Spicy Roasted Bacon Tomato Cauliflower

The rich garlicky sun-dried tomato pesto adds a lovely flavor to the cauliflower as it roasts in a little bacon fat. A generous sprinkling of crispy bacon and Parmesan finish this dish to perfection. This one is a side dish that wouldn't mind taking center stage.

Cauliflower is one of my very favorite vegetables as you can see from the many cauliflower recipes on this site. From main dishes like savory cheesy cauliflower cake (it's a beauty!) and curried cauliflower chicken pilaf, great brunch recipes like cauliflower cheese waffles and cauliflower Roquefort tart, to my absolute favorite cauliflower cheese pie with crunchy potato crust (just to name a few!) I think I've featured cauliflower more than any other vegetable.

This particular dish is another favorite. It checks of all of my boxes.

Cheesy. It's got your Parmesan.
Spicy. Fresh chili pepper for the win.
Bacon. You betcha!
Easy. Nothing easier than roasting. Pop it on a pan. Roast!
Cauliflower.  One whole head. That said, this recipe is REALLY easy to double for a bigger crowd.

Check, check, check, check and check. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And if you are a fan of cauliflower too, you are going to want to scroll on down to see the link list of all the cauliflower recipes my Sunday Supper friends are sharing today.

Spicy Roasted Bacon Tomato Cauliflower

This recipe is adapted from these two recipes from Eggton and Steamy Kitchen.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (dry, not packed in oil – about 1 1/4 oz or 35g by weight)
4 slices streaky thin cut smoky bacon (about 3 1/8 oz or 90g)
1 head cauliflower (Mine weighed 1 2/3 lbs or 765g)
5 medium garlic cloves
1 hot chili pepper
3/4 oz or 20g grated Parmesan cheese, plus an equal amount for serving
Olive oil

Method
Place your sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl and pour hot water over them. Set aside to soak and plump up.

Chop your bacon into small pieces and spread them around on a large baking pan. Put the pan in the oven and turn it on to preheat to 400°F or 200°C. The bacon will bake and get crispy as the oven preheats so keep an eye on it.

Meanwhile, cut the green leaves off of your cauliflower and break or cut it into florets.

Check on your bacon!

Drain the tomatoes but keep the water. Put the tomatoes, garlic, chili pepper and  Parmesan in the blender or food processor. Add some of the tomato soaking water and process until smooth. If it is too thick, just keep adding the water, a little at a time. This needs to be thick enough to coat the cauliflower yet thin enough to make it into all the little crevices in the florets.

Check on your bacon in the oven. If it’s already crispy, take the pan from the oven and use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon pieces, leaving the bacon fat behind in the pan.

Put your cauliflower in a large bowl and pour the sauce over it.

Stir well to coat the florets.

Put your sauced cauliflower florets in the baking pan, stem side up, and separated so that they can get roasted.  If you make a big pile, they’ll just steam.

Roast for 15-20 minutes in your preheated oven, then turn the cauliflower florets over to roast the other side. Drizzle with a little olive oil or more bacon fat if you have some handy.

Put the pan back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until the cauliflower is done to your liking.

To serve, scrape the roasted cauliflower, and all the good, roasted sticky bits from the pan, into a serving bowl. Sprinkle on the crispy bacon pieces and another generous handful of freshly grated Parmesan.

Enjoy!

Check out all the Sunday Supper cauliflower recipes! Many thanks to our host Caroline of Caroline's Cooking and our event manager Christie of A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures for all of their behind the scenes work.

