guest post from PIP Aunt Kathy: rumaki at Girls’ Night In

A MEMO FROM THE CEO OF PIP: I asked my fabulous Aunt Kathy to guest post after enjoying not only her company, but a certain appetizer at a recent get together. That subconscious foresight is coming in handy this morning: after an amazing yet exhausting weekend at yoga teacher training weekend, I’m happy to hand over the blog to a trusted PIP team member!

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Hi Everyone: PIP Aunt Kathy here.  I am not a blogger but I’m a fan of some of the NEO bloggers.  I love reading WhyCLE and recently started to read SMITTEN…in Cleveland, just to name a few.  But my overall favorite is Poise in Parma.  Not only is Alicia my niece but sometimes I show up in a blog.  My wonderful niece asked me to guest post and I’m taking up her on the offer.

Recently, Alicia’s mother, my sister, had a Girls’ Night In party at her house in Chagrin Falls.  Since I love to cook and hate to go to a party empty handed, I told my sister that I would bring Summer Pizza along with some other stuff.  Thursday night before the party, I started off baking the crust for the pizza.  Instead of the typical 18 minutes or so in the oven, I accidentally baked mine a little bit longer.  The crust came out a bit darker than I wanted it.  But I talked myself into believing that it was okay and still edible. 

The next morning, I decided to finish the pizza and made the ranch cream cheese topping.  I carefully spread it out over the crust and was pretty proud of myself that it was coming all together… until I somehow knocked the cookie sheet off the counter and onto the floor.  As Murphy’s Law would have it, it fell cream cheese side down.  I tried to convince myself that no one would notice the plethora of black cat hair that was now a “topping” on my summer pizza.  But, I came to my senses and realized it was a goner.

I didn’t want to show up empty handed so I frantically looked through my kitchen to see what I could pull together for an hors d’oeuvre.  I found a pound of bacon in the freezer and 2 cans of whole chestnuts in the pantry.  Thank God I stocked up during Chinese New Year sales at Giant Eagle. The light bulb switched on over my head and I knew I had a plan.  I quickly went through my very well organized collection of recipes and found my recipe for rumaki. 

Typically, rumaki is made bacon wrapped around a scallop, shrimp or a chicken liver baked with a barbeque sauce.  But, in the “poor man’s” variety, you can use a whole water chestnut. 

That night at the party, after I found myself inhaling the fourth or fifth rumaki, I realized I never missed the cat hair covered summer pizza.

PIP Aunt Kathy’s “Girls’ Night In” Rumaki

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound of bacon
• 2 – 8 ounce cans of whole water chestnuts drained
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup chili sauce 

METHOD:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
• Cut the pound of bacon in half. Wrap one half strip of bacon around a water chestnut and secure it with a wooden toothpick.  Place in a shallow baking dish. 
• When done wrapping, place baking dish in the oven for 20 minutes. 
• While the wraps are baking, in a small mixing bowl combine the brown sugar, mayonnaise and chili sauce to make a BBQ sauce. 
• After the wraps have finished baking, transfer them to a second baking sheet to remove them from their grease. 
• Pour the sauce over the warps and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the bacon is crispy. 
• Serve hot and enjoy!

Many thanks to PIP Aunt Kat for sharing this recipe: while her summer pizza is quite good, her rumaki is FTW!