Potato, Ham, and Bell Pepper Frittata

Frittatas have to be one of the most wonderfully adaptable and forgiving of all foods.   They are good for any meal from a casual breakfast to a fancy dinner party; they are delicious hot or cold; and they cheerfully accept just about anything hanging out in your fridge or pantry that needs a good home. They’re like a less-fussy quiche, or an omelet that serves everyone at the same time instead of having to bother with individual breakfasts. They also store well; make a frittata all for yourself on a Sunday and not only will you have a special weekend breakfast, you’ll have a few weekday ones as well.  Got a pile of people to feed but only a few eggs, odds and ends? Make a frittata. Your victims guests will think you’ve gone to all kinds of effort, when in reality you’re basically feeding them leftovers because you were too lazy to go shopping. That’s what we call a win-win.

One of the other great things about a frittata is that it’s very easy to lighten up, if you find yourself wanting or needing to go that route. By decreasing the number of eggs, using a measured amount of higher-calorie, flavor packed ingredients (meat, cheese), and increasing the proportion of lighter components (i.e. vegetables) you can tweak it so that it fits your needs and still tastes amazing. You just want to make sure you have enough eggs to almost cover your solid components; eggs will puff up during cooking so you don’t need to bury them, you just need enough to stick everything together so you can slice it.

The proportions I give here work well for six whole extra large eggs. If your eggs are smaller you may want to add an extra egg, or a few egg  whites;  you can also cut down on the number of whole eggs by substituting 3 eggs whites for each whole egg, or supplementing with EggBeaters if that’s your thing.  

Consider the ingredients here a jumping-off point; whatever kind of meat, cheese and vegetables you have can all be successfully incorporated into your frittata. How about cubed chicken, feta cheese, and spinach? Or shrimp, Monterey Jack, and salsa Verde? The sky’s the limit!  

 A few notes for my WW friends; I ran this one through the WW Recipe Builder and came up with 3 SmartPoints per serving (if cut into 8 servings); your mileage may vary depending on what ingredients you use, always check for yourself (I definitely do NOT work for WW).  I would recommend serving something else along with it if you’re really serving eight; fresh fruit (0 SP) and toast (varied SP) would be divine.  Otherwise you’ll probably want two servings; well worth the 6 SP.

Enjoy! 

Potato, Ham, and Bell Pepper Frittata

8 small or 4 large servings

Ingredients : 

Cooking spray

½ small onion (or 1 large shallot) chopped

1 cup red potato, raw, diced 

4 oz cooked lean ham, diced

1 small bell pepper, diced (I used half red, half green)

6 extra large eggs, beaten

¼ cup 2% milk

½ cup (2 oz) reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot 50% reduced fat)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Optional: a few pinches of your favorite fresh or dried herb(s), to taste (dill is especially nice; tarragon is also nice, but potent – be careful!)

10 inch ovenproof skillet (oven proof is important here as it will actually be going into the oven!)

Directions : 

Preheat oven to 375

Heat the skillet over medium-high heat; spray with cooking spray. Add the onion and sauté for a minute or so, then add the potato. Reduce heat to medium; let cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potato is almost tender (dicing the potato quite small will help it cook quicker). Turn the heat back up to medium-high and add the ham and pepper and cook for two more minutes, until everything is heated through and peppers start to soften a little. Season with a little salt and black pepper.

While the potatoes are cooking whisk the eggs and milk together until smooth, then stir in half the cheese along with some more salt and pepper (and herb[s] if using.).  Pour the egg mixture into your skillet and check to see that everything is more or less distributed. Let cook on the stovetop undisturbed for about two minutes, or until the edges start to set. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the frittata and pop the skillet (uncovered) into the oven. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until eggs are completely set and frittata is beginning to lightly brown. Remove from oven ; cut into wedges and serve.

Lighten Up : Poached Eggs with Caponata and Polenta

And now for something completely different...

Yes, even your intrepid blogger needs to lighten up from time to time. I firmly believe in the "all things in moderation" approach: paleo, gluten free, raw vegan diets are definitely not the thing for me... I love food way too much, and I never want to lose that. The problem (or my problem, anyway) is when you don't practice the "moderation" part; it becomes far too easy to slip from "curvaceous"  to "cowabunga".  The solution (again, this is just for me; I don't presume to know your life !) is to lean more towards the lighter side of the "all things" approach. And so, a new feature on this blog: food that is definitely worthy of the "Culinary Orgasm" title, but won't leave you lying on the couch gasping for air.

Eggs in custard cups are something I'm rather fond of; there's a fantastic recipe here for Baked Eggs with Creamy Leeks that I really love (end of one of my Irish entries : A Full Irish Breakfast, Culinary Orgasm Style ...this recipe can also easily be lightened by substituting pan spray for butter and fat free half-and-half for heavy cream. No one will be the wiser; part of the magic of leeks). Whilst perusing my fridge this morning my eye lit upon some leftover caponata and polenta; this, I thought, would be the perfect first entry for my new feature. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day ! And it was perfect; indulgent and satisfying enough for a weekend breakfast, but light enough not to weigh me down for the rest of the day. (Bad pun not intended !)

