12 minutes 5 ingredients one pot

Well it's not exactly 5 ingredients because one of the ingredients is tapenade (which itself has 5 ingredients - but who doesn't have tapenade on hand?!).

I needed a dish that would cook quickly and easily for a dinner event at home. I wanted something that paired with a very nice Condrieu (the L'Enfer that we bought at Veritas in Dallas).

Condrieu is a Northern Rhone wine made entirely from Viognier. It pairs nicely with fish, but has enough body to stand up to bold flavors too. The recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe that uses firm white fish. We used scallops instead - sourced from the always excellent TJ's Fish Market in Dallas.

Ingredients (US measures)

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed in several changes of water until the water runs clear

2 1/4 cups water (I don't count this is an ingredient!)

6 T black olive tapenade (divided use)

4 large scallops, each cut into 6 individual pieces

2 dozen cherry tomatoes, halved

20 basil leaves, chiffonade (divided use)

Salt/pepper to taste (I don't count these either!). Be careful with the salt - depends on how salty the tapenade is.

Method

Put the rice and water into a large skillet (I used carbon steel) that has a lid. Cover, bring to the boil and cook gently, over low heat for 4 minutes. Stir in 1/2 the tapenade. Add the tomatoes, cover again and cook gently for a further 4 minutes. Add the scallops and 1/2 of the basil, stir, cover and cook for a further 3 minutes. Off heat ad the rest of the tapenade, stir gently, top with the remaining basil and serve.

Yeah, it is actually more than 12 minutes end to end. You do have to cut the tomatoes, chiffonade the basil and cut the scallops. But it really isn't much work - and it comes out well too.

Candied bacon

It started innocently enough. We had been at a party on Saturday evening where someone had made this amazing candied bacon. I had never had candied bacon, so became intrigued. Wondering how to make something so delicious.

It didn't take much fiddling to hit upon a tasty recipe. It could have used a bit more heat (it had a little habanero chili vodka in it - it could have used more.  It clearly needed a little acid too, so I used rice wine vinegar, but I suspect that apple cider vinegar might have been nice too.

It was pronounced good by those who tried it, so I must have done something right.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs (24 oz) thick cut bacon (streaky for English readers).

1/3 Cup packed dark brown sugar

3T Vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar because it is quite mild)

4T Maple Syrup (any quality)

A few drops of "hot sauce" to taste. We used habanero vodka

Several grinds of black pepper

Method

Set the oven rack to the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 (350 fan assisted).  Meanwhile lay the bacon strips out on a rack over a foil lined sheet pan. At this stage it doesn't matter if the bacon strips overlap a bit since the fat will render and the bacon will shrink.

Once the oven has reached temperature, slide the sheet pan/rack/bacon onto the middle shelf. Leave to render for 10 minutes.

While the bacon is rendering, mix the remaining ingredients, dissolving the sugar into the syrup and vinegar.

After 10 minutes, slide the pan out of the oven, flip the bacon over and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.

remove the pan and brush the sugar/syrup mixture lightly over the bacon. You will be repeating this activity 4 times (5 applications in total).

Return the pan to the oven and bake for 7 minutes

Repeat the brushing/baking - again 7 minutes

Remove the pan from the oven, and flip the bacon over. Brush the sugar/syrup lightly over the bacon and return to the oven for 7 minutes.

Repeat t he removal/brushing and again return for 7 minutes.

Remove from the oven, flip the bacon and use the last remaining sugar/syrup to brush onto the bacon. Turn the oven up 25 degrees, and leave the bacon in the oven for a further 7 minutes (or until it seems done to your taste). It will not become crispy until it is overcooked.

Remove from the oven, allowing to cool on the rack. Once cool, place in an air tight container.