Notes: Is there a better sandwich on planet Earth than the classic bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich? Variations on the sandwich’s classic structure are almost always completely unnecessary, and often take away from what is already a perfectly balanced combination of crisp, salty, fatty bacon, with crunchy, cool lettuce, and a juicy, acidic sweetness from the tomatoes. Adding cheese or avocado or lobster is almost never an improvement, such is the excellence already inherent in this sandwich.

Unleeeeeessssssss…you are in Maine in the middle of Winter when your BLT craving hits. There’s a reason we tend to think of BLTs as a Summertime sandwich; the deliciousness of tomatoes picked at the height of their season are a major contributor to your overall impression of a BLT. And unless you are willing to take out a sketchy payday loan on a bunch of organic hydroponic vine-ripened vat-grown stem cell tomatoes flown in from Argentina, you’re simply not going to scratch your BLT itch with the kind of tough, flavorless, pale tomatoes found at the supermarket this time of year.

Enter the “Tomato Confit BLT,” one of the few variations on the classic sandwich that I dare say may be better than the original. Normally, when I think of “confit,” I think of something French, poached in its own fat, as with duck, until the flesh becomes impossibly tender and soft. Adding fat to meat imparts a huge blast of flavor, and even acts as a preservative. It’s a wonderful way to coax additional flavor and texture out of an ingredient that may need a boost, like the tough leg of an aquatic waterfowl, say, or the three-for-a-dollar softball-sized tomatoes at Hannaford.

“Oh ho,” you say, “but tomatoes are a fat-free food! How in the world are we to prepare them confit-style?” That’s easy. We’re going to cover them in bacon fat. A little bacon fat, a sprinkle of salt, and three hours in the oven at low temperature are all you need to transform tough, flavorless tomatoes into bite-sized grenades of acid and flavor with the consistency of a warm custard. Piled high on a BLT, they bring more tomato flavor to the sandwich than you ever thought possible.

The rest of the standard BLT rules apply. Use a fresh loaf of sourdough, or a loaf of Jillian’s no-knead Dutch oven bread. Get the thickest-cut bacon you can find (I used Oscar Meyer “Super Thick Cut”), and cook it slow and low in a frying pan until it is dark brown and crisp, but still chewy. You don’t want bacon that shatters when you take a bite. I like a soft Boston-style lettuce, and as much Hellmann’s Blue Ribbon as I can fit onto a butter knife, on both sides of the bread, please. Toast your bread in a little butter on just one side, so that the outside of the bread gets a little crunchy, while the inside stays soft and warm. Spend a little time making a tomato confit, and your reward will be one of the best BLTs you’ve ever tasted.

Tomato Confit B.L.T.
Makes two big sandwiches; likely enough for four people. Adapted from a recipe on The Meaning of Pie.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound of thick-cut bacon
• 6 large tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 slices fresh Sourdough bread
• 4 leaves Boston lettuce
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise

Method:

Place oven racks in middle position of oven, and preheat oven to 275.

In a large frying pan over low heat, cook bacon, turning occasionally, until brown and crisp, about 20 minutes total. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Place a paper towel over the mouth of a heat-proof container, and carefully pour bacon fat through paper towel to remove any chunks or burned bits.

Slice tomatoes to 1/3 inch thick, and arrange on parchment paper in a single layer on a large baking sheet, or two if needed.

Using a teaspoon, drizzle each tomato with some of the strained bacon fat. Turn each tomato over, and repeat so that both sides are covered in fat. Sprinkle each tomato lightly with Kosher salt.

Bake in preheated oven for about three hours, flipping once. Check tomatoes often during the last half hour, and remove before any blackening occurs.

Butter one side of each slice of bread, and grill butter-side down in a frying pan over medium heat, until one side of bread turns crisp and golden. Remove from pan.

To assemble: For each sandwich, spread mayonnaise on two slices of bread, with the toasted side down. Arrange a layer of bacon, then the lettuce, then half of the tomatoes on one slice of bread. Top with remaining slice and serve.

