Filed under Eggs …

Mar 27 2012
2 Comments
Breakfast, Eggs

Saturday Breakfast: Frittata, Fruit and Cinnamon Toast

After spending the better part of the winter obsessing over custardy, bread-filled stratas, I’ve more recently been on a major frittata kick.  They don’t require the forethought that stratas do, they’re the perfect way to employ bits of leftover vegetables, meats, and cheeses, and sometimes it’s nice to have a slice of toast alongside your eggs rather than inside of them.  As long as you have five or six eggs, you can make one for yourself.

This weekend I used fresh dill, half of a white onion, a quarter or so of a red onion, 1-2 cups of leftover dill fries and roasted tomatoes, 4-5 leaves of kale, a handful of sharp cheddar cheese, and, thrown in at the last minute, a couple handfuls of baby spinach.  Smoked salmon would have been perfect in there, too.

There are several ways to make a frittata, and my preferred method is to start it on the stove and finish it in the oven.  The stove top gets the eggs cooking, and the hot oven helps them puff up and brown a bit.  The ratio of ingredients changes from week to week, depending on what I have around, but in my 12″ skillet I typically use 6-8 eggs, 2-3 cups of veggies and 1/2-2/3 cup of cheese.  This particular frittata only had five eggs, which definitely worked, but another egg or two would have been nice.

Here’s the rough process that I use:

  • Preheat oven to 350-375.
  • Chop veggies and meat.  Grate cheese.
  • Whisk eggs with a couple of tablespoons of water or milk.  Add any fresh herbs or dried spices, most of the cheese (I like to save a little to sprinkle on the top just before baking), and salt & pepper to the eggs. Whisk to combine.
  • Heat a little butter or oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat.  Add veggies to skillet in order of cooking time.  I started by softening the onion, then I added the potatoes and cooked them for a few minutes until they had warmed through, and finally I added the greens, which I cooked until they were just softened.
  • Spread everything around in the pan so it’s evenly distributed.  Pour in the egg mixture, tilting the pan so they spread evenly.  Cook on the stove for a few minutes, until the bottom is starting to set.  Sprinkle on any reserved cheese, and transfer to the oven.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes (maybe more, maybe less), or until the top is set and starting to brown.  Remove from the oven, and let rest for at least five minutes before slicing.  If you skip this resting period, chances are the eggs will still be fused to the pan.  Give it a few minutes, and they should pull away, even if you’re not using a non-stick skillet.

Veggie frittata, fresh fruit with a dollop of yogurt, cinnamon swirl bread from Great Harvest, and The Onion.

Leftovers are great, too.  I like to sandwich a wedge of it between two slices of bread or, better yet, a bagel and top it with more cheddar and liberal amounts of Cholula.  A strip or two of bacon or a little ham wouldn’t be an unwelcome addition, either.

May 23 2010
1 Comment
Breakfast, Cheese, Eggs, Main

Mediterranean-ish Quiche

One girl + 18 eggs = time to make a quiche.  In addition to the eggs, the quiche was filled with odds and ends that needed to be used soon: half an onion, a small hunk of Jarlsberg cheese, a few handfuls of baby spinach, and a little feta.  I added a potato as well, but that was because it sounded good and I wanted something more to round out the dish.  The last time I made a quiche I used an awesome recipe for the crust, and I did the same thing this time around with just a few changes.  I swapped out a little of the white flour for whole wheat flour, and instead of thyme I used fresh oregano.  I love adding herbs to the crust – no more bland, boring crusts here.  The only thing I wish I would have done differently is to use whole milk or a little cream instead of skim.  I didn’t feel like running to the store to buy more milk when I already had skim, but I think milk with a little more fat would have baked better.  The end result had a slightly runny center, even after a lengthy baking time, and I blame it on the milk.  Maybe I used a bit too much, but a few recipes I looked at called for fewer eggs and just as much milk, so I don’t think too much milk was the problem.  Or at least not entirely.  Even with the unset center, it was really good.

