Baconfest 2016!

I usually share recipes that I have tried but I have to share this with you. I went to Baconfest earlier this month and it was so much fun, not to mention delicious.

 There are basically between 50 and 60 chefs that cook their best bacon dishes and you have the privilege of walking around, tasting it all. It is delicious but there is no way you can try them all so you have to have a little game plan and be picky. You just can't taste it all ;)

The first thing we tried sounded so good. It was from The Italian Village Restaurant. A beer and bacon pancake topped with applewood smoked bacon beer syrup. The topping was delicious but the pancake itself, not so much.

 We moved on to Mercat a la Planxa. They served Iberico bacon, smoked Calasparra rice, cage-free eggs, and Iberico bacon aioli. You mix all that goodness together and YUM. 

I actually didn't eat this one. I have no idea why. However, Emelie said it was delicious. It was an Old Style cupcake with Koval Whiskey ganache, maple bacon buttercream and candied bacon from ZED451.

This was such a cute display, and also delicious. It's from Creative CONEcepts. I was a bacon flavored breadcone filled with potatoes, peppers, onions, scrambled eggs, bacon with brown bourbon and bacon gravy and, onion and garlic jam.

Next up was a yummy little bite from Kaiser Tiger called The Happy Goucho. It was Argentinian chorizo wrapped in bacon and topped withbacon guacamole and tequila sour cream. :P

Homemade Sin Bakery lived up to it's name with this delicious trio of goodness. Bacon fat gingersnaps, maple bacon scone and peanut butter chocolate caramel bacon fudge. It was all good but that fudge though.....heaven.

The Signature Room at the 95th went all out with a Porklava. It's pretty much what it sounds like, baklava with pork. Strangely enough, it was really good. They totally made it work. It was phyllo dough, pork belly, apple chutney, pistachio, and a bourbon caramel sauce. 

Woodhaven Bar and Kitchen had a taste of home with their Elk of Perfection. Cherrywood bacon infused ground elk wrapped in bacon and jalapeno with truffle and bacon white blanc. Just WOW!

(Pretty sure I captured the exact moment Fred realized he had taken a bite of an incredibly spicy stuffed jalapeno. :))

These are just a few of all he delicious dishes we tried that day. Some disappeared before I could snap a picture ;) But as always, it was a great day and we were all in a bacon coma when it was over. Absolutely worth every penny!

Art Smith's Parmesan and Almond Crusted Chicken with Asparagus and Lemon Sauce

I have had this cookbook forever but as with a lot of my other ones I never cooked any of the recipes. Now that Emelie and Fred are here I figured I'd try and make them something from this book since her dad used to work with him :) It was delicious!

I started by marinating the chicken in kefir (the closest thing to filmjolk I could find). 

While that was marinating I blanched the almonds and asparagus tips in chicken broth and set aside, saving the broth. I then got started on the sauce. 

I added 2 Tbsp of butter, 4 finely chopped shallots and 4 cups of white wine in a saucepan. I let it reduce to about half and then I added the chicken broth. I brought it to a boil and again reduced it by half. Add 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly add the heavy cream and let it simmer until it is reduced by half. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 250 F. Mix 2 cups of breadcrumbs (you are supposed to use crisp bread that you turn into bread crumbs but I went with regular bread crumbs), 2 cups of Parmesan, 1/4 cup shredded almonds (I actually used hazelnuts and it turned out really good), 4 Tbsp herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove the chicken from the kefir, dust with flour, dip in eggs and then dip it into the bread crumb mixture. I had a special lil helper for this part :) 

Then you just sear the chicken for about 2-3 min on each side and finish them in the oven for about 8 minutes. Let the chicken rest for about 5 min before serving. Here you are supposed to add the blanched almonds to the sauce, which I totally forgot but the sauce was still very tasty.  

Parmesan and Almond Crusted Chicken Breast with Asparagus and Lemon Sauce

4 Servings (I doubled the recipe)

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 cup Kefir

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup blanched almonds

1 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup shredded almonds

1 cup Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp chopped herbs (parsley, tarragon and thyme)

salt and black pepper

1 cup all purpose flour

2 eggs, whisked

4 Tbsp olive oil

Lemon Sauce

1 msk unsalted butter

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 cups of white wine

2 Tbsp lemon juice

salt and black pepper

1 cup heavy cream

Enjoy!