Perhaps you’ve heard of the Bacon Explosion. Since BBQ Addicts introduced their creation in December, the meaty meme has caused much excitement, some disapproval and one severe tummyache. The New York Times even took note.
Agreed: Bacon is proof that God loves and wants us to be happy. But I wondered if one could cook up a similar fatty (BBQ jargon, get with it) without fear of a Heart Explosion. I knew my buddy Ryan Lotz, a knowledgeable foodie and the most charming server/bartender at Lineage, was up to the task.
After a brainstorming session — mostly his brain — and a trip to Shaw’s, Chef Ryan and I got to work on the…dun dun dun…Vegetable Explosion. What follows is our rough draft of a recipe, though it certainly didn’t taste rough. It tasted delicious. Without further ado…
The Vegetable Explosion
Chef Ryan with a zucchini strip, a bacon substitute also ideal for slapping.
Ingredients
Roll:
3 zucchinis, sliced thin
1 egg
About 16 oz. chopped mushrooms
3 tbsp. butter
Grated parmesan cheese
1 slice white bread, cubed
2 tsp. milk
2 red peppers, roasted then sliced
Half a red onion, halved then sliced
Olive oil or vegetable oil
Salt
4 oz. goat cheese (herbed, if desired)
Rub:
1 tsp. champagne vinegar
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. crushed red pepper
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of half an orange
Salsa:
Zest of half an orange
1 orange, segmented
1 lemon, segmented
Olive oil, about a tsp., to taste
Crushed red pepper, about 1/2 tsp., or to taste
Salt to taste
Honey, about 1/2 tsp., or taste
Tools:
Slicer, if possible
Food mill, for the mushrooms if you want
Saran Wrap
Caaaareful.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice the red onion quarters so that they’re pretty thin — about an eighth of an inch. Sautee in olive or vegetable oil, or butter, and a little salt, until translucent. Set aside.
3. If you want to roast the red peppers yourself, do so now. Cover them so they steam, and set aside.
4. Clean mushrooms, remove stems if desired. Annihilate them. Ryan used two knives; it was terrifying. These will end up making up most of the “sausage” layer. Sautee them over medium heat in about 3 tablespoons of butter and a little salt. Set aside.
5. Combine rub ingredients in small bowl. Mix and set aside.
6. Slice zucchini. This part’s a bit tricky. You want them to have the consistency of a flat noodle. It helps to use a slicer — if you do, the key is constant (careful!) pressure. Set aside.
7. Take roasted red peppers out of their steamy container and rub the skin off – especially the black parts. Cut out the middle and the ribs, making sure to get rid of all seeds. Slice and set aside.
8. In a small bowl mash up bread cubes in milk. Add this to the mushrooms, along with an egg and as much grated parmesan cheese as you like. Mix and set aside.
9. On top of Saran Wrap, weave zucchini strips as shown. Since they’re not as long as bacon strips, you’ll have to double up both vertically and horizontally, overlapping the strips so that the weave doesn’t come apart when you roll it.
10. Spread “sausage” — the mushroom mixture — over the zucchini weave. Sprinkle rub on top of this.
11. Next, add the layer of red pepper slices. On top of that, the onions.
Almost there.
12. Over the bottom couple inches of this layer (we mistakenly did it at the top), add a row of goat cheese slices.
13. Take a deep breath. As you exhale, take the Saran Wrap and roll your square as tightly as possible (but don’t force it) up from the bottom, so that the goat cheese is in the center. Screw this up and you will have labored for nothing!
14. Carefully transfer the roll from the Saran Wrap to a pan, and put it in the oven for half an hour.
15. While the roll’s cooking, make the salsa. First, zest the rest of the orange used for the rub. Then segment the orange, and the lemon, and cut those segments in half. Squeeze the juice from the leftover bits into a small bowl, and add the rest of the salsa ingredients.
Make sure to get all the peel off.
16. When the half hour’s up, take your roll out and let it cool for a few minutes. Serve with salsa. We also ate it with some quinoa.
Nom.
Served with salsa, zest and sea salt.
There you have it: a heart-healthy Explosion. Please give the recipe a try and comment with your suggestions. Not down with the dairy and eggs we used? Alright then, impress us with your Vegan Explosion.
Lexy Winter
WBUR New Media Intern
@pubradiokitchen
prk@wbur.org
(All photos © 2009 Lexy Winter)
19 responses so far ↓
HOMEGROWNdotorg // February 18, 2009 at 3:49 pm
A genius re purposing of the BE – looks delicious!
LH // February 18, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I tried the leftovers last night. Delicious and delightfully seasoned!
JDS // February 18, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Sounds delicious, but I am a little confused as to when you add the bacon. It is not clear from the steps listed. Is it *before* the onions and peppers or after?
Thanks!
