It's Bacon! It's Pineapple! It's Dinner!

Remember that commercial with the dog who runs around the house screaming "it's BACON!!!!!!"? Well, consider me that dog. Because my house smells like bacon and it's utterly fantastic.

For those of you whose ears didn't just start ringing with the sound of a hyper-active, annoying pooch, here's a link to the commercial on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CErapf79rqM

I don't usually eat bacon, but while I was combing the internet for more resources, I came across a recipe I just couldn't resist. It's a modified turkey club with an avocado sauce and I was really excited about it because I've been wanting to try my hand at de-pitting an avocado. And did I mention the bacon?

Here's the recipe I used: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/turkey-avocado-clubs-recipe/index.html

I really like this version because I hate mayo (almost all condiments, actually) and this one uses plain greek yogurt instead (mmm....fage). I added some cayenne and garlic powder to the avocado mixture to ramp up the flavor a little bit, and I used hickory smoked turkey. I also grilled the bread in a little bit of bacon fat (a real little bit - I barely coated the pan) to add cohesiveness to the sandwich.

A warm shout-out goes to my roommate Nick who did the actual cooking of the bacon. He had no idea what he was doing but he soldiered on anyway, leaving tastiness in his wake.

Sizzlin'

I've never cooked with avocado before (judge's ruling - can that count as a new food alert???) so I was really excited to whack at the pit with my chef's knife. Apparently I wasn't excited enough, though, because that bugger wouldn't budge. For anyone who's unfamiliar with avocado anatomy, avocados have a dark green skin, light green flesh, and an annoying pit right plop in the middle. The way everyone tells you to cut it is to cut into the flesh and make a big circle around the pit, then open it up and use your knife to grab the inedible bit. In the end, I opted to just dig it out with my spoon. It was just easier that way. Speaking of easier, I threw the yogurt and avocado into the food processor because I was too lazy to mash with my spoon. It came out really good though.

Picture from these instructions on how to cut an avocado!

Avocado yogurt sauce with cayenne and garlic powder!

And here's the finished product:

Are those pineapple chucks, you ask? Why yes, yes they are! And not just any old pineapple chunks, but  chunks from the first pineapple I've ever cut up! Nick and I used our trusty dusty friend google to figure this one out. We ended up on Instructibles.com: How to Chunk a Pineapple Like a South Seas Island Boy. The instructions themselves were great, but it was annoying to have to click "next" to view each step because it took a little while to load each one on my iPhone and some of them were pretty repetitive.  It was effective though, and it helped me turn my pineapple from this:

Hi Pineapple!

To this:

Yumm.

This method of cutting up the pineapple reminded me of slicing a honeydew or cantaloupe. First you cut off the top, then you cut it in half. Then you keep halving your halves until you have eight slices, like so:

Gotta love a big knife!

Then you use a smaller knife to separate the fruit from the skin and the core from the fruit. The smaller knife (like a paring knife) is really helpful because it's easier to control. This is what that step looked like:

Oh yea...fancy knife skills

I never realized that there was a core I had to cut out, so I'm glad I had some internet guidance before I dug right in. There are tons of other how-to guides out there if this one doesn't strike your fancy. The internet has been very helpful throughout this whole process because it's sort of like your cooler older cousin - it knows everything, gives great advice, and isn't afraid to be goofy to get its point across.

Cooking with avocado and pineapple made me feel very accomplished. Even though they're not "new" foods, it's always fun to learn new ways to prepare some of your favorites. And this sandwich is definitely going to be a new favorite.