Grown Up: Brie & Bacon Grilled Cheese with Fig Jam

It's no big secret that I love me some bacon around here.  Like hard core.  It's even noted in my Twitter profile, along with butter and living room dance parties, to you know, dance off some of that tasty saturated fat.  While I'm still reigning things in when it comes to decadence, I'm nowhere near swearing off my good buddy bacon.  The thing is, if I'm going to have it, I'm going to make it count.  Rather than snarfing it off the baking tray, hot from the oven, and just wolfing it down like a crazy person, eating bacon is going to be a production, enjoyed occasionally and with fanfare- like dancing around the living room afterwards. 

True story:  a little over a week ago I had this crazy night shift at work, cooking off 100 pounds of bacon and breakfast sausage for this über huge breakfast for 500 hungry men.  Ooooh the temptation - the bacon, not the dudes! - but get this:  I never once snarfed a piece of bacon off the trays, and Lord I was tempted.  But the breakfast sausage - that's another story....Anyway, came home at 3 in the morning and I thought the cats were going to eat me alive.  Where was this story going anyway?  Oh yes, my triumphant willpower coming to the rescue.  But I was saving it up for this sandwich, which I've been looking forward to for days and days and it did not disappoint.

So check it.  I don't think I've blogged about a single sandwich in the last 114 posts...pizza, yes, French toast, yes (oh yes!) but nary a sandwich in the bunch.  It's not like I don't eat them; they are like a cook's best friend - in a hurry you slap some good salami and decent cheese between whatever bread you can get your hands on and you eat it while catching your breath leaning up against a counter preferably away from all of the chaos.  Lucky days you take your sandwich and actually sit down and maybe read a magazine or check your text messages to see little kisses texted to you by your lovely and handsome new boyfriend.  Yes, that happens :)

This grilled cheese is all grown up - pig and fig is a most excellent combination already, then add brie to the mix and frankly it's wondrous.  I almost used goat cheese, and I think next time I want to make bacon count in my life, I'll re-do this sandwich with that instead.  Why not?  Experimenting is fun!  The fig jam lends a sweetness to the salty smoky bacon and the creamy brie melts just sooooo, making you wonder why you don't put brie in your sandwiches more often.  I bought some delicious walnut & currant bread from my favourite bakery here in Saskatoon, then slathered it with the fig jam, layered in about 4 pieces of bacon and 3 pieces of brie.  Crack some black pepper in there too while you're at it, then butter the outside sides of bread and fry them til golden or with a teeny bit of burnt that I like on my grilled cheese.  This sandwich is a keeper - fanfare all around!