(Yellow) Watermelon Salad with Bleu Cheese, Pancetta and Basil for Secret Recipe Club

Do not adjust your screen. Yes, that is a yellow watermelon. There are, in fact, over 1200 varieties of watermelon, and the flesh can be red, orange, yellow or white. This one, a Yellow Crimson, has a mildly sweeter taste than the more common red type. It almost has a honey flavor to it, so we thought it would be great to do something unusual with it. 

Luckily, it's Secret Recipe Club reveal day, and we were assigned Eliot's Eats, a food/travel/adventure blog with an ambitiously wide variety of posts and even more recipes. We have been drooling over this plethora of recipes by anonymous author "Eliot" (after T.S. Eliot) for several days now and since we had this beautiful watermelon on hand, decided on Watermelon Salad with Bleu Cheese, Pancetta and Basil. We decided that we were going to follow the recipe to the letter after realizing how much we have in common with "Eliot."

1. We are both near-middle-aged couples (although Amy is loathe to admit that)

2. "Eliot" works at a high school (as do the two of us), and her husband works in technology (Chris's hobby/job).

3. We are both cat people.

4. We both love to travel, cook, eat, patronize local restaurants and businesses, eat local and visit farmers markets.

5. And we both blog about it all.

So there it is. We are practically the same people, so why would we change the recipe? And "Eliot" - glad SRC gave us a chance to catch up. We've added you to our blog hop and will be checking in more often! 

Fresh, juicy, refreshing, sweet, tangy, crunchy, creamy, luscious peppery perfection. 

Watermelon Salad with Bleu Cheese, Pancetta and Basil

recipe from Eliot's Eats

Ingredients:

8 ounces pancetta, diced

1 1/2 cups cubed watermelon

2 tablespoons crumbled bleu cheese

1/8 cup basil, chiffonade

drizzle of olive oil

drizzle balsamic vinegar

freshly ground black pepper

Cook pancetta until crisp; drain on paper towels. Arrange watermelon on a chilled plate. Top with pancetta, bleu cheese and basil. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic, season to taste with pepper.

Woo-Hoo!

Woo-hoo! We are happy to announce that our recipe for Cheesy Pancetta Hash Brown Bites has won the Simply Potatoes/Foodbuzz recipe contest!

Read the announcement here and be sure to try this easy, delicious recipe using Simply Potatoes hash browns!

Thank you to Simply Potatoes and Foodbuzz!

Cheesy Pancetta Hash Brown Bites

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, we were sent two coupons to try Simply Potatoes brand products for free. When we saw their Shredded Hash Browns in the refrigerator section, we knew we would look no further. Those shredded potatoes were headed straight to our muffin tin where they would soon become our "Cheesy Pancetta Hash Brown Bites."

What's yummier than potatoes mixed with pancetta and cheese? Not much other than not having to share! This recipe made two dozen individually-sized "bites" which were both easy to make and to serve. Having the potatoes already shredded was a huge time-saver. Browning nicely in the muffin tin, they have that crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside texture that everyone adores. These are the perfect accompaniment to any meal, and are particularly delicious as a "bed" for a fried egg. Since the recipe makes so many, they'd be great for entertaining, or can be frozen and reheated for another time. 

Mix together shredded potatoes, shredded cheese and diced pancetta...

Place mixture in muffin tins...

Add half-n-half, and bake.

Go ahead and give them a try. And experiment a little! Try a different cheese, throw in some sauteed onions and peppers. Let us know how you like 'em!

Coming out of the oven, nicely browned and crispy!

Cheesy Pancetta Hash Brown Bites

Ingredients:

1 package Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns

4 ounces diced pancetta

1/2 pound gouda cheese, shredded

2 1/2 cups half-n-half

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the potatoes, pancetta and cheese. Fill the cups of two muffin tins with this mixture. Place a pinch of both salt and pepper into each cup. Then pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of half-n-half into each cup. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes, or until nicely browned. Allow to cool for five minutes before removing from pan. Serve hot. 

Apple Cider, Pancetta and Onion Risotto with Seared Sea Scallops

This meal is one we made from several different pairings of four basic ingredients. Those ingredients are: sea scallops, pancetta (Italian bacon), onion and apple cider. Each ingredient can easily be paired with another for a perfect, common, flavor combination: scallops and bacon; bacon and onions; apple and onions; you get the idea. So how can a cook go wrong by putting them all together?

We seared the scallops (perfectly, if we say so ourselves) by drying them well on a paper towel and putting them in a non-stick pan that has been pre-heated to super-hot (no oil!). The trick is to be patient and NOT to flip them until the pan is letting go. In other words, don't force the flip! If they are sticking, they are not perfectly seared. We sprinkled them with a pinch of pink salt and served them with this risotto that was seasonal and delicious.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 ounces diced pancetta

1 cup arborio rice

2 cups apple cider

2 cups water

salt to taste

Pour the apple cider and water into medium saucepan and set over medium-low heat. In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the onion and pancetta together until they start to caramelize. Add the rice and stir until it begins to toast. Slowly add the cider/water liquid to the rice mixture, one ladle at a time, stirring well and adding more liquid only when the rice soaks up most of what is already in the skillet. Continue this process, stirring constantly, until the apple cider/water mixture is gone and rice is tender. Serve with seared scallops or your choice of protein.