So I threw a little party. A special little party with a very important guest of honour. Our very special guest was none other than “Bacon”. I invite “Bacon” quite often to the Bee household. We know “Bacon” well. It gets invited to all special occasions and holidays. Christmas Brunch, New Year’s Day Brunch, Easter Brunch, Mother’s Day Breakfast, Father’s Day Breakfast, the odd Sunday and once in a while just a random Wednesday.
I had the pleasure of working with Aurora Importing recently. They sent me some cannoli shells to take for a test ride so I made some pistachio filling and chomped down on Pistachio Cannoli’s. They sent along a Fiasconaro Dolce Verde Pistachio which is basically like a pistachio panettone. It came with this amazing pistachio cream you spread over top of the cake. So good I may have cried a little bit. I have the pleasure of giving one away to 1 fellow Canuck so if you love pistachios you should stop by to enter the giveaway.
They also sent along a Frantoi Cutrera Specialty Tasting Box for me to have some fun with. It’s a lovely olive oil tasting kit that will knock your socks off. Assuming you are wearing socks. Which I almost never am. Anyhow, I was thrilled when they sent it. Mini-me and myself frequent a tasting bar in St. Jacobs every year when we visit. It’s one of our favourite things to do while we’re there. They have this little store in the old mill where you belly up to the bar and try out olive oils and sauces. It’s just the coolest little place. We can spend hours in there sampling different oils and sauces. We usually end up spending all our money in there, and when we leave we realize we bought enough oil and sauce to last a decade. Yet it never does. We’re huge olive oil fans here so we go through massive amounts of it.
We had a little tasting party of our own with this amazing kit. There are six beautiful bottles of oil to try out. It comes in a gorgeous box with a tasting glass included. We used the tasting glass to house little pieces of baguette on tiny forks to dunk in the oil. It’s a perfect way to get the taste and compare them. The kit includes instructions to guide you through a sensory journey. It’s such a cool addition, although it might be a little lost on the Bee household when the hooligans are hungry. They can whip through a zillion forks of baguettes dunked in fancy oils without breaking a sweat. So Mama Bee had to get creative. I needed a way to quell the raging hunger of hooligans before the tasting began otherwise it would be a free for all with forks flying everywhere and no fancy bottle of oil would be safe from being guzzled or swilled with wild abandon. So what did Mama Bee do? Well she made pizza of course. Duh!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, pizza is a staple in this house. We love it far too much. We’ll use any excuse in the book to get our pizza on. It’s just the way we roll. I’ve made Deep Dish Pizza, Panzerotti aka Deep Fried Pizza, Vidalia Onion Pizza for Meatless Mondays, Healthy Wild Rice Pizza, and even a Low Carb Cauliflower Pizza. When I worked with Aurora last summer I made an Antipasto Pizza that was spectacular with their La Bomba Hot Antipasto Spread. I make my own dough most of the time with recipes like Killer Spicy Pizza Dough. I also make my own pizza sauce in my slow cooker which I’ve dubbed Sweetums Pizza Sauce. So yup, you could say I like pizza. You could say my family likes pizza. But you would all be wrong. We don’t like pizza. We freaking LOVE pizza.
I wanted to come up with a recipe that used one of the olive oils from the tasting kit. Normally oils like this I would savour and not use for things like pizza or cooking, but for salads and well, drinking straight from the bottle. But after tasting them all I had the distinct feeling the Nocellara would hold up well and heighten the taste of a simple appetizer I had been wanting to post about. This recipe is super simple, you can make it relatively quickly and it’s not overly expensive to make. It can be used as an appetizer or after school snack. Since it’s easy to make your kids can do it themselves after school when they are ravenous and cannot wait for dinner. Which is like every day with kids right.
Ingredients
- 1 fresh baquette, cut into slices
- 1/4 cup Nocellara Olive Oil or Olive Oil of your choice
- 1 cup pizza sauce, homemade or store bought (if using store bought add a touch of sugar for extra sweetness, it works wonders!)
- 1 package (500 g) Mozzarellissima Cheese (this is Pizza Mozzarella which is fabulous, if you can't find it substitute regular Mozzarella)
- 1/2 to 1 pound of bacon, pre-cooked (I'll admit I ate half the bacon before it got on the pizza)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Pre-cook your bacon. Or buy pre-cooked bacon if necessary. (I've never tried it but I'm sure it's good. How can bacon be bad?)
