Cream Cheese Puff with Roasted Bacon Emulsion

You might think I went bonkers.

A what what with a what? An emulsion? I haven’t had one of those since I saw the doctor in 2004.

Let me ‘splain. I’ve basically deconstructed an omelet to bring you something new, fun and fresh. A sandwich. But not just any sandwich;  this adds an added level of flavor in the form of a liquid addition. I used the delicious, now-cached Roasted Tomato-Bacon Emulsion recipe from Tomato Casual. It’s really an easy recipe and the results are fabulous. You might even feel a little chef-like. I’m here to enable.

Of course, if the thought of Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi asking you to pack your knives and go sets you on edge, you can bypass the emulsion and just add two slices of bacon to your plate. But seriously; the fun of the entire emulsion thing is that it lends a deconstructed omelet/BLT feel to the dish, so why not give it a try? Besides, who doesn’t like to say “emulsion?” “Emulsion. Say it with me now. E.mul.sion.

A few things to consider: If you are making the emulsion (I really think you should), you can halve the recipe and use only one tomato, especially if you only need enough emulsion for a couple of the puffs. To strain out the liquids from the emulsion, I used my hand held potato ricer (one pictured here).  The ricer allows the liquids to thoroughly be pressed through and leaves the solids, which I then was able to use in the puff filling. Pretty snazzy!

The image of this finished dish shows more of a bacon-tomato jam*. Ignore that. It was awful. It was like Jimmy Dean’s toe jam of doom.  I instead put the solids inside of the spread and was much happier for it. Better noshing through an imperfect science. Brought to you by Your Lighter Side. You can thank me later; right now, you have a tomato to peel.

* The emulsion is actually slightly thinner than catsup and about the color of barbecue sauce.

Cream Cheese Puff with Roasted-Bacon Emulsion

Roasted Tomato-Bacon Emulsion, prepared
(make sure to keep the solids for the filling, below)

For the shells:
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3 egg yolks
3 ounces cream cheese, softened

For the filling :
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 mushroom, chopped
1 Tbsp sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 Tbsp pimientos, chopped
solids left from tomato-bacon emulsion
1 tsp dried chives

To Prepare:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degree Fahrenheit.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine filling ingredients. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until thick, stiff peaks form, about 3-5 minutes. Set aside.
4. In another mixing bowl, combine egg yolks and cream cheese.
5. Carefully fold yolk mixture into whites.
6. Spoon batter into greased standard-sized cupcake pans.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.
8. While rolls are still warm, loosely separate from the pans.

To Assemble:
1. Carefully pull apart or slice  shells.
2. Spoon filling into shells.
3. Plate sandwich and draw a line of emulsion with a spoon down the plate.
4. Refrigerate remaining.

Makes 6-12 large sandwiches, depending.

For 1/12 recipe (large cream puff or 2 small): Calories: 123.4, Carbohydrates: 1.3 g, Fiber:  .25 g, Net Carbohydrates:  1 g, Protein: 3.9 g, Fat: 11.5 g
Per entire recipe: Calories: 1481, Carbohydrates: 15.7 g, Fiber: 3 g, Net Carbohydrates: 12.7 g, Protein: 46.6 g, Fat: 138.6 g