I puréed bacon.

True story. I made a soup for dinner tonight that involved putting bacon in a blender. Thank god it's fall.

From One Pot, One Bowl:

Bacon & Pea Soup
All the flavor of traditional pea and ham soup, but with a fraction of the effort, time, and money.

Serves 4
3/4 pound thick cut bacon, chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 1/2 cups frozen peas (reserve a few for garnish)
1 box (32 ounces) vegetable broth [I used chicken broth instead.]

In a large saucepan, fry the bacon until golden. Set aside some for garnish. Move the rest to the side and in the fat gently fry the onion until just translucent. Add the peas and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the peas are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Using a handheld blender, blend the soup until smooth. To serve, pour the soup into bowls and garnish with a few whole peas and a little crispy bacon. 

Omigosh is this delicious. We don't have an immersion blender, so I just did it in two batches in the blender and it worked out fine. I served it with the Maltese Cheese Pie from the same cookbook.

Maltese Cheese Pie
With four simple ingredients, this pie is really quite amazing.

Serves 4 to 6
3 eggs
1 container (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line an 8-inch round baking dish with parchment paper. In a bowl, beat the eggs; set aside a small amount to paint the top of the pie. Stir the ricotta and parsley into the eggs. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Line the baking dish with 1 sheet of the pastry. Pour in the ricotta mixture and cover with the remaining pastry; seal the edges with a fork and trim the excess pastry. Brush the top crust with the reserved egg and cut 2 or 3 vent holes. Bake until the pastry is golden on top 35 to 40 minutes.

This turned out mostly okay. The puff pastry didn't quit firm up how I expected, maybe I just needed to leave it in longer. But it was warm and cheesy and went well with the pea soup on this chilly, rainy night.

I checked out this cookbook from the library, and it's okay. I wouldn't rush out and buy it. The gimmick is 4 ingredients in one pot or bowl. Mostly I've used it as a good place to get ideas and then use the recipe as a starting off point for a dish. These two recipes, however, were worth sharing. 

Happy fall!