Creative Cauliflower Starters and Sides

• Bang Bang Califlower Bites by Sunday Supper Movement
• Cauliflower Bacon Gratin by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• German Cauliflower Salad by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Loaded Cauliflower Casserole by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Loaded Smashed Cauliflower Bites by My Life Cookbook
• Spicy Roasted Bacon Tomato Cauliflower by Food Lust People Love
• Vegetarian Nachos by Simple and Savory

Make My Cauliflower a Main Dish

• Cheesy Cauliflower Soup by Hardly A Goddess
• Low-Carb Cauliflower Rice Pilaf with Ground Beef & Cabbage by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• Oven Baked Honey Soy Sesame Cauliflower by Sprinkles and Sprouts
• Roasted Cauliflower and Vegetable Soup by Palatable Pastime
• Roasted Cauliflower Steak with Salsa Verde by Caroline's Cooking
• Salmon with Creamy Cauliflower Farro by Cooking Chat
• Shrimp Stir Fry with Cauli Rice by Our Good Life
• Spicy Cauliflower Tacos by Pies and Plots

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Chive Potato Filled Cheeseburger Meatloaf Bundt #BundtBakers

Elevate meatloaf to a whole new level with this chive potato filled cheeseburger meatloaf Bundt recipe. It is a delicious new family favorite and a beautiful centerpiece for your Sunday supper or buffet table.

This month our Bundt Baker host is Colleen from Faith, Hope, Love and Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice and she challenged us to use our Bundt pans to bake something untraditional.  I briefly considered making a pork terrine - a pâté de Campagne of sorts – or a crustless quiche. But the honest truth is that I didn’t feel like eating either of those things. What I really felt like eating was meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

And so, this chive potato filled cheeseburger meatloaf Bundt was born! It was an absolute hit with my favorite taste-tester/husband. After enjoying the meatloaf for dinner the first night, he took meatloaf sandwiches to work for lunch for the next few days, declaring them fabulous.

Chive Potato Filled Cheeseburger Meatloaf Bundt

Ingredients
For the chive potatoes:
1 lb or 450g waxy potatoes
1/4 cup or 57g butter
1/4 cup or 60ml cream
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Generous bunch green onion tops, chopped - save a little for garnish

For the cheeseburger meatloaf:
1 slice sandwich bread
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
1 1/2 lbs or 680g ground beef
1/2 lb or 230g ground pork
1 small onion, minced finely
1/2 cup or 50g grated extra sharp cheddar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder (like Coleman’s)
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1/4 cup or 60ml ketchup

To line the Bundt pan:
1 teaspoon canola or other light oil
8 slices bacon

Method
Peel and quarter the potatoes. Boil them till tender in lightly salted water. Drain the potatoes and mash them completely with a potato masher. Stir in the butter and cream and season the mashed potatoes with salt and black pepper. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the 350°F or 180°C and brush the 12-cup Bundt pan with the canola oil. Line the pan with the bacon.

Rip the bread into rough pieces and, in a large bowl, pour the milk over it, pushing the pieces down into the milk. Soak until all the milk is absorbed. Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl and mix well.

Carefully spoon two-thirds of the meat mixture into the prepared pan. Press it down and then use a spoon to create a channel in the middle.

Add the green onion tops to the cooled mashed potatoes and mix well. Spoon the potatoes into the channel in the meat.

Top with the rest of the meat mixture and press it into the sides and middle.

Fold the excess bacon over the top of the meat mixture from the sides and middle.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or till the internal temperature of meatloaf reaches 160°F or 71°C.

Cool the chive potato filled cheeseburger meatloaf Bundt for 15 minutes in the pan. Carefully turn it out onto a baking pan.

Raise the oven temperature to 400°F or 200°C and roast the meatloaf for 15 minutes more or until golden. I turned the top element of my oven on for the last five minutes, to heighten the color. You might want to do the same.

Cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with a side of lightly cooked green beans or perhaps a green salad.

Enjoy!
 

Check out the creative list of untraditional Bundts we have for you this month:

• Bacon, Zucchini, Raisins and Cheddar Bundt Cake from I Love Bundt Cakes
• Cheesesteak Bundt from Cookaholic Wife
• Cherry Bundt Breakfast Danish from Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Chicken Fajita Bundt Cake from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Chive Potato Filled Cheeseburger Meatloaf Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Classic Vanilla Flan Bundt from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Pasta Chicken Bundt from Sneha's Recipe
• Soap Bundt Cake from La Mejor Manera
• Spinach Pasta Surprise from A Day in the Life on the Farm

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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Baked Chili Maple Bacon

Kick your brunch bacon up a notch by brushing it with chili-spiked maple syrup. This baked chili maple bacon is cooked in the oven, for crunchy bacon without the splattering grease.

