olive oil
• 2 strips of bacon (about 50-60 grams), chopped
• A pinch of fresh mint leaves
• A generous grating of pecorino

- Cook the orzo in salted boiling water as per package directions. About 5-7 minutes before the orzo is done, chuck the peas into the pot. When orzo is done and peas are soft drain in a colander.
- While the orzo and peas are cooking, heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add a scant amount of olive oil to the hot pan, swirl, and lay your bacon in. Cook bacon until almost crisp. Drain excess oil from pan (save those bacon drippings!) but leave some (about a teaspoon full…maybe a bit more, I won’t tell) in the pan.
- Add the orzo and peas to the hot pan with the bacon. Toss a few time and transfer to a bowl. Add the mint leaves to the warm orzo/peas/bacon and toss again. Top with a generous grating of pecorino. Enjoy!
- Serves 1 happy camper :)

Peas and bacon are a match made in the heaven I believe exists (along with hot showers + cold sheets, okra + shrimp paste, and good books + pajama naps). For me there is really something special about the pairing of smoky/fatty pork and green veggies. They complement each other perfectly in taste and balance each others’ intentions. And orzo, oh orzo, a pasta that looks like rice…I’m sold! Make sure to keep some extra pecorino on the side because you may just need an extra dusting when you’re at the middle of your bowl.

When C saw the photo of this dish he sat up with surprise saying, “Where did that come from?”. “I made it for my lunch while you were at work.” “Is that special food?”, he says. “No, it’s just something I made for myself…it isn’t really your type right?”. Not one for false flattery, he looked at me and said, “Not really” with a sheepish smile.

Afterwards though, I realized, it is special food…it’s mine. And if you’re a pea lover, it can be yours too :) Happy weekend!

Breakfast #46: Steel Cut Oats with Muscovado Glazed Bacon

I haven’t shared any breakfast here in a while…shame on me. After all, this blog is named after breakfast, and I did make a resolution to post more of them. So far, relatively speaking (and that is relative to my own historic posting frequency), I have been able to post more breakfasts that I did in the previous year – and average of at least once a month, compared to a dismal four breakfast posts for the whole of last year! And, as of today, I already have more posts in total than in 2010. I know I am far from a prolific blogger, with only one post a week, but I feel good that I’ve reached some of the goals I have set in January (that new look for my blog still remains a hopeful dream). Slow and steady wins the race they say, and I’m hoping they weren’t lying!

And where all this quantification came from I have no clue. Could it be as the end of this year comes undeniably closer? Ssshhh...Let's not rush it!

Anyway, onto breakfast. I posted about savory oatmeal before. I love oatmeal in all its incarnations so having another way to enjoy it is always welcome. One of my readers commented saying that she might like a sweet and savory type oatmeal and I thought, “Why not?” I whipped up a bowl of oats topped with crispy bacon and drizzled with honey…simple and delicious. And that's where this version comes from.

Steel Cut Oats with Muscovado Glazed Bacon

• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups water
• 4 strips of bacon
• 1-2 tablespoons dark muscovado sugar
• Freshly cracked black pepper

- Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan.
- Once it boils add the steel cut oats, give it a stir, and then cover. Cook stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick until cooked to your liking. Some like it chewier than others. Add more water if it starts looking too dry.
- While the oatmeal is cooking lay the bacon strips flat on a plate. Sprinkle muscovado sugar on one side. You can be very flexible here, adding as much or as little sugar as you want. My bacon isn’t totally coated, but I wouldn’t say the sugar is sparse either. I like a good, even, generous sprinkling. Now, crack some black pepper over the sugar. Repeat with the other side.
- Rub or spray a non-stick skillet with a scant amount of oil and heat over high heat. When the pan is hot lay bacon strips on it and bring heat a touch down to medium. Cook until sugar is nice and caramelized and coating the bacon in a totally alluring way -- but not too crisp! The sugar will harden as the bacon cools so you don’t want to overdo it.
- Remove the bacon from the pan and transfer to a wooden chopping board. Let it cool for a bit (just a minute or two). It will stiffen and transform into a heavenly sort of bacon candy – you could eat it as is now and your life would never be the same again…but wait, there’s oatmeal!
- Chop the bacon into bite-size pieces. Divide your hot oatmeal in two bowls. Top with bacon. Enjoy!

Unlike my bowl of bacon honey oatmeal, the it's the bacon itself here that is sweet, almost candied. I would be a liar if I told you that I didn’t want to just grab all that caramelized bacon in my hands and eat it even before the oatmeal was done. But I resisted (for now!) and was left with a bowl of breakfast awesomeness that is both sinful and saintly. Here’s some optional advice: If you like your oats sweet with a touch of salty, add some honey to your oatmeal before topping with bacon. If you like it savory with a touch of sweet, add a pinch of salt to your oats as they cook.

