So, it's hot, as per normal in Tennessee the month of June, except that the air conditioning is on the fritz. This means not running the oven and keeping things simple and cool. So, today, I craved a cold salad, but I was really hungry. I wanted something substantial. When I was nineteen, I was the wife of an Air Force cadet. It seemed to us that everyone in the AF was either from Tennessee or Pennsylvania. We became friends with a couple and eventually moved from Bourne, Massachusetts, to Alamogordo, New Mexico, and since base housing wasn't available, we all moved into a house together. All through the hot, dry summer, I learned to make Pennsylvania Dutch dishes, and my favorite newfound "thing" was hot bacon dressing. Today, I did a twist on this concept, frying up Pink Lady apples with bacon, creamed honey and cinnamon from a local bee-keeper, and balsamic vinegar. I poured the hot dressing atop romaine lettuce, sliced Vidalia onions, and a sweet, orange bell pepper. The bacon fat, apple reduction, and honey-cinnamon fuse into something extraordinary. At the last minute, I took the iron skillet from the heat and added the balsamic vinegar. It's best to serve the dressing hot, and it produces a lovely mix of hot and cold summer fare. I left the bacon off, but you can certainly add them for extra richness and flavor.
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Mother, writer, reformed culinary disaster, Andrea Mosier shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Award for Fire Eater and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award for prose in 2014. "The Illuminated Man" will appear in the first edition of Serendipity. Her legendary potato salad recipe appears here on the June 5 entry. Archives
February 2019
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