- Drain excess grease off it by blotting with a paper towel. Rip or chop bacon into pieces.
- Cut your baguette into slices. You want them thick enough to hold the ingredients but not so thick you can't bite into it.
- Lay your cut baguette pieces on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Spread olive oil over each piece.
- Spread pizza sauce over each piece.
- Sprinkle cheese over each piece.
- Add bacon pieces on top.
- Slip into the pre-heated oven and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on how well cooked you like your cheese.
- Remove from oven and plate.
- Serve with a big old "I Love Me Some Bacon" smile!
Now a quick note about these fancy shmancy oils. They are cold extracted so they tend to break down at high heat. They are something I would typically not use for cooking, and particularly not for frying. If you are going to fry anything with olive oil use a more cost-effective type. Ones that say “olive oil” or “pure olive oil” are what I normally use for frying things, making stir-fries and things of that nature. Cold Pressed or Cold Extracted are fabulous for salad dressings, soups, stews, and dunking bread into (or swilling, swigging or glugging for that matter). In this case I made an exception as I do on occasion for some flavoured or wonderful oils. I used it to brush on the baguette under the sauce. So it would not be getting direct heat, it has a sort of buffer if you will, with the bread under it, and the sauce/cheese/bacon on top. This is a recipe I broke my rules for. Why? I really loved the taste of the Nocellara so I made an executive decision it was worth using. I knew it would be spectacular spread over the bread for added oomph. And I was right. May I also add if you’ve never popped the top off a great bottle of olive oil and sniffed it like a good bottle of wine you just haven’t lived. Trust me! Try this next time you open a high quality bottle of the stuff. I have Aurora Importing’s Frantoi Cutrera Frescolio and Frantoi Cutrera Primo oils and I can be caught sniffing them at all hours of the day and night. Hubs and the kids think I’m nuts but then I shove the bottles at them and make them sniff them. I’ll make a believer out of you. Sniff your olive oil today people!
Giveaway Now Closed. Winner has been drawn and notified.
Okay so for those of you who are still here and not convinced I’m a complete loon, I have a special treat for you all today. I happen to have the good fortune of being able to give away 1 Aurora Importing Frantoi Cutrera Specialty Tasting Box to a lucky reader. There’s one condition though folks. You MUST be a Canadian Resident to enter. Sorry all my U.S. and International friends. For those Canucks who would like to enter please just leave a comment telling me what is your favourite way to use Olive Oil! Keep those answers clean though folks, young hooligans read the blog so we’re sorta of PG rated here.
For extra entries you can do any or all of the things below. (These are optional though. Your first entry is simply stating your fave use for olive oil. The ones below are bonus entries):
1. Follow Cravings of a Lunatic by email. Just look to the right where you see a little “subscribe via email box”, you just fill in your email, confirm and you’re good to go! Leave a separate comment saying you did so!
2. Like Cravings of a Lunatic on Facebook. Leave a separate comment saying you did so!
3. Like Aurora Importing on Facebook. Leave a separate comment saying you did so!
4. Follow Cravings of a Lunatic on Twitter. Leave a separate comment saying you did so!
5. Follow Aurora Importing on Twitter. Leave a separate comment saying you did so!
6. Tweet about the giveaway. Say anything you want about it but make sure you tag both @CravingsLunatic and @AuroraImporting so I can verify it. Leave a separate comment saying you did so!
Reminder that giveaway is open to Canadian residents only. Giveaway will close on January 7th at midnight. Winner will be selected by random.org and has 72 hours to claim their prize after they are notified. If they do not claim the prize within the time allowed it I will draw another winner.
Good Luck all you fellow Canucks!
Toodles and smoochies! xx
Pizza is my husband’s go-to food. Thank you for sharing your bacon pizza bite how-to =) Perfect appetizer/party food, too. Again, many thanks.
Mine too. It’s just so yummy. I must make it 2 or 3 times a week in some form. Sad but true. Thanks so much for your kind words and for visiting. Happy New Year!
I am still a Canadian citizen, but no longer a resident. Booooo!
