Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Bacon and Pears

I have gotten quite a few requests lately to discuss some of my favorite cookbooks, which got me to thinking, what ARE my favorite cookbooks, anyway? The three SILVER PALATEs are definitely up there, as is every cookbook I have ever gotten from COOKS ILLUSTRATED. I do have about 200 others on my shelf. Literally. But quite honestly, I spend most of my recipe-hunting time looking through my two giant binders of recipes I have torn out of magazines, gotten online, or just plain made up. So for me to buy a new cookbook...it better be a mad good cookbook.

So with that in mind, please let me introduce you to KITCHEN EXPRESS, by the wonderful Mark Bittman. I do own a couple of Mark's cookbooks already, so he kind of had me at hello, but this one is so right up my alley, it's like he wrote it for me personally. It is not exactly recipes, but more a series of ideas/suggestions for meals that you can make in my golden rule time-space of 30 minutes or less.

In the case of these sandwiches, it was about 10 minutes from start to plate. I had a loaf of ciabiatta bread from Fairway, so I was already ahead of the game. I spread it with some really nice creamy goat cheese. I then cut some paper-thin slices of Bartlett pear and laid them on top of the cheese. Next came some crumbled bacon, and then I drizzled the whole thing with a tiny bit of blueberry balsamic vinegar (you could use regular balsamic, but I have this amazing blueberry kind, thanks to my wonderful mother, who is always bringing me great kitchen treats).

That, my friends, is that. The happy Southern husband and I were in sandwich heaven, as was the teenager, who opted for peanut butter and banana on Wonder Bread, because...well, I have no idea why.

So for those of you who, like me, are playing a nightly version of Beat the Clock with your suppers, take a look at KITCHEN EXPRESS. Link below.

KITCHEN EXPRESS

Greek Nachos

One of the things I love to do is explore all the really great food and cooking blogs out there, and one of my very favorites is called "Bitten." It is written by the amazing Mark Bittman, and appears on the New York Times website. It is a fascinating collection of recipes, food articles, with various guest writers and tons of commentary from the community reading the different articles...basically an all-out love-fest of good food. I check on it regularly and am never ever disappointed. INTIMIDATED, maybe, but not disappointed.

Last week Mark ran an article that included a recipe for Greek-Style Nachos, and it is one of those recipes that makes you smack yourself on the side of the head and say, "why didn't I think of that??" It takes the basic nacho approach -- foundation of chips topped with meat, veggies and cheese -- but the chips are made of pita, the meat is lamb and the cheese is a feta-yogurt-mint blend. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Yum. Quick, fun and unexpected.

If you aren't familiar with Mark's cookbooks, you should know that he wrote one of my favorite general resource cookbooks ever, called HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING. And it pretty much is exactly that. Take a look here:

HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING

And if you want to check out Mark's rocking great blog Bitten, take a look here. (But don't forget to come back to mine. Fair is fair.)

BITTEN

Where I notice he just posted an article on Cold Sesame Noodles, which I already have five different recipes for, but because I worship at his feet I will be trying HIS.

And if you want to try his Greek Nachos, here you go:

Greek Nachos

Just remember who your friends are, and come back to me when you are done making friends with Mark. Because tomorrow I am making Mexican Tuna Salad, and last I checked, he hasn't caught up with me on that one yet!