Bacon-Wrapped Date Inspired Tart

Does your block party? Our block didn’t have one this year, probably because there aren’t that many young kids on our block.  Or, because we would be the obvious ones to organize it (since most of the young kids on our block are ours) and we didn’t.  I do, however, love a good block party and I’m glad that we live in an area where they exist.

Block parties weren’t a thing in any of the neighborhoods I lived in when I was growing up but I think they must be especially fun to experience as a child. From the simple pleasure of being able to actually run in the street (even if it is just one day a year), to having a bounce house, face painting and an excuse to run amok with all of the neighborhood kids while your parents are busy chatting and grilling burgers to notice what you are up to. It seems like a kid’s dream come true.

I give you Exhibit A. at the start of her three-course dinner which included: strawberry ice; vanilla ice cream; and a chocolate cupcake to round out the meal. Party on!

A couple of our good friends’ have an amazing block party every year. There are a ton of kids on their block and the parents are extremely organized when it comes to throwing their annual block party. They’ve got a schedule that includes a children’s lunch, a DJ, carnival games and raffle prizes, face painting, a bounce house, a talent show, a potluck dinner, a band, wine tasting and a bags tournament. They even have an ice cream truck.  They also have really nice neighbors who are always welcoming when we crash their events.

When crashing events, I like to come prepared with some kind of offering.  As I was brainstorming ideas for a dish to bring to the block party I kept thinking that I wanted to bring something that :

1. feeds a crowd,
2. is easy to transport, hold and eat,
3. is good at room temperature, and
4. keeps well.

I knew that slab pie or tart of some kind would do the trick, but I was having such a hard time deciding on what to put in or on it.

So I started to make a list of crowd-pleasing hors d'oeuvres and appetizers. You know, the stuff that everyone seems to like when it’s served at a party or event. The stuff you end up ordering at restaurants when you have a big group who can’t seem to agree on anything. My list went something like this: caprese salad (too difficult to eat, doesn’t really keep well or look pretty after a while); hummus (too boring, although I do love hummus); jalapeno poppers (best eaten when hot and not very kid-friendly); spanakopita (a possibility) and then I came up with this one...bacon-wrapped dates. I love bacon-wrapped dates, especially when they are stuffed with goat cheese.  Does anyone not like bacon-wrapped dates? I knew I had a winner.

One of the benefits of this choice was ease of execution, which, let’s face it, I am all about. The older I get and the more experience I have cooking for others, the less daunted I am by recipes with multiple steps or a lot of ingredients.  Still, I’m a big believer in simplicity and that a lot of times, simple is not just simple, but also superior in taste.  So, once I made a decision, it was beyond easy for this little tart to come together.  

Bacon Wrapped Date Inspired Tart

• 1 sheet puff pastry (10” by 15”)
• 8 oz goat cheese (chevre)
• ½ cup grated parmesan
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water (egg wash)
• 12 dates, roughly chopped
• 6 slices of bacon
• ½ cup chopped pistachios
• Honey or balsamic reduction for drizzling on top

Preheat oven to 375F.  Cook bacon for 8-13 minutes until a lot of the fat has rendered but bacon is not yet crispy.  The time this step takes will depend on thickness of your bacon.

Set bacon aside to cool in between two paper towels to collect any extra fat.

Turn oven temperature up to 400F.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the goat cheese, parmesan, thyme, garlic and lemon zest and whip until texture is a smooth and spreadable consistency. Add a little cream or milk if necessary to make the goat cheese mixture easy to spread.

Roughly chop bacon.

Unfold one sheet of puff pastry and crimp edges like you would a pie to form a border. Spread goat cheese mixture evenly over the puff pastry all the way to the border.

Top with bacon and dates.

Brush edges of the tart with egg wash.

Oven-ready

Bake on a rack set in the center of the oven for 20-30 minutes or until tart is evenly browned all over.

Set on a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Top with pistachios and drizzle with honey or balsamic reduction before serving.

Sliced and in transport (on my lap in the car).

Real Irish Soda Bread

I just wish you could smell this! 

I recently came across this re-creation of a 19th century recipe for Irish Soda Bread on my favorite food website and of course I had to try it. As a brown bread lover, I usually use coarse whole wheat flour for this type of bread but curiosity, combined with not having any around compelled me to try it with all-purpose. The result was fantastic. The crust was nice and crisp, not what you would suspect from a quick bread. Like brown bread, this was substantial, the kind of bread you could eat with a soup or stew and call a meal. Yes, the crust loses its crunch after being stored for a day or so, but a toaster solves that problem. I ate a few slices of this bread fresh out of the oven slathered with butter and sprinkled with sea salt.  For the next day or two, I ate it toasted for breakfast.

As you can tell from the recipe this bread is the definition of quick. My oven barely had time to preheat before I had my shaped loaf all set up in my dutch oven and ready to go. And isn’t it pretty?  I still love my soda bread brown but I can tell I will be making this again.

What I loved even more than the recipe was all of the banter in the numerous comments to the accompanying article entitled “Irish Soda Bread, as it was Meant to Be” regarding the authenticity of using white flour for this type of bread instead of the coarse whole wheat flour which would produce what we call "brown bread". While there seemed to be little controversy over the fact that most soda bread in Ireland doesn’t contain sugar or dried fruit, the use of all-purpose flour in this recipe seemed to create quite a stir. The issue of whether or not white flour was more popular than whole wheat in the mid-1800’s and to whom it was available is discussed at length in the comments.  A few of the folks commenting seem to have significant knowledge on the topic of Irish food history.  If you are a food and history nerd like me, you might enjoy it.

