Another bacon thing that's actually TWO things.

Do you see these crispy edges?

That is a great suggestion about brown sugar, right there.

So I alluded last week to another forthcoming Bacon Thing and I'm now making good on that threat.

The beauty of this particular Bacon Thing is that it is actually TWO things rather than one, which is awesome because while bacon is obviously delicious, that doesn't necessarily make it super versatile. A characteristic I hadn't previously recognized in bacon until I set down to try to make up a tasting menu of sorts (more on this in The Future) and realized that bacon doesn't just naturally fit into every recipe as I'd previously thought.

We're big believers in Everything Is Better With Bacon in our house, but some things just don't make sense. Ever tried to think up a main course with bacon as the featured flavor? Try it, but you're not allowed to include any shellfish because Bubba's allergic. Anyway, it's hard but let's move on...

And on that note, I created a salad the other night which has roots in many common dishes, but adheres to no one particular theme. That is because I was just starting to feel better from my week of disgusting nose blowing illness and suddenly wanted to eat the whole house, pets, hairballs and all so, my wish list for what was going to go in my master salad became a little, well, eccentric.

What began as a greek salad w/ bacon turned into a cobb salad minus the egg and avocado (although if I'd had the presence of mind to remember avocado DAMN STRAIGHT I would have put that in there, too) and then I added warm roasted chicken which is one of my all-time favorite salad things and so, there you have it...

Bacon Thing #1

All the Things I Like in a Salad, Salad.
This is my own recipe, can't you tell?

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
6 strips Applewood smoked, thick cut bacon
Brown sugar
2 cups Baby spinach, washed and de-stemmed
2 Tbsp Herbed feta
10 Black olives
1 Roasted chicken breast, shredded into chunks (I cheat and get a roasted bird from Safeway because I'm that WT. Don't you judge me.)
2 Homegrown tomatoes, chopped
Extra virgins
Balsamic
Salt + Pepper as you like it

To make

Pre-heat your oven to 415 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and line strips of bacon on the sheet. Sprinkle your bacon with as much brown sugar as you can like. I will say now, that I should have used more.

I only sugared 2/3 of this bacon and that was a mistake.

Bake your bacon for 10 minutes and then flip.

Here's where I should have sugared the other side, but instead took this photo and had another cocktail.

Add more sugar on this underside if you like. Bake for another 5 or until it's reached your Nirvana of Bacon Crispness. We're somewhere between burnt and wobbly - which we like to call PERFECT.

Remove bacon from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes or, if you're fancy and don't care about making a huge mess, pull out a cooling rack, set the rack on top of a paper towel, and let that bacon drain for a minute. Feel free to blot with a paper towel but DO NOT lay your freshly sugared and crisped bacon on a paper towel laden plate because I've heard that it may stick to the paper towel (because of the sugar) and leave you scraping paper towel bits off your precious bacon in a state of fevered insanity.

I've heard.

Crumble ALL BUT TWO SLICES of your bacon into a beautiful pile. In a nice sized salad bowl, combine your spinach, tomatoes, olives, chicken and bacon. Dress with your favorite combo of extra virgins, balsamic, salt and pepper and then sprinkle (guh. hate this word) with the feta.

Prepare to have your mind boggled with the fabulousness of every bacon-y bite. Plus the chicken is so good. Even though the Evil Safeway makes it and I feel so guilty about buying a pre-cooked chicken that I force myself to use every last little nugget to offset my inner nag.

And don't forget to set aside those last two slices of bacon and the other breast of that roasted chicken. That's for the other thing.

Bacon Thing #2: All the Things I Like in a Salad, Salad Sandwich

Update: I DID take a picture.
That is so like me. I must have had hunger forgetfulness.
Is that a thing?

Basically, that same salad - just put it on toasted 9 grain bread with some mayo.

Ok, so the #2 thing isn't all that miraculous, but I will promise you that it's really fucking good. Especially when you haven't had much to eat for the better part of a week and you get to sidestep the messy process of roasting a chicken and cooking bacon and you just ALL OF A SUDDEN get to put together the most satisfying and perfect sandwich a person could want (although avocado would have been excellent, too) without bacon fat burns on your forearms.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of this dream sandwich, but I was very hungry and in between two enormous projects, so I decided to sit down and eat it while thinking about photographing it rather than go get my camera. A decision with which I am still totally fine.

And while both of these things were really good, and did make efficient use of the bacon share (heh, that's still funny to me), they weren't really new exciting things to do with bacon. So, hopefully I'll get creative with the next round of bacon and do something more innovative than serve it up with its usual accompaniments.

All ideas are welcome here.