Mediterranean-ish Quiche

Crust recipe slightly adapted from Savory Baking

For the crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/3-2/3 cup cold water

For the filling:

A few handfuls of spinach

1/2 white onion, sliced

1 medium potato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1-2 ounces feta*, crumbled

3-4 ounces Jarlsberg*, finely grated

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk, cream, or a combination of the two

*I chose feta and Jarlsberg because I had a little of both and they needed to be used up.  You can use whatever cheese you have on hand.

Add the flours, oregano, salt, and butter to the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until the butter is in pea-sized chunks, and then pulse while drizzling in the water until the dough starts to form a ball.

Turn out the dough on a floured surface, and knead a couple of times until it comes together.  I added a bit too much water, which is why this looks a little sticky.  Not a huge deal, but not what you should aim for.

Form the dough into a disk about 1″ thick, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400.  Once the dough has chilled, transfer it to a floured surface, dust the top with a little flour, and roll it out into a 12-inch circle.  Carefully fold it in half and transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate or cake pan, pressing it into the corners and up the edges.  Slice off anything hanging off the edge, and pinch and prod the edges to make them look pretty.  I should note that this picture only shows the pretty half of my crust; the other half was not quite as presentable.

Line the crust with foil or parchment paper, fill with pie weights or dried beans, place the pan on a baking sheet, and bake on the bottom rack for 30 minutes, or until the bottom is beginning to brown.  Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325.

While the crust is baking, you can prepare the filling.  Start by cooking the spinach in a bit of oil over medium heat until it wilts.  Transfer it to a few paper towels or a kitchen towel, let cool, and then squeeze out any excess moisture.

In the same pan sauté the onion in a little oil for 5-10 minutes, and then add the potato.  You may need to add a little more oil before adding the potato – I did.  Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are done – maybe 20 minutes?  I’m not very good at keeping track of time when cooking.  You can cover the pan to speed up the cooking time.  Season with salt and pepper.  You could stop right here, top off the potatoes with a fried egg, and have a great breakfast, but we’ll keep going.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and milk as well as 1/8-1/4 tsp of salt and some freshly cracked pepper.

Spread the potato, onion, and spinach over the bottom of the crust.  Sprinkle with a little feta.

Cover with the Jarlsberg.

Pour the egg mixture over the other ingredients.

Bake at 325 until the center jiggles slightly, anywhere from 35-70 minutes.  I know that’s a really broad range, but after checking at 35 minutes then resetting the timer a couple of times I kind of lost track.  I would go more by the consistency of the quiche than the time.

Set the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before slicing.  Serve with the best bacon you can find.  Or some mixed greens.  Whichever you prefer.

Mar 31 2010
1 Comment
Eggs, Holiday

Easter Eggs

Back when I was in college I decided that I was too old for coloring Easter eggs.  I was far enough from home that making a quick weekend trip wasn’t really worth it, and not making it home to celebrate made me forget about Easter and all of the little things that come with it.  Once I started working, though, I realized that every holiday is worth celebrating, sometimes solely because you have the day off of work (Columbus Day, I’m talking about you).  During those working days I was finally able to come home for Easter, and on a visit to my grandparents’ house the first thing I noticed was a big bowl of freshly dyed Easter eggs in the center of the kitchen table.  Knowing that my grandparents still colored eggs reassured me that I was in no way too old for the fun.  My celebrating could once again extend beyond a Cadbury egg and a handful of jelly beans.  I was back in the game.

Instead of the same old pastel colors with a stick of wax, I wanted to try something different this year.  First I was thinking that I would try to use natural dyes, but having to boil orange zest and beets seemed like a little too much effort for coloring eggs.  Then I checked out MarthaStewart.com, which has some amazing egg ideas, and I found some techniques that were within my not-so-crafty skill set.  The results are below.

Easter Eggs

1 dozen eggs, hard-boiled or blown out

Food coloring

White vinegar

Olive oil

3-4 coffee cups or small bowls

Pick three or four colors to start with (I used green, blue, yellow, and red).  For each color add several drops of food coloring to a cup along with three tablespoons of vinegar.  Add 1/2 cup water.  That’s your base.  From here you can either lower the eggs into the dye or try out one of the steps below.