I am a huge fan of bacon for breakfast or brunch, especially when it is combined with sweet and spicy elements like chili peppers and maple syrup.  Today my Sunday Supper group is sharing brunch recipes that can be made ahead of time. I suggest you bookmark this post for Mother's Day.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g thick cut smoked streaky bacon
1 small hot red chili, stem removed
1/8 cup or 30ml maple syrup

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Place your bacon strips single file on wire cooling racks set in two baking pans.

Use a mortar and pestle to grind the chili pepper, even the seeds if you like things spicy, into a fine paste. Add in the maple syrup and stir well to combine.

Bake the bacon for 20 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom shelves in the oven midway through.

Remove from the oven and brush with the chili maple syrup. Return to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes.

Remove from the oven and turn the slices of bacon over. Brush with the rest of the chili maple syrup. Return the bacon to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes or until the bacon is done to your liking.

Enjoy warm or to save it for the next day, wrap the baked chili maple bacon in foil and store in the refrigerator. Reheat in the oven the next morning, still wrapped in the foil, or remove the foil to warm in the microwave.

Many thanks to our event manager, Cricket of Cricket's Confections and our host, Cindy of Cindy's Recipes and Writings. Check out these great links from our Sunday Supper tastemakers.

Make Ahead Sunday Supper Brunch Recipes

Breakfast Pastries

• Apple and Bacon Cornmeal Scones by Caroline’s Cooking
• Lemon Crumb Cake by Life Tastes Good
• Nana’s New York Crumb Cake by The Crumby Cupcake
• Overnight Nutty Coffee Cake by Family Around The Table

Eggs

• Asparagus Quiche in Hash Brown Crust by Wimpy Vegetarian 
• Baked Deviled Eggs with Toast Points by Turnips 2 Tangerines
• Ham and Cheese Empanadas by Asian In America
• Make Ahead Baked Monte Cristo Cassarole by Sprinkles and Sprouts
• Overnight Breakfast Casserole by Soulfully Made
• Sorrel, Chive & Duck Egg Frittata by Wholistic Woman
• Sous Vide Egg Bites by Cricket’s Confections

Sides and Veggies

• Asparagus Tart with Goat Cheese and Spring Greens by Monica’s Table
• Baked Chili Maple Bacon by Food Lust People Love
• Blackberry Orange Oatmeal Bowls by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Brussels Sprouts Salad with Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette by Helpful Homemade
• Vegetable Lasagna by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Sweets

• Carrot Cake Pancakes by Brunch-n-Bites
• Citrus Crepes with White Chocolate Drizzle by Gourmet Everyday
• Flourless Chocolate Torte by Pies and Plots
• No Bake Peanut Butter Pie by The Freshman Cook
• Raspberry Mascarpone French Toast Casserole by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

A perfect blend of savory and sweet, the hint of smoky saltiness in these brown Sugar Bacon Cookie complements the dark rich flavor of the brown sugar. But make no mistake, Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies are totally drop sugar cookies, baked to be enjoyed with a cold glass of milk.



If you’ve heard me say it once, you’ve heard me say it a thousand times. I love bacon. Also, I’m not much of a sweet eater. That doesn’t stop me making sweet recipes, of course. I have a core group of tasters that are always ready and willing to eat whatever I bring round or send to the office with my husband. If the goods get eaten, I’m happy.

I did bring some of these cookies out for a test run and I got a few skeptical looks when I said brown sugar AND bacon. It was a mixed crowd of thumbs up and down. But, you know what? I truly didn’t mind. I have since eaten the balance of that dozen singlehandedly. I think they are amazing.