Speaking of goals I set in January I am happy to report that, aside from the elusive blog look makeover, I have made decent headway on each. Aside from posting more often, and more breakfasts, I have also explored new ways to share my love for food more of you. I now have a regular column in my favorite local food magazine, and I have (despite my extreme nervousness) managed to go on about my pet cause of using leftovers (another resolution) on TV!

This may not seem like a packed year so far but between a regular day job (which is, by the by, not food-related or writing-related at all and has nothing to do with this blog), time with family and friends, and time for myself, it is a lot for me. And to all of you who know the drill, who go to bed tired from a stressful day of work, wondering if you did everything right between your job and your family, and if you even have the energy to, this is for you. For you, from me. You can.

And if you don’t believe me? Just sprinkle some sugar on your bacon tomorrow and tell me if you can’t move mountains afterwards ;)

Magic Sauce

We all need a little magic in our lives. Despite the noblest of intentions, and the staunchest assurances to traverse only on the sunny side of the street, even the best are sometimes felled by gloomy thoughts and crummy circumstance. And although I will very soon tell you, as I often tell myself when the proverbial poop hits the fan, to focus on all the wonderful things one must be grateful for, and the beauty to be found everywhere, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the truth…

Sh*t happens. (and with that, the first time I’ve cussed on this blog…my oh my)

Truth acknowledged...now, let’s go have some fun kicking the sh*t out of sh*t :) (second and third cuss, but who’s counting)

How? With magic. The magic of true friends. The magic of dancing as if no one were watching. The magic of butter on warm toast. The magic of a simple movie date with your best mate. The magic of giving yourself a break. The magic of a child’s laughter. Of hot showers. Of cool sheets. Of chocolate croissants. Of fantasy novels and reveling in the fact that you can still lose yourself in them even after 20-odd years. Of dreams...and the magic that makes you believe that they can indeed come true.

Yes, it’s everywhere. Some of it in plain sight. Some you’ve got to look a little harder for. And some very powerful types are hidden away in that secret cave from your childhood…you know, the same one where you left the strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff?

Oh, and there’s also this.

Magic Sauce
(adapted from Heidi’s recipe on 101 Cookbooks – I love her to bits)

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon roughly chopped parsley
• 2 teaspoons pimenton de la vera, dulce (Spanish smoked sweet paprika)
• 1 garlic cloves, smashed to a paste or pressed
• 1 bay leaf
• A pinch of red pepper flakes
• Around 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- Warm the olive oil in a pan until hot. Remove from heat and set aside.
- While the oil is heating pound the rosemary, thyme, and parsley with a mortar and pestle.
- Once the oil is off the heat for a minute or two, stir in the pimenton, garlic, bay leaf, pepper flakes, and salt.
- Add the bruised herbs and lemon to the oil and stir.
- Transfer everything to a clean jar and let cool. You can use this immediately or store in the fridge for about a week.

Heidi’s original recipe uses oregano but I didn’t have any so I substituted parsley. It also calls for a well-crumbled bay leaf but our bay leaves here are so dry that I feared even well-crumbled the bits would be too sharp and edgy, so I opted to keep it whole. This is an extremely flexible sauce and I see it working well with so many things. I have drizzled it over sautéed garlic mushrooms, sausage fried rice, mozzarellini…and even a solitary piece of bread. Next in line would be: to dress a just-off-the-fire steak, over roasted potatoes, and on a fried egg.

We all need magic…great magic and small, simple magic and complex, and yes, even the types you can whip up in five minutes and store in your fridge. Sometimes, especially those types. Don’t stop believing! :)

Smoky Curacha Cakes

So. I’ve gone on and on about curacha. I am quite certain that you do not want to hear more of the same ardent ramblings on the subject. If you missed it though, please check here and here. This is truly an awesome crustacean and worth getting to know.

All that being said, allow me to tell you about another way that I used my precious curacha bounty. Crab cakes! Crab cakes are something I have had (shameful I know) only in restaurants. I have never tasted any homemade, and I have never hazarded an attempt at making them myself. Well, a surfeit of sweet curacha meat has finally presented me with the golden opportunity, so I put my hands together, got on the trusty internet, and started looking for recipes.

When I found these Traditional Maryland Crabcakes on Jen’s Use Real Butter I was sold. It seemed simple enough for a beginner like me, and (and that’s a very emphatic “and”) it includes Old Bay seasoning. Old Bay is traditionally used in seafood boils/bakes all over America (or in the places that they have seafood boils/bakes, I'm not the expert) and, as such, not a part of my growing up at all. Hence, exotic and wildly attractive to my Eastern taste buds. I wasted no time in having some bought (when my mother was in New York) and I have been admiring the very dignified looking tin sitting stodgily in my pantry ever since.

