Oh, the wonders of cooking vegetables in bacon fat. The aroma! The flavor! That’s how this side dish was done.
Cut-up bacon was cooked in a pan until browned and fat had been rendered. The bacon was scooped out and set aside, the vegetables were sautéed in the rendered bacon fat, the bacon was thrown back into the pan and everything was tossed together just until heated through. Simple but effective.
The sautéed vegetables with bacon is just a side dish? Well, you can serve it as a main dish. The day we had it, yes, it was a side dish that went with fried fish fillets.
Sautéed Vegetables With Bacon
For best results, use belly bacon. Not honey cured or anything that had been sweetened. The subtle sweetness of this dish comes from the natural flavor of the chayote and carrot. Any more sweetness than that and the dish will not have a proper balance.If you’re not into bacon (but who isn’t, really?), you may also use crumbled sausage meat. Spicy or plain garlicky, but not sweet either.
Ingredients
- 1 chayote
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 125 grams belly bacon
- cooking oil
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Peel the chayote, cut off the core and discard, and julienne.
- Peel the carrot and julienne as well.
- Peel and thinly slice the onion.
- Cut the bacon into strips.
- Heat a frying pan and spray (or brush) the bottom with cooking oil.
- Cook the bacon over medium heat until it has browned and rendered fat. Scoop out the bacon and move to a bowl.
- In the rendered bacon fat, saute the chayote, carrot and onion with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, with occasional stirring until done but still lightly crisp.
- Taste and add more salt and pepper, as needed.
- Add the browned bacon to the vegetables. Cook, stirring, until heated through.
- Serve the sautéed chayote with bacon immediately.
Notes
Updated from a recipe originally published in February 14, 2017
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