Caponata  (a Sicilian eggplant dish, sort of a sweet and sour relish) is something that's readily available in stores, along with tubes of ready-made polenta. Look for both in the refrigerated section, usually near where you'd find hummus and/or fresh pastas (in my usual supermarket that's actually the same place). Caponata can also sometimes be found in jars, though the fresh kind is usually better. Both caponata and polenta can also easily be made at home; the caponata I used here is a lighter, less sweet version of my own making, I've included the recipe here, though I'm still in the process of tweaking it. Polenta cooking instructions are on the box; in order to slice it like I have here, you'll need to chill it in a loaf pan until firm enough to slice (preferably overnight). This is just the good ol' tube kind from the store. A few blackberries on the plate...and we have achieved Culinary Orgasm.

Poached Eggs with Caponata and Polenta

These can be baked in a water bath, per the leek recipe above; for one or two servings, the microwave actually works pretty well, so those are the directions I'm giving here.

For one serving :

1 egg
2 tablespoons caponata (purchased, or recipe below)
1 slice polenta, warmed (this can also be microwaved, but for extra polenta goodness sear the slices in a pan with pan spray until a little toasted on both sides)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pan spray

Spray a custard cup (or oven-safe mug, or small bowl) with pan spray. Spoon the caponata into the cup, then carefully crack the egg on top, Microwave until the egg is done to your liking; I suggest starting with 30 seconds, then adding time in 15 second intervals until its cooked just how you like it,

Slide the egg onto the slice of warmed polenta, and enjoy !



Light + Simple Caponata 
(loosely based on a Weight Watchers version, not linkable - sorry !!)

Pan spray  
1 small uncooked red onion, chopped  
1 small eggplant, diced (small  cubes)
1 Tbsp capers, drained and chopped  
1 tsp minced garlic  
14 oz can fire roasted chopped tomatoes, undrained  
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano  (or 1 tsp dried)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp vinegar  
1/4 cup water, if needed
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste


Spray a large sauté pan or a high-sided skillet with cooking spray. Set over medium heat, add onion, and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes, or until softened.  Add eggplant and continue cooking, stirring often, for 4 minutes, or until eggplant softens at edges. Stir in capers and garlic; cook for a few seconds, until fragrant.

Stir in tomatoes, oregano, basil and vinegar; add water if it seems dry. Bring to a full simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer slowly for 30 minutes, until slightly reduced and the eggplant is nice and soft.

This will make more than you need; caponata is tasty with all sorts of things. Serve it as a side dish, use it to top chicken or fish before baking, spread it on bread...whatever floats your boat !

Raspberry Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

(sorry, we had to cut into it..we were starving !)

More often than not, the scene in my kitchen unfolds like a Food Network show..."Iron Chef", maybe, or "Chopped" (or, as my friend AB likes to call it, "whack-a-chef") minus the truly bizarre ingredients (no way am I cooking with cough drops or strawberry Quik...not gonna happen.) We'll have an overabundance of something (on this day, it was sour cream - we kept forgetting we had some and buying more), pretty decent pantry staples (almonds and frozen berries), and a couple of hungry foodie judges (basically, that's most of the people you find around this place) Recently, these ingredients came together in this blog-worthy coffee cake - on my very first try, even. (That almost never happens - I always have to tweak a new recipe once or twice !)

I've made enough cakes - coffee and otherwise - to know the basics, and I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to end up with this one...light and moist, with a hit of fruit and that magic crumbly sweetness you find in the best coffee cakes. The sour cream needed an egg and a little butter, for lift and flavor..the flour needed baking powder as well as baking soda to counteract the slight acidity of the sour cream...the fruit needed to stay sweet and suspended in the batter, without turning the cake pink (which can happens with frozen berries), and the almonds needed some friends to help them get a little streusel-y. 40 minutes of baking later, and we were practically fighting each other off with forks to get more.

I have a feeling this cake would adapt well to any sort of fruit and nut combination...blueberries and pecans, apples and walnuts, peaches and hazelnuts... always use what appeals to you (or, you know, whatever you have around is always good too :) ). The particular technique I used here actually works best with frozen fruit, since I sort of poked it down into the rather stiff batter...similar to how the Strawberry Buttermilk Cake comes together. You can of course use fresh fruit if you have it - you just may need to make some little holes for it to land in, if the fruit is soft. Trust me, it will all work out in the end....and so, in the immortal words of the Chairman : Allez cuisine !!

Raspberry Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Cake :

1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup frozen raspberries

Topping

1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, soft room temperature

Powered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9" round or square baking pan (I used a fairly deep cake pan).

Whisk together the sour cream, melted butter, vanilla and egg until smooth. Stir in the flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until smooth (this will be a fairly stiff batter). Spread in prepared pan.

In the same bowl you mixed the cake in (so you pick up the last bits of the flour), toss the raspberries and 1 tablespoon sugar together. Dump this mixture on top of the cake batter, spreading across more or less evenly. Press the raspberries down into the batter.