Until now. Traditional Maryland Crabcakes. Old Bay. Zamboanga curacha. A touch of smokiness. A bit of heat. Yes, yes, and yes :)

Smoky Curacha Cakes
(adapted from this awesome crab cake recipe)

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• About 2/3 of a teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Optional: Dash of cayenne pepper (if you want it spicy…we did)
• 300 grams curacha meat (or any crab meat)
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 3-4 tablespoons cheese cracker crumbs for coating
• A couple of tablespoons canola oil or any vegetable oil that you use for frying

- In a bowl, mix the egg, mayonnaise, Old Bay, Worcestershire, paprika, and cayenne if using. Stir together until everything is incorporated.
- Add the curacha/crab meat and mix well.
- Stir in the bread crumbs. If the mixture looks too wet, you can add a little more crumbs just so that it holds together. It will be a fairly moist, but workable.
- Form into patties. Coat the patties in the cracker crumbs (I use Sunflower crackers, cheese flavor).
- Heat oil in a skillet. You want the oil to evenly coat the bottom of the skillet. When the oil is hot place the patties in the pan and fry until the bottom is golden brown. Flip and brown the other side until cooked through. All in all about 8-10 minutes work. Makes 4-5 patties.

I served them here with and absolute favorite of mine, peas and pancetta, or, if my wallet protests, peas and bacon. My love for this dish is tremendous, and I will be sure to share some version of it, someday, on this blog. Today, however, is for curacha, crabcakes, and Old Bay.

I know if I say, at this point, that Old Bay and crabs go together like chocolate and hazelnut I would be 70 years late in the game. But better late than never right? I believe so! I’m starting to feel a clam bake or shrimp boil coming on! Unchartered territory, but I am bolstered by the success of these crabcakes. It is never too late to try something new, and don’t let being a newbie (or the fear of sounding like one) stop you from being as brightly enthusiastic as you wish. Cynics may sneer, but there are people (like me!) who will love you for it and invite you to all their parties! Happy weekend!

Chili Curacha Pasta

I have mentioned before that my husband’s family hails from down south our little archipelago. From a lovely city called Zamboanga to be exact. I’ve been there twice before, the first time carrying with it the particularly happy memory of getting engaged. It is a place not often visited by the average local tourist, who you will most often find in one of the idyllic beaches in the Visayas region (the middle portion of our islands). But Zamboaga City holds many charms for those who venture onto her doorstep.

Zamboanga City is sassy jewel cozily ensconced between sea and mountain, which in my book is the most enviable position for a city to be in. It has a pristine island off its coast whose shore is the palest pink. Remnants of Spanish rule cling sultrily at every corner. More than any place that I have visited in the Philippines, it is really Zamboanga that has the atmosphere of an old colonial stronghold. You can feel it in the air, taste it in the cuisine, and hear it in the language – a Spanish-Filipino patios called Chavacano.

And it is home to curacha, a deep water crab particular to the region. Its bright red-orange shell (which remains the same whether live or cooked) and large, slightly hairy body may look a tad monstrous to some, but all I see is the moist, sweet meat within.

This curacha was a much-appreciated gift from my father-in-law, flown in to us from Zamboanga. C picked up the cooler from the airport and rushed home where little C and I made quick work of its bindings. I couldn’t imagine how little C would react to these creatures but the hyper-exaggerated combination of excitement and terror made me kick myself for not taking out my video cam.

When we are gifted with these prime specimens we usually have some simply steamed and work at them tirelessly with our hands until every last bit of meat is in our tummies. There were so much of them though, and a couple were just huge, so I decided to pick the meat off a few and freeze it for later use. This pasta dish was the result of some of that meat…a splendid result!

Chili Curacha Pasta

• 250-300 grams linguine
• Olive oil
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 400-gram can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
• 250 grams curacha meat (or any crab meat)
• 100 ml heavy cream
• Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• Optional: greens for garnish – I used wild rocket but I think basil would work well too.

- Cook the linguine as per package instructions (don't forget to salt the pasta water!). Save some of the pasta water.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat a couple of generous glugs of olive oil in a pan.
- When the oil is hot add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and chili flakes, and stir. Let this cook for about 10-15 minutes, until some of the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes are thick and pulpy. Add a couple of swirls of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and let this cook a couple minutes more.
- Add the crab meat and stir. Cook this for another 5 minutes or so until the meat heats through and the flavors meld. Taste and adjust seasoning. If that sauce looks like it’s drying out add some pasta water.
- Add the cream and stir. Cook for a minute or so and adjust seasoning on final time.
- Toss with the cooked pasta noodles, adding the sauce a little at a time. You may have some sauce leftover. Alternately you can serve the noodles and sauce separately.

Unlike most crabs, whose best meat is in its claws, the curacha’s meat is concentrated in its body. I still remember the first time I tried one and it seemed like every time I hungrily poked my fingers into its body more and more meat came out. The meat itself is sweet and soft and absolutely delicious.

This is a simple crab pasta with chili, tomato, and cream…made just a little more special by using our beloved curacha. I threw in some wild rocket at the last minute to add a touch of green. Adjust the chili to suit your taste and feel free to experiment with the greens/herbs you use. I am thinking of making a version with fennel…what do you think?

I still have some of the picked curacha meat in the freezer and I am just itching to use it. Any suggestions? :)