Aside from eating soda bread, we were celebrating our Irish heritage last weekend at the Irish American Heritage Center's summer festival in Mayfair.  We decked the kids out in their Irish soccer uniforms (courtesy of our cousins) and enjoyed some food, music and Irish dancing. Isla was particularly captivated by the Irish dancers. Who knows? We may have a budding Irish dancer in that one.  If you have never been to the Irish American Heritage Center, you really should check it out.  They have a pub that is open most nights, a gift shop, event spaces, performances, a library, Irish dance classes and more. I highly recommend a visit.  

Watching an Irish dance performance. 

Pork in Ireland and Jerk Pork Chops

Is it just me or was it a little weird having the 4th of July land on a Tuesday this year? Because I didn’t have Monday off, it wasn’t a long weekend and the 4th itself was both a Holiday and a school/work night. I think the combination of these factors threw me off a bit, not that I’m complaining.  It’s always nice to have a day off.  Especially a beautiful summer day. We took the kids to a parade and then our plan was to go out to lunch but since everything was closed we just came home and fired up the grill.  I had a pork chop marinating that I needed to cook anyway.

We put our patio umbrella over the kiddie pool so we ate lunch in the shade of the garage. Happy to report that Emmett eschewed his ham sandwich for the jerk pork. Fly the W! Home Cooking 1: Toddler Diet 0.  

While millions, probably over a billion people in the world do not eat pork for religious and other reasons, our family eats a lot of it.  We eat pork for the same reasons a lot of Americans eat it: because it’s relatively inexpensive, widely available and a good source of lean protein - plus, it’s delicious. Of course, we also eat more Irish bacon, sausages, and black and white pudding than the average American household does, for obvious reasons.  

Pork has been part of the Irish diet for thousands of years.  Researchers have discovered evidence of wild boar consumption dating as early as 9000 BP, and excavations at Newgrange in County Meath show that pigs and cattle were the primary sources of animal food as far back at 4000 BP. In the 19th century, Ireland was a major importer of pork to other countries. During this time period, Ireland embraced advancements in processing and breeding.  Pig farming developed alongside dairy farming and butter production, also mainstays of the Irish diet and agricultural industry, as by-products of dairy farming, such as whey and buttermilk, could be used to feed pigs.

Today, the pork industry is the third most significant source of Gross Agricultural Output or GAO in Ireland, after dairy and cattle production. And, as you might guess, in terms of consumption in Ireland, pork still tops the list followed by poultry, beef and lamb, respectively.  I recently learned that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland recommends that pork be cooked to a minimum temperature of 75C or 167F.  This is fine for sausages but for pork chops? NO WAY!  Not unless you want tough, chewy meat that is completely lacking in juices. Fortunately, in 2011, the USDA revised its recommended cooking temperature downwards from 160F to 145F after research finding that, in terms of food safety, 145F is equivalent to 160F.  So, if you care about this sort of thing, I think you can feel fine about 145F.  Personally, intrepid pork-eater than I am, I take mine off the grill when it hits about 135F.

Here’s a pork chop recipe that Paul has requested be placed in heavy dinner-rotation.  The kids love it too.

Jerk Pork Chops

For the Marinade:

• 2-4 thick cut pork chops, I like to use bone-in
• 3 tbs jerk spice mix*
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• ⅓ cup mirin** (or water) 
• 1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup dark or light brown sugar

*I get mine from the Spice House, or sometimes I use a paste that a friend brings me from Jamaica.

**Japanese sweet rice wine.  I use this because I always  have it but water would work just fine.

1. Place all ingredients in a zip top bag and shake the bag or knead it with your hands until all ingredients are evenly distributed.
2. Place pork chops in the bag and make sure each one is coated on all sides.
3. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for 6-24 hours.  

For the glaze:

• 1 tbs jerk spice mix
• ¼ cup mirin or water
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 tbs lime juice

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer until sauce is reduced and thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  It will thicken further as it cools. Allow to cool to room temperature and refrigerate until you are ready to cook the pork.

To Cook:

Heat your grill.  If using charcoal, push charcoal to one side, so that one side is cool and one side is hot. If using gas, light only the burners on one side.  On my gas grill I light the left two burners and leave the right one unlit.

1. Place your marinated pork chops on the cool side of the grill.
2. Cook for about 7 minutes and then flip the chops, leaving them on the cool side.  
3. Cook for about 7 minutes more or until the internal temperature hits about 110F.
4. Move chops to the hot side of the grill.  
5. Cook for a couple of minutes, then brush with glaze.  
6. Flip chops and cook for another 2-4 minutes, brushing with more glaze.
7. Remove once the chops reach your desired internal temperature.
8. Allow chops to rest for 5-10 minutes.
9. Serve with remaining glaze and lime wedges. 

We usually end up eating this with rice and whatever vegetables we have around but it would be great with grilled plantains; rice and beans; jicama, avocado and orange salad with cilantro-garlic dressing; and grilled pineapple over vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Remind me to do that. Summer dinner party!