today i bring you an appetizer, perfect for the holidays. i learned to make this spread a few years ago while on a trip home. my friend was getting married and i was there to celebrate with her. i have known her my whole life and i was there to share with her and her family. the night before the wedding we were all at her parent’s house getting some food ready (yes, it was a self-catered wedding). among jokes and stories we made enough food to feed the guests the next day. one of the things we made was this spread.  my friend’s mom gave me the recipe which i immediately memorized and repeated at home as many times as i could. as you will see below, this recipe is pretty easy to make and it can be personalized depending your tastes.

i only make this for special occasions, otherwise i tend to eat it all by myself if i just leave it in the fridge.  i think the last time i made this was for last year’s holiday party and it was a hit, that was the first thing to go! 

here is the recipe for my neighbor’s cream cheese, bacon and chive spread!!

INGREDIENTS:
3-5 slices of bacon
3-5 sprigs of chives
8oz pkg of cream cheese
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs parmesan cheese
2 tbs romano cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS:
cut the bacon into tiny bite sized pieces. get them the same size.  

cook them in a hot skillet on medium-low heat. this is very important because you don’t want the bacon to be burnt. just crispy. 

while the bacon cooks, cut the green and light green parts of the chives into tiny pieces. they should be smaller than the bacon. 

check on the bacon… not done yet. 

still a little more to go. 

mix together the cream, parmesan and romano cheeses with some fresh grated pepper.  this works best if you let the cream cheese rest for a bit before starting. you want it to be soft for easier mixing. 

check on the bacon.. now it is ready!

place the bacon in a bowl to cool down. use a napkin to catch the excess bacon fat. 

add the mayonnaise.

and mix everything gradually adding the heavy cream.

once the cheeses become a uniform mass, add the chives.

once the chives have been mixed in, add the bacon. 

mix everything to make sure there are pieces of bacon and chives everywhere. taste it and add more pepper and some salt if you need to. i generally do not add salt because of the cheeses and bacon add enough.

once you have your spread well mixed, pour it onto a wax paper covered bowl. 

push it down and cover with the wax paper. 

fold the wax paper over it. cover it and place the spread in the fridge overnight.

flip the spread onto a plate once you are ready to serve.

i find that it goes really well with crackers but it also works well with celery and carrot sticks. 

one of the beauties of this spread is that it can be adapted to fit your tastes. we have made this plain, with only chives, with prunes, topped with strawberry or pineapple marmalade, with aromatic herbs, only bacon… the possibilities are endless! 

thank you for stopping by the blog, i hope you have a rad week!! 

hasta luego,