Ingredients - for 3 dozen cookies
3 cups or 375g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 170g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup or 60g strained bacon fat (see instructions below)
1 1/2 cups packed or 300g dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon bourbon
15 slices thin cut bacon, fried till crispy, then drained - 3/4 cup chopped bacon or 75g

To strain bacon fat, pull a paper towel apart so you have only one-ply.
Line a metal strainer with the paper towel and place the strainer into the top of a funnel, with the funnel in a sealable jar. You will need to prop the strainer handle up on something sturdy to get it balance securely.
Pour your warm (not hot!) bacon grease into the paper-lined strainer a little at a time, scraping your frying pan to get every bit of grease out. Leave to drain completely.
All of the browned bits stay in the paper towel and the bacon grease in the jar is clean, almost white.
This bacon fat keeps in the refrigerator, covered, for months. This works with beef or lamb drippings too, if you want to make your own tallow.

Method
With beaters or with your stand mixer, beat the butter, bacon fat and brown sugar together until fluffy.

Butter on the left. Strained bacon fat on the right.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions.

Add in the bourbon and mix again.

Turn the mixer off and sift the flour, soda and salt together into the bowl. Turn the mixer on sloooooowly to mix in the dry ingredients. Keep mixing until all is incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl down once or twice.

Reserve about 1/3 of the bacon pieces for poking into the top of each cookie, and stir the rest into the cookie dough.

Cover the bowl with cling film and chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Before you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180° and line your cookie sheet with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Use a tablespoon or a cookie scoop to drop small balls of cookie dough a good distance apart to allow room for spreading.

Top each scoop with a couple of pieces of bacon and use a fork to just flatten the balls.

Bake in your preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are slightly browned around the edges. If your oven heats unevenly, you might want to turn the pan around halfway through.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Repeat until all the brown sugar bacon cookies are baked.

Enjoy!

This month my Creative Cookie Exchange group is making drop cookies, which are exactly what they sound like. Drop cookies are made by dropping the dough on to a baking pan with a spoon or scoop and they are probably one of the easiest types of cookie to make. No fancy rolling or forming or slicing necessary. Drop cookies are usually pretty rustic looking too, especially if you are using a tablespoon.

Many thanks to our Creative Cookie Exchange member Holly from A Baker's House who handled our behind the scenes work this month. Check out all the lovely drop cookies we’ve been baking!

• Banana Walnut Cookies by Upstate Ramblings
• Brown Sugar Bacon Cookies by Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Chip Cookies with Thyme Infused Browned Butter by The Spiced Life
• Chocolate-Toffee Crinkle Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Morning Glory Breakfast Cookies by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Old Fashioned Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies by Oven Delights
• Peanut Butter and Banana Cookies by 2 Cookin Mamas
• Peanut Butter Graham Cookies (with Tallow!) by What Smells so Good?
• Pumpkin Spice Mocha Crinkle Cookies by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Reese's Pieces Cookies by A Baker's House
• Salted Caramel Nutella Cookies by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

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Bacon-wrapped Shrimp Jalapeño Poppers

Bacon-wrapped Shrimp Jalapeño Poppers are made with four of my favorite things: spicy jalapeños, sharp cheese, pan-fried shrimp and bacon. They are super easy to put together and bake up crispy in the oven. Make them ahead of time and bake when you are ready to serve.



My grocery stores here in Dubai are hit or miss when it comes to some ingredients. All year-round we can find the little red chili peppers that are often used in Asian cooking but habaneros and jalapeños turn up less frequently. I’ve learned over the last almost four years of living here to take advantage, and quickly, when I see those two.

I make my own habanero sauce that we eat on just about everything so I buy the peppers, remove the stems and wash them immediately. Then I freeze them in a Ziploc bag until I am ready to make sauce. Making habanero sauce requires weather cool enough to open the windows and doors to let some fresh air in and that won’t happen here until a little later in the year.

When decent-sized jalapeños appear, I make poppers. Traditional jalapeño poppers are filled with cheese, breaded and deep-fried but for many years, I’ve been either breading and baking mine, or wrapping them in bacon and baking them. Either way makes a fabulous, delicious jalapeño popper.

I’ve been on kind of a shrimp kick lately, with last week’s bacon-wrapped spicy baked shrimp and spicy salmon shrimp burgers on this blog and, even today, make sure you check out my Cucumber Shrimp Cups on the Sunday Supper Movement website. They are pretty and tasty!

