Crispy Baked Rosemary Garlic Fries. This recipe comes with two stories: One, how we happened upon a bustling rosemary pant for just $2.50. And two, how we found a new restaurant in downtown Wichita that feels nothing like Kansas and everything like Portland, Oregon. Two terrific discoveries if you ask us. First, the rosemary. I instagrammed a photo of our new herbs a couple weeks back and here’s a more flattering portrait of one of our new beauties. We’ve had basil for a while, which was a gift from friends that I use quite often in Thai and Italian dishes. But you can’t go wrong with more herbs. The second part of this recipe is the inspiration behind it. Though I could say a lot about it, we love that they are committed to using fresh, local ingredients (a rarity in Kansas); serving creative and inspired dishes; and have daily $2 beer specials. On our first night there we invited a couple friends down and we split the rosemary garlic fries.
See how it all comes together? Crispy Baked Rosemary Garlic Fries Serves: 4 Notes. Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam. I do not know how I could have possibly missed the whole bacon jam band wagon when it came around a while ago but I recently discovered it and jumped right on board! I mean, how could you possibly go wrong making a jam where the primary ingredient is bacon? I was completely smitten with the idea and had to make a batch right away! Luckily it was pretty easy to find a bacon jam recipe online, there are a ton of them and each one was a little different. After poring over dozens of recipes the base seemed to come down to; lots of bacon, some onion, garlic, vinegar, coffee and sugar and from there you can go with whatever you like.
I chose to go with some of my favourite things including with maple syrup and a splash of bourbon and I could not resist adding a source of spicy heat in the form of some smoky chipotle chili peppers. Bacon jam is really easy to make which is good because you are going to be wanting to make it all the time! Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam Servings: makes 1-2 cups. Tomato salad with crushed croutons. We spent the last week in what I call the vacation trifecta: among beaches, wineries and farm stands.
The vacation was supposed to be a reward for getting my book finished by August 1st. Instead, I all but tried to cancel the vacation when I realized I wouldn’t be done. Despite all of my practice over the last few months, I’m not very good at not finishing things. I don’t like going to bed with dishes in the sink, I’d rather stay up until midnight getting something done than have to start the morning with an old item on my to-do list and I did not want to go on vacation until I finished my project.
Oh no. I did not. Thank goodness we went anyway as we had fantastic vacation, I dare say the best one we’ve had since adding another member to our family. Finally, there were the s’mores. There’s an organic farm on the North Fork named Sang Lee that’s famous among the locals. Tomato Salad with Crushed Croutons Handful basil leaves, slivered. Dijon-braised brussels sprouts. Is there anything so dull as a brussels sprouts recipe just days after the brussels sprout-ing-est holiday of the year? No? Phew. Because these sprouts, they’re a long time coming.
It took me forever to get them right. I wanted a brussels sprout dish that was the opposite of what I’ve been seeing around in the last couple years — that would be free of nuggets of slab bacon, toasted nuts, buttery breadcrumbs, crumbled cheese or individual leaves, deep fried until crisp as potato chips. Of course, it took but two weeks after the great Lowering Of the Stakes (I mean, manuscript delivery) for me to get it right.
Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts Serves 4 as a side dish Trim sprouts and halve lengthwise. Add the shallots, wine and stock and bring to a simmer. Remove the lid, and scoop out brussels (leaving the sauce behind).