Project Lumpia: The Post-Thankgiving Edition

While trying to come up with different ideas for utilizing Turkey Day leftovers, my mind kept going back to lumpia.   Maybe it's because I hadn't had any in a while, but I was thinking it might be another way to use up the remaining turkey and spare veggies not used for the holiday stock or stuffing/dressing.

I had my first taste of the crispy fried spring rolls as a child when my Filipina stepmom made a huge batch for a family get-together.  I've loved them ever since but only recently have I attempted to make my own (I would normally depend on the kindness of a good friend for my local lumpia fix).  As you'll soon see, my lumpia rolling technique needs a lot of work, but I plan to get more practice in over the next few weeks.

As a reference point, I turned to a recipe for Lumpiang Shanghai from one of my favorite food blogs, Burnt Lumpia.   I made a few changes for this Turkey/Shrimp version (I decided not to add ginger and opted for slightly less garlic).  For this recipe, I used roasted turkey thigh meat.  I'm usually more of a "white meat" gal, but for this recipe the higher fat content of the thigh meat makes it more ideal.   I also decided to throw some shrimp into the mix as well-just because.  In retrospect, I think I should have followed Marvin's instructions and made them a bit smaller (he suggests cutting each lumpia wrapper in half-I think I'll do that next time).  The lumpia I'm used to are usually the size of cigars-don't ask me why I decided to make them larger!  This recipe yielded 10 large lumpia and should yield about 20-25 smaller ones.  Recipe follows after the jump...

Making Macarons With Tartelette!

A couple of  Sundays ago I was fortunate enough to take part in a macaron workshop taught by the wonderful food stylist/blogger/photographer/pastry chef extraordinaire Helen of Tartelette.  I had never tasted these trendy French confections (let alone attempted to make them) so this was a special treat for me!  It was great to finally meet fellow bloggers Tami (Running With Tweezers), Jennifer Z. (The Blissful Glutton) and Shameeka (The Broke Socialite), along with new friends Angie (Bakerella), Susan (The Frugal Hostess), Emily (Ultra Foodie and the Poodle Revolution), Katie (Whisk Away), Wendy, Lisa, Caryn, Paula (bell'alimento), Jennifer B. and our gracious hostess Patti (Anatomy of a Dinner Party) who welcomed us into her lovely home for the afternoon.  Our macarons weren't perfect, but I think we did pretty good for our first effort!  Many thanks to Helen, Patti, Tami and Shameeka for pulling this all together, and a special shout out to the ATL Macaron Crew-it was a pleasure meeting all of you!  I'm looking forward to whipping up my own macaron creations very soon.  I can't wait to put what I've learned into practice!

One delicious tweet...

When I saw it, I had to try it...

Bacon Ice Cream (with candied bacon garnish).  Want the recipe?  Visit My Last Bite.com for easy step-by-step instructions (plus her dish of ice cream is much prettier than mine). You won't even need to bust out the ice cream maker for this one!  While you're at it, follow @mylastbite for more delicious tweets.

The Sticky Pig Candy Project

With this Saturday being International Bacon Day, I thought it would be fitting to devote my very first blog post to this wonderful pork product. Not long ago, the fantastic food blogger my last bite (who I follow on Twitter) posted a link to a recipe for "Sticky Pig Candy Stripes" found here. As a lover of bacon and the "sweet & salty" combo, I knew I had to give this a try. Last Sunday, I carved out a little time to do just that!

I used 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar along with 1/4 tsp each of cayenne pepper and ground ginger to make the spiced sugar mixture.  You really don't need to add any more than 1/4 tsp of each spice.  This amount gives it just enough of a "kick".

The oven is preheated to 400°F, and I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper per recipe instructions.  I decided to go with thick sliced bacon this time.  I carefully applied about a teaspoon of the spiced sugar mixture onto each bacon slice, trying to avoid spilling excess sugar onto the parchment paper.

Into the oven for about 20 minutes (or until sugar has melted and bacon is crisp).  I ended transferring the bacon to another clean sheet of parchment paper (to get rid of any excess grease) before returning it to the oven to finish cooking.

There you have it!  The finished product was sticky, salty, sweet and delicious.  The cayenne and ginger add just the right amount of bite to offset the sweetness.  I might give this a go with regular sliced bacon next time-I think it will make for a crispier finished product.  I'll just have to be extra careful watching it so that it doesn't burn.

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