But then comes Monday again and the hectic workweek begins anew. Sigh. Spatchcocking is a perfect way to make something wholesome without a tremendous time commitment. A whole bird roasts under the broiler in about a half an hour. It definitely yields a juicy, tender, delicious bit of bird, and is easy as cake and satisfying, to be sure. However, I am not entirely convinced a simple roast chicken needs improvement. See, here. Decide for yourself. It’s something you should try if you haven’t already, to add to your arsenal of cool kitchen maneuvers you do to impress your friends and influence people. Host a lively dinner party this weekend, and spatchcock that bird, just for kicks.

Spatchcocked Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 4-5 lb chicken
• Olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon each ground fennel seeds, coriander seed, cumin seed, and paprika
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Method:

Turn the broiler on high whilst you prep the bird. Remove the innards and thoroughly wash and pat dry your chicken. Place chicken breast side-down on a plastic cutting board.

Use sharp kitchen shears to cut along one side of the backbone. (You’ll know it when you see it.)

Cut up other side of the backbone, and remove. You can save the bone for making stock.

Spread chicken apart, and flip over, so that the breast faces up.

Spread the legs akimbo, tucking the wings back.

Tuck the wing tips under the skin of the breast.

Cover it with olive oil and season with spices and herbs, salt and pepper.

Broil on high, breast side up, for ten minutes. Flip. Broil on high, back side up for ten minutes. Flip. Turn down the broiler to low and finish cooking, approximately fifteen minutes, until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees. The chicken should be golden brown with crisp skin. If skin begins to blacken and burn, cover with foil. Remove from oven.

Let it rest for fifteen minutes. Carve it up and serve with lemon wedges, an herb salad, white wine, and crusty bread. The end.

We’ve always tried not to place too much emphasis on the more superficial aspects of the day, forgoing presents over the years and instead trying to create a memory together. These experiences have varied wildly over the years, usually directly corresponding to our financial solvency at the time. Sometimes celebrating Valentine’s Day has meant weekend trips to New Orleans; other times, local romantic dinners out together, or even dried, glittered macaroni glued to a giant cardboard heart. This year, with a newborn baby in the house, we are celebrating even more simply. We tend to lean more toward the grammar school-style, cut out paper heart-version of Valentine’s Day, and allow ourselves to revel in its hokey sweetness.

These cupcakes are the perfect embodiment of that style. Rather than wringing our hands over an overwrought, Raspberry Chocolate Silk Martini Souffle that falls all over itself trying to be seductive, these cupcakes are simple and sweet. Innocent, even. They’re a handmade Valentine stuffed into a shoebox with your name written on it. They recount a childlike infatuation, in cupcake form. And in our case, they even feature Jillian’s favorite cereal, which she pretends is Kashi GoLean Honey Almond Flax, but is really Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes
Adapted from recipes from Bon Appetit and Your Cup of Cake; Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup 2% or whole milk
• 1/2 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream:

• 4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 regular package), room temperature
• 1/2 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder (see note)
• Additional crushed and whole cereal pieces, to garnish

Method:

For the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and set aside.

In a small saucepan over low heat, warm milk and butter until butter melts, and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix eggs, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla extract until thick, about 5 minutes.

Add the flour mixture and stir until blended, then add milk and butter mixture. Stir until combined.

Fill each cupcake liner approximately 3/4 full, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 16-18 minutes. Cool in pan for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream:

Crush approximately one cup of cereal using a rolling pin, and sift into a bowl. Repeat as needed, setting aside the bigger bits left in the sifter, until you have 1/3 of a cup of very fine Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder.

Mix cream cheese and butter in standing mixer until very smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder, and mix until incorporated. Taste for sweetness, and add more powdered sugar as needed.

Frost cooled cupcakes, and sprinkle with the larger leftover bits of cereal that you sifted out. Garnish with a whole piece of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

When he quit his four-pack-a-day habit and subsequently became utterly consumed with thoughts of elaborate breakfasts that would put even the “Full Irish” to shame, which he would begin cooking at dawn, he tried a few different techniques. There was a brief pause, I remember, on frozen hash browns that could be cooked in the toaster. He opted to fry the frozen slabs in oil, instead, which resulted in plenty of golden crunch, but a completely obliterated shredded potato inside that was reduced to dust. Ultimately, he settled on slicing the previous nights’ leftover baked potato, the ubiquitous starch found at nearly every family dinner, and frying the slices in oil before sprinkling them with salt and pepper. The results were good, but not perfect: the inside of the potato slice would pull apart, becoming soggy and overcooked, while the skin of the potato would pull away from the flesh and become bitter.

