Hot Bacon Dressing (Page 174)

RECIPE #846

• Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 -- 11:30pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Recipe Rating: B+
  

I chose this recipe to make last week because it was super fast. When I made my recipe list and grocery list for last week, I picked recipes using my usual methods. But then I looked at the list and realized I just didn't have the time to make what I picked. I have been so busy lately that I actually considered taking a little hiatus from this project. I just couldn't imagine how I would be able to fit in the time to cook the recipes I had listed. I realized, though, that the problem was really just that the recipes I had picked took a long time. Lately I only have time to make really quick recipes. So I scratched the list I had made and replaced it with a list of recipes which all had an active time of 15 minutes or less. There are a limited number of such recipes left in The Book, but I am hoping there are enough to get me through the next three weeks or so. In any case, there were plenty for last week. Still, it was hard to find time to make them. So I ended up making this hot bacon dressing very late one night. My special gentleman called while I was cooking and we had the following conversation:

Him: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Cooking."
Him: "What are you making?"
Me: "Hot bacon dressing."
Him: "Salad dressing?"
Me: "Yeah."
Him: "That is supposed to be served hot?"
Me: "Yeah."
Him: "So you're making bacon salad dressing that needs to be served hot at midnight?"
Me: "Yeah."

Ok, I admit, it's weird. But that was the first chance I had to make it, and I wanted to get it done that day. As you can see, I put my bacon dressing on some steamed cauliflower. I ate some of the cauliflower that night, and I reheated the rest for lunch/dinner the next day (which, by the way, I do not recommend -- the crumbled bacon got pretty gross in the microwave). The night I made it though, this bacon dressing was pretty good. And it was super simple to make. I cooked some bacon until crispy, removed it from the pan, then added cider vinegar to the hot bacon fat. I then crumbled the bacon into the dressing and seasoned it. That was it. The cider vinegar went quite well with the bacon, resulting in a nicely balanced dressing. As you might imagine, this dressing was not too mild in flavor, so it is best served on something that can stand up to strong flavors. It was good on the cauliflower, and I can imagine that it would also be pretty tasty on broccoli. There was nothing subtle about it, but it tasted good. For a super fast recipe, it didn't disappoint.

Here is the recipe.