Things we did to get cool colors:

1. Let the eggs sit in the dye for extended periods of time (20-30 minutes) to enhance the color.

2. Drizzle a tablespoon or so of olive oil into the dye before adding an egg to get the speckled look.

3. Add a darker, contrasting shade of color while the egg is in the water to get streaks of the new color.  The orange egg below is an example of this.  I initially dyed the egg bright yellow, removed it from the color and wasn’t satisfied with it, added several drops of red coloring to the yellow, put the egg back in, added a few more drops of red, swirled it around, and several minutes later I had this crazy orange-yellow, mottled, streaked egg.

4. Re-dye eggs.  If you don’t like the results after the initial coloring, throw the egg into another color.  See the blue/purple one below.  It was initially a bright blue color, but I thought it was a little boring so I dropped it back into the purple with plenty of olive oil to make it speckled.

5. EXPERIMENT!  I got the idea to use olive oil from Martha Stewart, but because I was too antsy to dye eggs I didn’t go back to the instructions before I started the process.  I couldn’t remember the exact steps, but I just messed around with the colors and ingredients and ended up with some pretty cool eggs.

One more thing: strongly brewed coffee makes a great coloring.  On its own it can make pretty brown eggs, and mixed with some food coloring it will make cool kind of earth-toned eggs.  See the solid green egg in the top of the picture below or in the bottom left corner of the top picture.

Finally, if you’re looking for a real Easter bunny to take your celebration up a notch, Farm King in West Burlington, Iowa is selling them for $20.  Real, white bunnies.  No refunds, though.  I should have taken a picture.

Mar 05 2010
3 Comments
Breakfast, Eggs, Vegetarian

Eggs + Chard in Purgatory

Before my flight home from Atlanta on Sunday I stopped into a couple airport shops for some reading material.  After much deliberation (seriously, I walked through about six different shops) I settled on InStyle, Bon Appetit, and Food Network Magazine.  I used to love InStyle, but what a let down!  Cooking magazines, on the other hand, rarely disappoint.  I subscribed to Bon Appetit for a few years, and I dropped it about a year ago after my pile of things to make was too overwhelming and I figured I’d save a few trees and start actually making some of the recipes before I accumulated even more magazines.  I miss it, but luckily I get to catch up whenever I go to my parents’ and read my mom’s copies.  Whenever I pick up my own copy, it’s a special treat.

I spent most of the flight staring at food photos and getting hungry, and I knew I needed to cook something once I got home.  After splurging all weekend and eating next to no vegetables I was leaning toward something on the healthy side.  The recipe that really jumped out at me was Eggs in Purgatory with Artichoke Hearts, Potatoes, and Capers from Bon Appetit.  I made my own version by swapping out the artichoke hearts and capers for green chard and serving potatoes on the side.  Add a hunk of crusty bread, and you’ve got yourself a meal.

Eggs + Chard in Purgatory

4-5 leaves green chard

1 small-medium onion, diced

1 28-oz can tomato sauce

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp (or more) red pepper flakes

4 eggs

Grated parmesan (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Rinse and dry the chard.  Sorry for the terrible photos – this problem should go away once my birthday present arrives in the next few days!

Chop the chard into 1/2-in strips.  I discarded the thick stems, but only because the weren’t looking so great.  If yours are OK, throw ‘em in.

Heat a little oil in a (preferably oven-proof) skillet over medium heat, and add the onion.

After a few minutes add the garlic, chard and red pepper flakes.  Saute for a few minutes until the chard softens a bit.

Add the tomatoes.  I used a can of chunky tomato sauce that was in my cupboard, but diced tomatoes would work, too.  If you use diced tomatoes you might want to drain off a bit of the liquid.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add more pepper flakes if needed.

If you’re using an oven-proof skillet you can make four wells in the sauce and crack the eggs right in.  Otherwise, transfer the mixture to a baking dish, make wells, and crack the eggs in.

Bake for 12-16 minutes, until the whites are set.  I would pay more attention to the time than to the looks because, at least in my opinion, baked eggs never look quite as done as fried egg whites, even when they’re completely cooked.

Carefully spoon the tomato sauce into a bowl and top it with an egg or two.

A little sprinkle of parmesan is the perfect finishing touch.

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