Today marks the beginning of week five of quarantine, and frankly I am amazed how quickly the time has flown by. Last month when things got serious here in the US, I’d planned for March 16th to be a cooking day for my the Gourmet 10/76 project (I was going to be making Chicken in Sweet and Sour Coconut Sauce). However, as the news got grim and then more grim over that weekend I decided that maybe I should lay in some pantry items and get busy physically distancing instead.
My wife and I take a long daily walk with our dog, usually from our downtown apartment to the Arch and back. Luckily for us downtown St. Louis is very quiet and it is easy to avoid other people. I’m not sure how we’d be doing if we couldn’t get out for a bit each day. I’ve been cooking two meals a day on the weekdays and three meals a day on the weekends, which means a lot of my time is spent doing dishes. At the beginning of quarantine I had plans to photograph everything that we are eating but while I have been very pleased with the quality and variety of what I’ve been cooking, I wouldn’t say that it’s inspirational or visually super exciting, so I haven’t been doing much photography.
Other than the daily dog walks, I haven’t been outside much. I have had several photoshoots at the studio, about one per week for existing clients and projects. We have taken extraordinary precautions to keep everyone safe and distanced. The clients are attending via video-conference for remote shooting, and it’s just me and my food stylist physically in the studio. Additionally my food stylist and I are both adhering to strict distancing rules so that we can keep any potential risk low.
The time at home is great(I get to see my wife way more often than I ever did pre-COVID) but it is starting to wear on me a bit. I don’t have a lot of exciting things to report, so I am going to keep working through the recipes that I shot before quarantine. Today’s recipe: Bacon Wrapped Walnuts!
This recipe is one of the ones that I shot before COVID-19 for my Gourmet project. Usually we see an appetizer like this one made with dates, and when you first try one of these you are expecting the sweetness of a date. As a result the first one of these can be a little surprising. However, by the time you have a second and third the meaty texture of the walnuts along with the deep nutty flavor will win you over. And c’mon. Bacon.
They are a little time consuming and fiddly to make but they are an interesting take on a classic. As I keep saying over and over, the recipes in the October 1976 issue of Gourmet feel dated because, well, they are. Wait until you see olives wrapped in roquefort and walnuts…
…coming soon.
Bacon Wrapped Walnuts
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon
- 24 walnut halves
Instructions
- Place the bacon on a sheet plan, and put the pan in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 450ºF. Cook the bacon for 5-10 minsters until it is starting to get translucent and is flexible. Remove pan from the oven and when cool enough to handle, cut each piece of bacon into three pieces.
- Wrap each piece of bacon around a walnut half and secure with a toothpick. Place a rack in the sheet pan, then place the wrapped walnuts on the rack. When the oven reaches 450º bake the walnuts on the rack until the bacon is crispy. Transfer to clean paper towels to drain.
No Comments