I think he would have been happy with this technique, a slight spin on the version of the crispy potato he nearly perfected in our kitchen in Tenants Harbor. As with a properly cooked french fry, the secret to these potatoes is in the par-boiling. A few minutes in some boiling water, followed by a finish in a hot oven yields a fried potato that is golden and crunchy on the outside, with a soft, fluffy interior. I like to use Yukon Gold-style potatoes; their yellow flesh is particularly creamy and ever-so-slightly sweet. Dipped in a little Sriracha-spiked ketchup, these potatoes work equally well as a side at dinnertime, as they do at breakfast.

Crispy Oven-Roasted Potatoes
Adapted from a recipe by America’s Test Kitchen; Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Method:

Place a large baking sheet in the oven, and preheat to 450 degrees.

Slice potatoes into half-inch thick slices.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, add potatoes, 1 teaspoon of salt, and enough water to cover potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until edges of potatoes begin to cook, but inside remains firm, about five more minutes.

Drain potatoes, and toss in a large bowl with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Toss vigorously with a plastic spatula, and drizzle with another teaspoon of olive oil and some more salt. Continue tossing, 1-2 to minutes, until potato slices are covered in a starchy paste.

Carefully remove baking sheet from oven, and drizzle with remaining teaspoon of olive oil. Place potatoes in a single layer and return to oven.

Bake potatoes until bottoms turn golden brown, about 20-23 minutes. Flip potatoes with a metal spatula, and return to oven to brown other side, about 10 minutes more.

Remove from oven, and sprinkle finished potatoes with kosher salt and pepper, to taste.

I wore my favorite Power Puff Girls t-shirt on the plane my mom didn’t want me to board. He met me at the gate and we walked arm and arm into the sultry tropical night, a harbinger of things to come, perhaps. After dinner with his parents, they took us out on their boat and spontaneously we jumped undressed in the water, hoping to impress one another. To make matters even more romantic, we found ourselves surrounded by bio-luminescent plankton, swimming under the stars in an ocean glowing with wonder and dinoflagellates. It may have been the fifth best night of my life thus far, and is an important piece of totally factual lore, as we tell and retell the story of our courtship.

Not every January 31st has been quite so dramatic, but we’ve been together to ring in the new and wring out the old, sipping champagne, wishing on twelve grapes, streaking the halls of fancy hotels, holed up at a cozy cottage in The Catskills, getting shoved and stupid at Brooklyn bars, playing “Rock Band” in a basement in the suburbs, dancing a sort-of-a-salsa with new friends in the middle of the Yucatan peninsula, and cooking a decadent feast with old friends at our apartment in Portland. 2011 was our last New Year as just us, a carefree couple. It was quieter, but lovely, and totally typified the tenor of our lives at the time, as all New Year’s Eves seem to do in retrospect. We cooked and ate and drank until we were totally in our cups. On the menu: bone marrow on toast, lobster bisque, rack of lamb and these: Brown Butter & Bacon Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Brown Butter and Bacon Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients:

• 14 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons milk chocolate, grated
• 10 strips bacon, crumbled

Method:

Place oven rack in the middle of oven, and preheat to 375 degrees.

In a large skillet over low heat, cook bacon until crisp, but not burned, turning often. Drain on paper towels, roughly chop bacon to approximately 1/4 inch, and set aside.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, heat 10 tablespoons of butter over low heat, swirling and stirring often, until butter is a warm golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, add remaining butter, and allow to melt.

In a large mixing bowl or in bowl of standing mixer, combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Slowly incorporated melted butter, and stir until all sugar crystals have melted. Batter should be smooth and shiny.

Add flour and baking soda, and stir until no pockets of flour remain. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and crumbled bacon. Stir until combined, but don’t overwork the batter.

Working in batches, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and place heaping teaspoon-sized dollops of batter onto baking sheet.

Bake until edges are golden but middle is not quite set, about 11-14 minutes.

