Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A Midsummer MN Feast with Bacon Chipotle Sauce

Now here's a meal that just screams summer in Minnesota to me.
Midsummer MN Feast
The first MN sweet corn of the season dripping with heavenly Hope, MN butter. Grilled grass-fed New York strip steak from Thousand Hills Cattle Company in Cannon Falls, MN. (I had the pleasure of sitting with the Churchill's, the founders of Thousand Hills, at FRESH and Tasty and they make you feel great about eating locally raised beef.) Thick grilled zucchini slices picked fresh from our garden topped with a Bacon Chipotle Slather Sauce. All eaten in the backyard on a warm summer's evening.
Bacon Chipotle Slather Sauce
Ok, I'll admit Bacon Chipotle Sauce isn't very Minnesotan but it certainly makes everything else taste great & the bacon is Nueskes from WI. The sauce has an wonderful smokey flavor from the bacon and the chipolte plus a touch of sweetness from brown sugar and molasses. We used Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes which also upped the smoky flavor.
Grilling Zucchini
We put the sauce on the zucchini while it was grilling which gave the zucchini, a vegetable that can be bland, amazing flavor. I also liked it as a dipping sauce from the beef. I can only imagine it would be fabulous on a hamburger or hotdog.

Bacon Chipotle Slather Sauce
(by Tara Mataraza Desmond via Serious Eats)

2 slices thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 large shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 T light brown sugar
1 T tomato paste
1/4 c malt vinegar
1/4 c water
2 T molasses
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T Worcestershire sauce
28-oz crushed tomatoes (we used diced & they worked just fine)
1 rehydrated, dried chipotle or chipotle in adobe (we took out the seeds for a mild sauce, leave them in for spicy)
salt & pepper

Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the bacon & cook until its crisp. Add the shallots and garlic & cook them in the bacon fat for about 5 minutes until tender. Stir in the brown sugar & tomato paste. Then add the vinegar, water, molasses, mustard, Worcestershire, tomatoes & chipotle. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Transfer to a blender & process until smooth. (Careful its hot!)

Store in the refrigerator or freeze to use later.

Makes 4 cups.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2009 Kathy Lewinski

16 comments:

LoveFeast Table said...

That slather looks like it punches quite a hit!

Sharon said...

I can't wait to try this! I've never used malt vinegar before - know of any substitutions? I'm not sure I can find one more type of vinegar in my pantry :) Looks yummy!

kat said...

Malt vinegar is the vinegar you would use on fish & chips. I've read you could substitute white wine vinegar & perhaps throw in a splash of beer.

Unknown said...

Yummm! I would love to try that bacon sauce on a hot dog, sounds delish!

Tangled Noodle said...

Slather is the perfect word - I would slather this sauce on everything! I wanted to pick up sweet corn this weekend at the Mpls Farmer's Market but already had so much produce that I need to get through first. But the in-laws are in town this weekend to help celebrate the hubs' birthday - corn for everyone!! (With a generous side of Bacon Chipotle Sauce!)

grace said...

honestly, i merely glanced at your slab of meat before my eyes became transfixed on that zucchini. to think about that marvelous sauce atop it just makes my mouth water!

Megan said...

This sauce looks amazing. A must try!

Connie said...

THat looks sooo good! I had some sweet corn up in Wisconsin last week. Awesome!

test it comm said...

The word bacon always catches my attention and this sauce sounds tasty!

Deborah said...

This sauce sounds amazing!!

Christina Kim said...

Yum, bacon blended up into a sauce? Sounds soooo tasty!

Cutecute28 said...

Perfect grill!

Peter M said...

Kat, sorry...I'm distracted by that perfectly grilled steak.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Bacon sauce? That is the best thing I have ever heard of in my life! Do you know what would be nice? Deep-fried cheese dunked in that sauce.

... I think my arteries just froze.

kat said...

Foodcat - I think you are on to something there! This would be awesome with the MN favorite fried cheese curds

gaga said...

Oooh, what an awesome combo! Bacon makes everything better :)

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