We LOVE Nueske’s bacon and I ran across this recipe in an email they sent around the holidays. While you can order their bacon from their website, you can also find them in Fresh Market as well.

This is a really simple recipe, but it does take a little time since you need to cook the bacon and wash the leaks. I cooked the bacon the night before I was going to make this and just popped it in the fridge. I also washed and chopped my leaks the night before as well just to make things easier the next day. You want to make sure you really wash them well and then chop those up. Be sure to look at the instructions for thawing puff pastry as you’ll want to factor that into your planning.

Once you’ve got everything prepped you’ll roll your puff pastry out, cut it into a circle, and pop this in the fridge for 15 minutes. I went ahead and cut slits (creating a sort of triangle) in the innermost section so you can pull those over once the wreath is filled. Preheat your oven and when it’s time to compile everything you’ll sprinkle on the leaks, cheese (we subbed ricotta cheese for the goat cheese), black pepper and then gently pull the triangle sections over. Mine didn’t stay in place very well despite using a little water, but it ended up being okay. Use a pastry brush to do an egg wash on any of the dough that isn’t covered.

Bake this for about 30 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown. Mine in this picture weren’t quite as puffy because I had something else in the oven at a lower temperature so it didn’t brown as nicely but we made it again the next day and it was much prettier (but I also didn’t get a picture of that one). Gently tuck in decent size chunks of the bacon and sprinkle the arugula and pomegranate arils.

This was a big hit in our family and I loved the different flavors of the cheese, bacon, arugula, and pomegranate arils all together. If you’ve got everything prepped beforehand then this would be an easy appetizer or brunch item. We’ll definitely be making this again!

Baking Ease	10
Time Spent	9
Taste	10
Visual	10

Recipe Used: Nueske’s