When there were jalapeños in my local grocery store and Sunday Supper announced a football food theme, I knew what I had to do! Add shrimp to my bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers as well. Best decision ever! If you are gearing up for football season, you'll want to make these and possibly everything else on the list below. Let the games begin!

Ingredients
24 medium shrimp, peeled and cleaned
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2 oz or 100g cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp cheddar, grated
2 cloves garlic, garlic pressed or very finely minced
12 fresh jalapeños
12 slices streaky bacon

Method
Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C.

Heat a skillet and drizzle in the olive oil. Quickly cook the shrimp for a few minutes, sprinkling them with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Cut jalapeños in half lengthwise. I like to cut carefully through the stem as well so each half still looks like it has a stem.

Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and membranes. If you don’t like things too spicy, you can discard these. I like to add them to the cheese filling.

Mix together the cream cheese, cheddar, garlic and salt. Chop the membranes of the jalapeños and add them in along with the seeds, if desired. Give the whole bowl a few good grinds of black pepper and mix again.

Fill the jalapeño halves with the cheese mixture. Top them with a shrimp each. Cut the bacon slices in two and wrap one around each shrimp topped jalapeño popper.  Secure the bacon with a toothpick.

Set them in a baking pan.

Bake for 20 minutes in your preheated oven or until bacon is crispy and cheese is turning golden as well.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our host today, Coleen of The Redhead Baker and our event manager, Shelby of Grumpy's Honeybunch. How I wish I could get together with all my Sunday Supper friends to watch football. Who am I kidding? I really just want to eat all these fabulous dishes!


Appetizers

• Atomic Buffalo Turds by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Avocado Corn Salad by Books 'n Cooks
• Bacon-wrapped Shrimp Jalapeño Poppers by Food Lust People Love
• BLT Bites by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Buffalo Cauliflower Bites by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Buffalo Chicken Meatballs by Highlands Ranch Foodie
• Buffalo Chicken Taquitos with Cilantro Crème by Cooking with Carlee
• Chipotle Lime Chicken Fajita Sliders by Flavor Mosaic
• Cucumber Shrimp Cups by Sunday Supper Movement
• Game Day Burger Sliders by Dessert Geek
• Gyro Meatballs & Herbed Yogurt Dip by My Life Cookbook
• Ham and Salami Rollups by Bottom Left of the Mitten
• Healthier Patatas Bravas by Caroline's Cooking
• Kale Pesto Dip by Cooking Chat
• Lemony Chicken Wings by Basic N Delicious
• Liptauer (Hungarian Cheese Spread) by Curious Cuisinere
• Loaded Guacamole by Casa de Crews
• Loaded Smashed Potatoes by The Hungry Goddess
• Mexican Spinach Dip by Meal Planning Magic
• Nachodillas with Jalapeño Bean Dip by Palatable Pastime
• No-Bake Almond Energy Bites by Pies and Plots
• PB&J Wings by The Crumby Cupcake
• Pork Belly Sliders by Grumpy's Honeybunch
• Queso Blanco Dip by Life Tastes Good
• Roasted Jalapeno and Chorizo Queso by The Texan New Yorker
• Sausage Pizza Dip from Family Foodie
• Ultimate Taco Dip by Monica's Table

Main Dishes

• Bacon Swiss Burger Sliders by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Black Bean Chili by Cricket's Confections
• Blackberry Sriracha BBQ Wings by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Honey Lime BBQ Chicken Thighs by Our Good Life
• Mexican Pizza by Chef Next Door
• Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders by Food Done Light
• Oven-Fried Fish Sliders by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Philly Cheesesteak Sliders by The Redhead Baker
• White Chicken Chili by Powered by BLING

Side Dishes

• Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad by Crazed Mom

Desserts

• 5-Ingredient Buckeye Dip by A Mind Full Mom
• Brownie Bomb Bars by Turnips 2 Tangerines
• Chocolate Football Cookies by The Freshman Cook
• Miso Salted Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches by Ninja Baker
• Touchdown Popcorn Toffee Bark by The Weekend Gourmet
• White Chocolate Toffee Chunk Cookies by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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