Love your pizza bites and personally glad it’s a giveaway for Canucks, you guys usually get shut out of our US giveaways.
I wish you still lived here. And close to me. You could help me get my butt back in shape.
We do. I always feel a bit like Rudolph when it comes to giveaways.
Jusy dropping by to give you my wishes for a very prosperous and happy New Year! I love pizza in any form and these look absolutely irresistible!
Thanks so much Katerina. Right back at you. Hope you have a fabulous New Year.
And thank you. I’m a pizza fanatic.
I would gobble these up in a flash. Love bacon!!
They are wicked addictive. I ate way too many. And way too much bacon.
I have to bring something tomorrow night for a New Years Party – these are perfect. Have a wonderful New Year!
These would be perfect. They reheat well too. We had some for lunch today. Super good. Happy New Year Kristi!
Kim:
Many Many Blessings for your New Year!
The best way I like Olive Oil?
That is one of the hardest questions!
I love using it to cook,
love different flavours!
I love dipping it
I love drizzling it on hot bread or toast
Give me ideas and I’ll try them
Would love to win this!
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
Thanks Charlie. Always love seeing your name in the comment section. Hope you had an amazing Christmas and that the New Year brings you much happiness.
Good luck my friend.
Good note about using pure olive oil (the cheap stuff!) for general cooking – I always use the fancy ones to finish a dish, never as the cooking oil. And I have to say we invite bacon to our house quite a bit, too! Is it considered bad manners to invite your guest in, just to eat him?
Anyway, love the bacon pizza idea, and the bite-size is perfect for parties.
I’m not sure everyone knows that there are different kinds for different things. So thought a little note would be good. I’d hate to see someone who won this use it for stir-fry or steak or something. I am trying to decide which one I want to use in a recipe next. I have 6 wonderful bottles just begging to be used. Plus a monster size bottle too. I bet I have about 30 kinds of oil in my pantry right now. How sad is that? Honestly I’m going to be on one of those hoarder shows soon….”a woman and her oils”. Now that’s some bad tv.
I hear ya. Never met a bacon I didn’t like.
Such good pizza. Reheats nicely too. Had more of it for lunch today. *pizza grin*
I love to use olive oil for cooking and in my chick pea salads
Perfect uses for it. I bet it’s awesome in chick pea salads.
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All your entries are good Asiya. Good luck and thanks so much for participating. Love having you stop by. Happy New Year!
I follow Aurora Importing on Twitter (@AsiyaBaig)
Thanks so much.
Tweeted about the giveaway (https://twitter.com/CravingsLunatic/status/285274288125251584)
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Oh there are so many uses for olive oil! Salads, stirfrys, brushed on crispy bread with lots of garlic, tossed in pasta, dipping fresh bread in and and anddddd!!!
You love olive oil as much as I do. It’s so fab. I honestly think I have more than 30 kinds right now. It’s a weakness. I love all the flavoured stuff you can get now too. So fun. Good luck Suzanne! Happy New Year!
What a terrific idea! I had made some herb infused olive oil for gifts for Christmas. We have a New Year’s party to go to and we are to bring appetizers. I think I will bring the oils I have left and some fresh crusty bread! Although……I’m sure yours would be WAY better to have! Hint…hint…
Love herb Infused oils. They are spectacular. People would love them as gifts and I bet they make perfect hostess gifts as well. Good luck and Happy New Year Dina!
Man, that “bacon” sure gets around… he’s always over at our house for dinner too!
Actually, so does “olive oil”. She’s in pretty much everything we make, from salad dressings to soups to pastas to sautes – in fact, we sometimes go through an entire litre bottle in a month. I recently made a batch of marinated boccocini for our Christmas party using olive oil, crushed garlic and herbs. Best. Bocconcini. EVER.
Bacon is the harlot of the foodie world if you ask me.
Olive oil is like the greatest invention (is invention the right word, probably not) in the entire world. Well, next to turtles. But let’s not go there. I swear it’s like an addiction for me. I walk in markets and I head right for the oil section. Oils and sauces are my weaknesses. I. Must. Stop.In.To.See.That.A.S.A.P!! That sounds like something I’d eat an entire vat of. Just sayin’.
I like Aurora on Facebook!
