Bacon. one of three

My Friend, CJ came over the other day to hang out and cook some holiday appetizers. As we discussed our favorite holiday dishes over a pot of coffee, a trend emerged. Bacon.

Now, of course bacon is always tasty and delicious, but especially so, in this season of comfort food, of hot food on chilly Winter evenings. One of CJ's strong seasonal food memories is a classic appetizer from the middle sixties, bacon wrapped water chestnuts. We headed to the kitchen.

These are very simple to create. I like thin sliced bacon for this one or you end up with something like bacon wrapped bacon. (more on bacon choice in further posts.)

One can of whole water chestnuts
1 package bacon
skewers

We wrapped the chestnuts in bacon until there was about a half inch of overlap, then skewered through the seam and the chestnut. You could manage this without skewers by just laying them on a cookie sheet, seam side down. Delicious bacon can also be glue.

They went into a 450 degree oven until done, about 15 minutes.

While we waited we reduced a mixture of equal parts water, sugar and vinegar, with a couple of tablespoons of fresh pepper to create a pan sauce. The water chestnuts, warmly ensconced in their delicious bacon coats, went for a turn around the pan, then off to the plate.

Liberally garnished with Italian parsley, crushed red peppers, salt, (I salt my bacon) and more pepper.