Transfer cookies to cooling rack, and allow to cool completely.

Giant Ravioli with Spinach, Ricotta, and Egg Yolk
Adapted from a recipe in New Classic Family Dinners; Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 egg yolks
• up to 4 tablespoons ice water

For the ravioli:

• 12 ounces baby spinach
• 2 cups ricotta
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• up to 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• 12 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Method:

For the dough:

Use fingers to combine flour, semolina, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle. In a small bowl beat olive oil, egg and egg yolks. Slowly stream liquid into the dry ingredients; combine until mixture has the texture of coarse cornmeal. Add water a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. Remove from bowl and knead for five minutes – dough will be stiff. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic and let it rest for an hour. Roll out the dough into very thin sheets. I used nothing but a rolling pin and my wits. A pasta machine would also work well here.

For the ravioli:

Blanch spinach for ten seconds in a large pot of salted, boiling water. Drain and transfer to an ice water bath. When cool enough to handle squeeze by the handful until dry, then chop. Should be about one cup.

In a bowl combine ricotta, garlic, spinach, parsley, Parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. Fold in cream until the mixture is malleable.

Cut the pasta into twelve squares: 6 4 1/2-inch and 6 5-inch squares. Cover dough with a damp towel as you work.

Spoon two tablespoons of the ricotta mixture onto each of the 4 1/2 inch squares.

Using the back of a spoon, make a well in each scoop of ricotta.

Carefully place egg yolk in the depression.

Cover egg yolk with another tablespoon of ricotta.

Brush the perimeter of the pasta with water, and gently cover with the 5 inch square of pasta, pinching or pressing the layers together.

In a large pot of simmering (not boiling!), salted water, submerge the ravioli and cook for five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drizzle with olive oil, cheese and parsley to serve.

Note: If you are preparing the ravioli much earlier than you care to cook them, do this:  store them in the freezer on a baking sheet lined with parchment and sprinkled with semolina.

Huzzah! These giant ravioli are so impressive. A runny egg yolk comes busting forth from the pasta, melding with the warmed cheese and olive oil to create an unctuous sauce. Delicious. It takes some time and a deft hand, but I have no doubt that if I can do it, so can you.

In an effort to ease ourselves slowly back out of Buffalo wing eating season, as well as use up all those leftovers, we engineered this chicken salad sandwich. It captures all the flavor of the classic Buffalo wing, in a cool, surprisingly well-balanced sandwich that never overdoes it, in spite of all those competing strong flavors.

I like to poach the chicken for chicken salad sandwiches, mainly because I like the tender texture it gives the chicken. In this case, I also didn’t want to add too many additional flavors, since the sandwich already has so much going on; I imagine, though, that it would be equally delicious using grilled chicken breasts, or even leftover roast chicken parts. Use what you’ve got. You can’t lose with this sandwich.

Buffalo Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Makes 3 or 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 6-8 slices of fresh bread, sliced
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 32 oz. box low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 2-3 tablespoons bleu cheese dressing
• 2 tablespoons bleu cheese, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons prepared buffalo wing sauce, or Frank’s Red Hot brand hot sauce
• 3-4 leaves of lettuce (Bibb or romaine work well here)

Method:

In a medium saucepan over high heat, cover whole chicken breasts with chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low. You want to keep the water just below a simmer, or at about 190 degrees, if you have a candy thermometer. Cook, covered, about 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from broth, and let rest for five minutes. Chop chicken into chunks, and combine in large bowl with celery, carrots, bleu cheese dressing, crumbled bleu cheese, and buffalo wing sauce. If chicken salad seems to dry, supplement the dressing with a little more mayonnaise, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Stir to combine, and chill in refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.

To assemble sandwiches: Place 3-4 tablespoons of chicken salad on three or four slices of bread. Top with lettuce and top-half of bread slices.

Crispy Fried Shrimp Tacos with Ancho Chile Tartar Sauce
Makes 6 to 8 tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dark beer
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound 26/30 count shrimp, shelled and de-veined
• Peanut oil (for frying)
• 1 small red cabbage, sliced thin
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• Juice from two limes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
• 1 dried ancho chile, whole
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup pickle relish
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 6-8 corn tortillas
• Lime wedges

Method:

Whisk beer, flour, and salt in a medium bowl until well blended. In a deep frying pan, heat oil to 360 degrees. Dip each shrimp in batter, and drain excess. Drop gently into hot oil in batches, and cook until golden brown. Transfer cooked shrimp to drain on paper towels.