With a fork or your fingers, work the topping ingredients together until combined and crumbly. Sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the cake.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until browned and a tester comes out clean. Dust  top of cake with powdered sugar. Let cool about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

a full Irish Breakfast, Culinary Orgasm style

Ed. note - second in a series of three St. Patrick's Day reposts this week...stay tuned for Corned Beef tomorrow !!

just a small part of the spread

I really love having people over for breakfast. Well, really, I love having people over for any meal, but breakfast is just fun. And Irish breakfasts are especially satisfying...just the thing for a day's hard labor. Or, in our case, a day's hard pub crawl (our traditional activity on St. Patrick's Day proper....we are lucky enough to live within crawling walking distance of some fine pubs...you'll have to check Facebook for those photos though ;) ).

We are also lucky enough to live within easy shopping distance of everything you need for a full Irish - and this year we put on a real winner. Whole Foods carries fantastic bangers (Irish sausages) as well as clotted cream, and this week had some of the best strawberries I have ever eaten in my life (which is why we needed clotted cream !) . Russo's has rashers (Irish bacon), and black and white puddings, which are also forms of sausage, using oatmeal as filler. White is pork meat and fat, and black is a blood sausage spiced with clove. I know what you're thinking...but calm down and try it...it really is delicious ! Corned Beef Hash from the boiled dinner leftovers of course, and Irish Brown Bread to round out the meal (with some amazing blood orange marmalade from Stonewall Kitchen). Oh, and eggs...keep reading for the eggs.

Bangers

Rashers, Black and White Puddings

Corned Beef Hash

oh, those strawberries !!

Irish Brown Bread

Mark did a fantastic job with all the meat, and his Corned Beef Hash is killer - it's the only time I actually eat turnips !

The eggs, though...that was my department. The problem with serving eggs at a big breakfast is that they're not the easiest thing to make in advance, especially fried eggs which are the most traditional in a full Irish. I could have done a mess of scrambled eggs or something, but that seemed kind of boring. However, Mark had given me a cookbook years ago as a Christmas gift (I sort of collect them), and it had a Baked Eggs with Creamy Leeks recipe that I'd always wanted to try. The perfect thing about them is you bake them all at once and just serve them up...exactly what I wanted. Besides, I seriously love leeks....in soups, roasted, steamed, sauteed....any way you cook them, I want them. I adapted the recipe quite a bit - really, it was just the general idea that I liked - and oh my god, were these insanely good. So luxurious, and yet soooo easy. Definite Culinary Orgasm !

Leek-y goodness

Filling the cups

Finished product

Baked Eggs with Creamy Leeks
Heavily adapted from "The Ultimate Christmas Cookbook"

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra to grease custard cups
3 medium leeks, white and tender green only, cleaned and thinly sliced (see note)
2 - 3 shallots, thinly sliced
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg to taste
12 eggs

Preheat oven to 375. Grease bottom and sides of 12 custard cups or other small ovenproof cups. Melt the 2T of butter in a frying pan, and saute the leeks and shallots until soft (not brown), about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the cream and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring, until cream thickens a bit. Add salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg to taste.

Divide leek mixture among the cups (which you have placed in a large roasting / baking pan), and carefully crack an egg into each one. Drizzle the remaining cream on top of the eggs, and season lightly with additional salt, pepper, and nutmeg (go easy with the nutmeg or it will try and take over !) Fill the pan with hot hot water until it reaches halfway up the cups, and place the whole pan in the oven. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the eggs are done to your liking.



Note : to clean leeks - cut the leeks in half lengthwise, and rinse well (leeks trap mud like crazy). Soak for 15 minutes in a bowl with water to cover, to which you have added a tablespoon of cider vinegar. Lift leeks out (leave sand in bottom of bowl) and proceed.

Buttermilk-Pumpkin Waffles

Necessity is truly the mother of invention. A day off from work and I was all set to get up and make a mess of truffled scrambled eggs (my new addiction...got some wonderful truffle salt for Christmas from a coworker, and I've been putting it on everything. It does things to scrambled eggs that should be illegal). However, my overstuffed fridge somehow only yielded two eggs. Woe.

On top of the fridge, however, was a stash of pancake mix. I know I keep saying I'm not a mix person, and I'm not - but pancake mix is actually some pretty useful stuff (mixed with beer it makes a killer deep fry batter), so we do usually have some around. So I decided on lazy woman's blueberry-pecan waffles...only to find I didn't have any blueberries either. Back to woe. 

I did, however, have many cans of pumpkin. (I keep meaning to try my hand at pumpkin creme brulee, but things like work and life keep getting in the way.) I've made pumpkin waffles before - basically by substituting pumpkin for water , same way I make eggnog waffles. (Like I said, we always have some mix around). Last time, though, they were a wee bit heavy, and I wanted to try and lighten them up but not lose that delicious pumpkin flavor.  In my fridge exploration I also found some buttermilk I needed to use up, and figured that was the little sumthin-sumthin my waffles might be looking for. Score. Light, fluffy, pumpkiny, spicy - just what I wanted. Relaxing breakfast in pj's achieved.

Buttermilk-Pumpkin Waffles

2 cups "complete" pancake mix
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tblsp vegetable oil

Mix ingredients well with a whisk, and cook in a waffle maker according to the manufacturer's directions.