Yah!
I already follow you on Twitter!
You are my twitter pal. I still sort of don’t get twitter. But I use it anyway.
…and I already follow Aurora on Twitter too!
Aren’t they awesome! Love them.
…and last, but definitely not least, I tweeted about the contest:
https://twitter.com/Izzbell/status/285503096451387392
Thanks so much Izzy. Good luck and thanks for tweeting and participating. Happy New Year!
We love to cook pasta and use olive oil and fresh garlic and lemon to toss it with!
That sounds so good. I can almost smell it. Wait, I probably could in the summer if the windows were open. *giggles* Good luck Kathy!
Hmmm … Good question. I guess I use olive oil to start saluting onions – but I only have one type. I’ll have to look for something fancier to try when I make balsamic vinaigrette. (Or salad dressing with a lighter acid, to let the oil shine )
That’s a good use for it. I did that yesterday. There are so many different kinds. I am like a deer in headlights when I hit the aisles with oils. I am coveting pistachio oil like no one’s business. But it’s like a gazillion dollars a bottle so I’ve never indulged. Goodness help my family if I ever buy a bottle. Everything will turn to pistachios around here.
Sautéing! We use it every day.
Me too. Love it. As witnessed by anyone who peers in my pantry. It’s oil-fest in there. Good luck Rachel!
My favorite way to use olive oil is to drizzle it on fresh from the garden tomatoes, then top with fresh real mozzarella cheese and bake. Oh my goodness it is heavenly.
My hubby would love that. I need to try that for him in summer. Good luck Cheryl. Happy New Year.
I am an email subscriber.
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I like Aurora Importing on Facebook (Cheryl HeartnSoulmom)
Thanks so much Cheryl.
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Thanks. Love your handle btw.
I follow Aurora Importing on Twitter @HeartnSoulmom
Thanks Cheryl. Good luck!
ahhhhh i want it! i want it!
…because apparently i didn’t get the “wanting” out of my system this entire past christmas season. aye.
my favorite use for olive oil: using a moist, olive filled homemade italian loaf of bread to sop the stuff up by the bowlful. i love me some really good olive oil and am lacking now. but i have tons of bread!
That cracked me up. I like the way you think.
Such a good use for oil. Tastes so good on bread.
…like you on facebook. how did i not do that before?
I don’t know, but it seems so wrong. Lol!
…and like you on twitter. tweet tweet!
Thanks for the twitter love.
My favorite use for olive oil….hmm…so many …..i guess the easiest and most obvious (since it is such a large portion of our diets) is coating veggies for either baking or sauteeing…. my second favorite would be using to prep pizza dough for bbq (as in the grill)pizza night!! <3
Great use for it. So good over cauliflower then roast it. Yum. Also dig grilled pizza. Way too much.
Dip my bread in! No butter needed
So much better than butter.
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I love olive oil with so many things…but I loved meat (like lamb) grilled on real charcoal along with slices or bread brush with oil. A sprinkle of salt on all…heaven.
And I “liked” Aurora Importing” on FB
That sounds really incredible Gina. Making me seriously hungry.
Thanks for the like.
My favourite way to use olive oil is in a simple salad dressing.
Great way to use it. Just makes everything better.
I subscribed via email.
Thank you Natalie.
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I love using olive oil to make aioli.
That’s a great way to use it. Good on so many things.
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I love olive oil in my tomato sauce.
Thank you Brigitte.
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My favourite use for olive oil is drizzled on fresh pasta.
Great use for it.
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Oh wow these look good, I’m so happy to bookmark your site. Such inspiration!
Thanks TiAnn.
I like using olive oil in cake (aka “olive oil” cake”)
Nice choice. Great use for olive oil.
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i USE OLIVE OIL TO MAKE ALL MY HOMEMADE SALAD DRESSINGS.
That’s a perfect use for it.
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Thanks for following the blog. Hope you enjoy reading.
My fave way is just dipping bread in olive oil.
It’s a great use for it.
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Caesar salad dressing I would have to say!
That’s an excellent choice for it.
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My favorite way to use olive oil is raw, in salad or just on vegetables, i love the taste and that’s the best way to savour it!
I love it on bread, salad and veggies. Good luck Carole.