If you shop in Aldi and Lidl, you may have seen their 'bacon offcuts' on display in the meat section. Basically, these are ends of meat leftover from cutting the rest into nice shapes and even weights, not always in one solid piece, shoved together to make a kilogram in weight. And they sell them for €1.99 which is pretty sweet, considering its approximately a fiver for a whole piece of bacon of the same size. The disadvantage is that obviously its not as pretty and its almost guaranteed to fall apart, but its half the price. My baby sister told me recently that my mother had tried it out to make traditional bacon & cabbage and that it tasted great. So I decided to have a look. I just purchased one from Aldi and from what I've seen, theirs seem to be more proper bacon than Lidls, whose seem to be more of an amalgamation of rashers, which to me is less appetising. I hope this is making sense. Also, its a good idea to have a root around and pick up the one that has the least amount of fat on it.
Here's what they look like after boiling, this is on a side plate, it looks like a lot but when you remove the fat, its definitely less (vegetarians look away):
So my plan is to soak it overnight (not strictly necessary but makes it less salty), eat it with some mash & veg the traditional way and then, for the piece de resistance, make this recipe which I am adapting from Brother Anselms Glenstal Cookbook. Yes that's right, Brother Anselm. This recipe book is written by John Hurt's (the actor) brother, Michael aka Brother Anselm, who in later life joined a monastery in Co. Limerick. I was surprised to see that they have a very up to date looking website here: http://www.glenstal.org/ and you can buy the book there and elsewhere. Its roughly €12ish. I got mine in a book shop, back when I had a regular solid income and was feeding my cookbook addiction.
Anyway, I love the book, its got lovely traditional recipes, with a few exotic ones thrown in. As the monks are cooking for a big crowd a lot of the recipes give measurements for between six and thirty odd servings so it would be pretty handy for someone who does catering etc. I also like the workability of the recipes, theres loads of stuff in there that I eat regularly. Also its got a handy spiral binding so its easy to use whilst cooking. It's also really nice to get a sense of life in the monastery. They definitely eat well anyway. This recipe looks so tasty, its a delicous creamy poatato gratin, with ham thrown in. My youngest sister and I agree that the best way to use up leftover ham/bacon is in sandwiches (she makes the best toasted ham & cheese sandwiches ever, with a complex method for getting the cheese to a perfect degree of meltedness), but its also good to have a dinner style recipe.
Potato Gratin with Ham adapted from Brother Anslems Glenstaal Cookery Book
(4 servings)
Half of 1 pack of Aldi bacon offcuts or half an average size joint of bacon, pre cooked and diced*
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or more if you're a garlic addict)
2 knobs of real butter & a little olive oil
Roughly 300 ml of milk (about a mug and a bit full)
4 tablespoons of cream
2 tsp paprika (good stuff, not crappy supermarket stuff, I get mine in ethnic grocers that sell Spanish paprika but apparently Hunagrian is the best)
1 egg
5 to 6 medium sized potatoes
About half an average sized block of hard cheese of your choice (I used Cheddar), finely grated
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover in boiling water, with a sprinkle of salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for approximately 30 minutes. You want the potatoes almost fully cooked, but not mushy. When a sharp knife will slide through them and they are almost ready to eat, take them off the heat & drain. Leave aside to cool.
While the spuds are cooking, put a frying pan on a medium to low heat. Add a knob of butter and a drop of olive oil (prevents the butter from burning). When the butter has fully melted, test the pan by dropping in a tiny segment of onion. If it sizzles gently, add the rest in. Cook until soft, be careful with the heat, burnt onion is a flavour disaster! Add the garlic after a few minutes. When the onion is soft, throw in your diced bacon. Cook for a further five minutes, until a little bit crispy. Season with pepper. Turn off the heat & leave aside.
Grease a shallow roasting tin with a knob of butter.
Beat the egg, cream, milk, paprika, salt and pepper in a bowl or jug.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice each one into rounds, not more than a half a centimetre in width. Don't cut them too thick as they will be dry and not tender enough.
Now that everything is ready, assemble the dish. Begin with a layer of potatoes (don't overlap them). Follow with a layer of the bacon & onion mixture, and then a thin layer of cheese. Season with freshly grated black pepper after each layer. Repeat the layering at least once more and finish with a layer of potato on top. Gently pour the milky mixture over the dish. Top with another layer of cheese and stick in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling.
Before putting in the oven:
And fresh out of the oven (apologies for utterly rubbish food photography):
This would be nice served with something green to counteract the stodge, like steamed broccoli or sautéed spinach.
*You need to boil the bacon first. This recipe is pretty time consuming but I reckon the best way to make it is to cook bacon & cabbage with boiled potatoes the first day. Throw on extra potatoes and then make the gratin on day two. Below is a recipe for traditional Irish bacon and cabbage:
Very traditional Bacon & cabbage recipe.
Ingredients:
Bacon
1 head of cabbage
Method:
Place the bacon in a saucepan and cover with water. Soak overnight (to get rid of excess salt). If you don't have time to do this, then cover with cold water, bring to the boil, discard the water, rinse the bacon & then proceed with step 2 below.
Throw away the soaking water, cover the bacon in fresh cold water and bring to the boil. You will need a fairly large saucepan for this & make sure the bacon is covered. As it comes to the boil, white frothy stuff (aka scum!) will float to the top, try and scoop as much of this off as you can (but don't worry about it too much).
When it reaches the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for approximately 1.5 hours or 30 minutes per lb or per 450 gs.
Discard any dodgey looking outer leaves from the cabbage & cut of the root at the bottom & discard. Chop the cabbage into 4 (quarter it), wash thoroughly under running water and add to the pot for the last half an hour of cooking. This is the traditional way but I prefer to cut off the hard big white bits at the base of the leaves, finely slice it, and boil it in seperate water, drain & season with butter and lashings of black pepper, but each to his own.
Serve with boiled or mashed spuds and a parsley sauce. If you throw on extra spuds you can make the gratin very easily the next day by just slicing up and layering the cold potatoes.
Yum!
So basically, overall, you're getting between 4 and 6 meals out of your €1.99 bacon offcuts. Not too shabby.
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