In a separate bowl, toss cabbage, cilantro, lime juice, vegetable oil, and jalapeno until evenly coated, and set aside.

In a small saucepan, cover dried ancho chile in water, and bring to a simmer over high heat. After water simmers, remove from heat and let soak for 15 minutes. Carefully remove pepper from water, break off stem, and discard. Add to bowl of a food processor with mayonnaise, pickle relish, and onion, and blend until smooth.

To assemble each taco, stack two warm tortillas, and top with three or four pieces of shrimp. Top with a spoonful of slaw, and serve with ancho tartar sauce on the side, with plenty of lime wedges to squeeze over the top.

You know Valentine’s Day is going to happen whether you like it or not. Mostly you’ve made your peace with the phony holiday. You consider its origins in sylvan Roman orgies and snicker at the teddy bears and paper hearts that oversaccharine what was once a most debauched occasion. In this spirit you decide you go out on the town alone in Portland. All your girlfriends are out with men who don’t deserve them.Your guy friends have flown to Las Vegas for a four day bender at the Spearmint Rhino. Even your dog has a date with the dachshund in 4A. What are you going to do and where are you going to go when every single soul is coupled up shooting stars into one another’s eyes with soppy love leaking through their sweaters like a wet, red stain? You, my friend, are going to J’s.

J’s Oyster is seedy, salty, grimy, noisy, and perfect. There is nothing romantic about it. It’s not a place to hold hands, make plans or declarations of boundless, heedless love. It’s Romantic with a capitol R, if you want to wear an oatmeal-colored Irish sweater and drink whiskey and look out to sea thinking of The Second Coming of Yeats. This is my prescription. Walk in and around the bar to the dark back corner. Order your liquor neat. Eat a dozen oysters without ceremony or decorum, ’cause let’s face it, oysters aren’t sexy. Order a cup of haddock chowder. It is always soul satisfying. Then, have the decades-deep waitress bring you a lobster. The reddest they’ve got. The one that was angry going into the pot. Twist off its claws and tail with abandon. Because you don’t care who sees you, because really, no one is looking. Slosh some of the liquid around. Get it on your sweater. Get up to your elbows in butter and the green goo from within. Demand mussels with lots of doughy rolls for dunking up the garlic broth. And finally, just to really grind down your solitude and fill your belly, ask for a big bucket of gritty steamers.

All of this will likely cost you half what it would anywhere else in the city. The preparation is basic, but seafood this fresh requires little more. You won’t be the drunkest person there. You won’t be the only one who is lonely, raw, and bitterly sad, whose heart aches and who has lost it all and expects to lose it all again. You go to J’s not because you have no hope, but because you have too much. Love hurts. Life hurts. J’s is there to help. It heals all, with its elixers of the cask and the sea. They do not take reservations. This Valentine’s Day, stay home if you are superficially bitter. If you are childish and annoyed, if you are going to heckle the happy lovers and invoke the phrase “Hallmark Holiday,” stay home and read your Nicholas Sparks novel. Stay home and eat your fro-yo. Stay home and stalk ex-boyfriends online, write vitriolic blog posts about how their loss is your gain and how they will never find another girl like you. But if you want to be a bit cooler than that and have a hell of a meal in the process, put on your boots and walk the plank to J’s. Tell them love sent you.

Photo: Flickr/Openg

Whether you’re entertaining a group or entertaining only yourself, whether you’re in it for the love of the game or for the love of the Danica Patrick GoDaddy.com commercials, here’s our roundup of our favorite gameday snack recipes:

1. Classic Buffalo Wings with Bleu Cheese Dipping Sauce
2. Homemade Fried Mozzarella Sticks
3. Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts
4. Welsh Rarebit Bites
5. Smoky Lamb and Chorizo Chili
6. Poutine Potato Skins
7. Beer & Bison Burgers with Garlic Pub Cheese
8. Brown Ale and Cheddar Soup