Marc // February 18, 2009 at 9:53 pm
When I saw that you were attempting a vegetarian version of the renowned, Bacon Explosion, I was highly offended and checked out your site just to prove that I was justified in my offense. Know what? I was wrong. This looks delicious and I’m going to make it. I might add some meat to it because I’m a total omnivore and I’d like to achieve some exterior browning, but this is definitely worth a try.
Buddy Bruno // February 20, 2009 at 12:12 pm
If your recipe catches on it will be a threat to the lives of millions of vegetables. How do you sleep at night?
Seriously, vegetables are not to be trifled with. I’ve even heard of vegetarians being stalked by celery.
corrinne // February 20, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I love this! As most ‘normal’ Americans, i was down-right offended by the Bacon Explosion. Then I ran across this great recipe… Low and behold, you even included goat cheese! My fav. I work for Chavrie, I am always look for a new recipe and this is topping my list. Love this!
JDS // February 20, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Hm. I’m pretty sure most normal americans don’t work for a goat cheese company. Now, I love goat cheese, really, I do. But I’m not convinced about the “normal americans” part is all.
Lexy Winter // February 20, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Thanks for all your delightful comments!
A couple clarifications:
No vegetables were treated unethically during the preparation of this Explosion.
For reals, there is no bacon in this.
jillrenee // February 25, 2009 at 5:22 pm
the instructions are to cook the wrap *in* the plastic wrap, correct?
I would advise against that, as when plastic wrap is heated all sorts of man-made nasty polymers can get into your food.
aluminum foil would be a much better bet; if a smooth surface is desired; perhaps then a double layer: parchment paper touching the food, then surrounded by aluminum foil.
Lexy Winter // March 5, 2009 at 11:27 am
Sorry if I was unclear. Do not bake in Saran Wrap! Transfer roll from Saran Wrap to pan. I suppose foil or parchment paper couldn’t hurt, but they aren’t necessary.
cat fud » the vegetarian answer to the Bacon Explosion // March 10, 2009 at 8:41 pm
[...] there’s the Vegetable Explosion. Unlike the approximately-50-bazillion-calorie Bacon Explosion, this actually looks good for you, [...]
Tracy // April 2, 2009 at 9:04 pm
This is entirely brilliant! Thanks so much!
Bacon Explosion: A Fan Club is Born // April 9, 2009 at 12:39 pm
[...] feel the need to lurk around our meat loving community, you might be interested in checking out the Vegetable Explosion or the infamous Fakin Explosion. Rumor has it that Clint from Smoke In Da Eye had his man card [...]
Bacon Explosion - FreddysHouse // May 2, 2009 at 11:21 am
[...] The Vegetable Explosion win [...]
Kate // June 12, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I like to eat.. I especially love to eat good food….Sadly, though, I don’t enjoy cooking, nor recipes with LOTS of ingredients…..
Tell me there is a restaurant where I can order this delicious looking dish…..
Vegetable Explosion : Sharp Sand // August 11, 2009 at 6:00 am
[...] came over last night and we constructed — “made” seems too tame a verb — a Vegetable Explosion. It was very good, though we would add more goat cheese next time and lose the citrus salsa, which [...]
Kathleen // August 17, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Looks great! How many servings did you get out of it?
Heather // August 19, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Hi there,
I enjoyed the original of this, but felt the mushrooms as sausage sub didn’t quite cut it. Plus, I had some vegan friends who were clamoring for a log o’ their own. So, I experimented.
Good options for filling sub:
- Trader Joe’s Soy chorizo (vegan or vegetarian friendly)
- 4 Boca burgers (vegetarian friendly)
Other subs:
- Rice, instead of bread (for my homey vegans – ya’llz crazy – more meat 4 me – mmm)
- Soy yogurt, instead of milk and eggs
- Tofu, the extra firm kind, drained well and marinated in something delish (tried a sesame ginger and a jerk marinade, so far)
I don’t like roasted red peppers, as I am a culinary heathen. However, some additional numminess helpers were in order, so the following were added:
- sliced mushrooms – cooked on stove in olive oil, garlic, salt and lemon juice with cooked onions for a few minutes
- spinach
- ground up smoked almonds (gave it a kind of smoky delish flavor similar to the original meat explosion)
We have also renamed these concoctions vegetable twinkies (and the meatastic version one meat twinkies) as, while these could be said to have unfortunate connotations if your mind is in the gutter, ; – ) the term explosion when related to food definitely does, gutter mind or no.
I’m going to Burning Man and making 3 or 4 of these guys plus 7 meat versions for my theme camp. Thank you so much for an excellent base to feed hungry burners, and have a lot of novel tester parties along the way! ; – D
- Heather
Heather // August 19, 2009 at 7:58 pm
One last note:
After slicing up the zucchini, try tossing it in a colander and throwing some salt on it. Leave it for an hour’ish and the water will drain out. The zucchini cooks a little better and is a lot more pliable for weaving.
- Heather