One of the questions I get asked on a regular basis is—how do you do it?  And no, they’re not asking me how I remain so effervescently awesome–it’s clearly obvious that’s a trade secret.  No, they’re asking me, “How do you put a meal together?  And not a meal from a recipe you’ve searched for and pored over and planned out and executed with ninja-like precision (speaking of, there are at least 5 ninjas in this article.  But you can’t see them).  No, a meal from just whatever you have on hand.  How do you do that?”

It occurs to me that somewhere along the line, cooking became some sort of mysterious alchemy to a disturbingly large amount of people.  Food goes in one way, and deliciousness—or for some, vast amounts of thick black smoke–come out the other.  What happens in between is a mystery.  But it really doesn’t have to be that way.  You don’t have to go down the long, dark path to Frozen Foodland most nights, or make the same safe spaghetti and meatball dish every single night.  Not that I’m hating on meatballs–I love meatballs, some of my best friends are meatballs–or anything like that.  But of all the things in the world to fear, making dinner shouldn’t be one of them.  You don’t always have to have a plan.  It works to just toss in what you have.

And what you have doesn’t need to be a lot.  Some of the best recipes (and the best non-recipe recipes) are made with just a few ingredients.  For instance: cream of broccoli soup.  I was sick over the weekend–darn those college students and their germs–and with the very little energy I had and apparently very high fever, I decided I was going to get out of bed long enough to make myself lunch.  And I really wanted cream of broccoli soup.  I don’t know why.  But there you go.  I’ve never made it before and while I’m sure there are thousands of varieties, but I just wanted to make something really simple.  I sauteed a bit of garlic in butter, added a ton of broccoli florets and some chicken stock (cooking things in chicken stock always makes them better), cooked it a few minutes until the broccoli was bright and relatively tender and then pureed it in the blender with a touch of cream, salt, pepper, a bit of red pepper flakes and…a handful of roasted almonds.  I had almonds, I like almonds, I especially like almonds with broccoli, and I figured they would add a bit of texture, some healthy fat and a nice crunch to the soup…and they did.  And that was that.  Threw a bit of shredded cheddar on the soup and I almost felt human again.  Cheese will do that to you.

Or try this: get a few whole red bell peppers.  Cut off the tops, drizzle them with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them at 450F until the skins blacken.  Dump them into ice water, peel the skins off and puree them with a touch of olive oil.  There you have an amazing sauce that will make almost any meal delicious—and with almost no effort.  Got some chicken or cubed beef stew meat in the fridge?  Season it with whatever you got (I like garam masala), toss it in a hot pan and sear it, then pour in the red pepper sauce, a touch of cream or milk and whatever herbs you have on hand.  Pair it with rice or a steamed veggie or eat it off bread or in a house, with a mouse, off a cat, in a hat, whatever you like.

Ok?  Feel better now?  Go on.  Try it.  Report back.  Bring me leftovers.

Broccoli Almond Soup
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp butter
8 c. broccoli florets
3 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp heavy cream
salt, pepper and red pepper flake to taste
1/2 c. whole roasted almonds

In a large pot, melt 1 tbsp of butter.  Add in the garlic and stir it around in the butter until it’s lightly browned.  Add in broccoli and chicken stock and simmer for 5-7 minutes.  In batches if necessary, pour the broccoli and broth into a blender with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, almonds and cream and puree together.  Serve.  With Cheese.  And then eat.  With relish.  Not real relish.  Unless you want real relish.

Red Pepper Beef
3-4 large red bell peppers
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 pound cubed beef stew meat, cut down further into bite-sized pieces if necessary
1 tbsp garam masala

Preheat oven to 450F.  Line a baking sheet with tinfoil.

Cut the tops off the bell peppers and clean out their insides.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and place them on the baking sheet.  Roast them in the oven until the skins have blackened and the peppers are soft, maybe around a half hour depending on your oven.

Place peppers into a bowl of ice water.  This will help cool them down, as well as make the skins easier to peel off.  Peel off skins as best you can.  Place peppers in a blender along with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, the cream and the oregano.  Puree.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat.  Season stew meat with the garam masala (or whatever spice mix you like).  Sear the meat in the skillet, 3-4 minutes on either side.  Turn the heat down and pour the red pepper sauce over the beef.  Simmer until the beef is tender, about 20 minutes or so.

Related posts:

1. Coconut Beef
2. Beef Pesto Pasta
3. Wrap it up: shredded pork and red pepper salad

Chickens are jerks.

But they do produce tasty, tasty eggs.  And I’ll admit that deep down I always hope that I’ll someday get to raise some chickens in my backyard that will be as awesome as Billina, the talking chicken from Return to Oz or even Chicken Boo from the Animaniacs.  That silly Chicken Boo.  He thinks he’s people.  But mostly, I really just like eggs.

Unlike other breakfast foods, which are often greasy or absolutely bursting with sugar which is not a good way for me to start off the morning, eggs are just complete little packages of deliciousness.  I like them scrambled, fried for sandwiches, hardboiled, deviled, baked with herbs and olive oil, and occasionally I like to go all out on the weekend and I very slowly scramble them over low heat for about 10-15 minutes with olive oil, butter, a touch of cream and shavings of my favorite flavored Monterey Jack cheese.  That last one, by the way, is deadly but delicious.  Eat lovingly but sparingly.

But I also like to make Eggs in Purgatory, which is basically eggs cooked in spicy tomato sauce.  One of my favorite egg breakfasts.  And you know what breakfast is really good for?  Dinner. 

I was on my own last night, as Josh was out buying me a baby elephant doing freelance somewhere.  It was cold, so I wasn’t going to walk anywhere, and I had no car.  I also had been too lazy to defrost any meat during the day and we have no microwave so something vegetarian was the order of the day.  Inspired by something I’d read earlier in the day about incorporating more veggies into your breakfast, I decided to do just that and make a souped-up version of eggs in purgatory–eggs reprieved, if you will.  I had a lot of canned tomato sauce, since Josh had, over the past two weeks, just canned about 75-80 pounds of tomatoes.  And I had onions, garlic, potatoes and bell peppers from our very last Needle Lane farm share box of the week (sob!). And I had olive oil and butter on hand because…well, I always have olive oil and butter on hand.

So it went like this, and again–this is really more of a guideline.  A method, per se.  You can mix and match just about whatever you like in this dish; it’s very versatile.  It’s one of those clean-out-the-veggie drawer sort of things and if there happens to be more than one person at your dinner table, it’s very easy to scale.

First I heated a couple drizzles of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat while I sliced a couple small Yukon gold potatoes and one small onion into half inch rounds.  Then I added a bit of butter to the skillet and placed the potato and onion slices in.  I let them fry there for about the length of two classic Motown hits, or about 7 minutes, until golden on the bottom side.  While they fried, I diced a clove of garlicand one small bell pepper and added them to the pan as well.  After the end of the second Motown song (Bring It On Home to Me by Sam Cooke if you must know), I flipped the potatoes over.  Then I added in two cups of tomato sauce (just cooked, pureed tomatoes—diced tomatoes, salsa, anything similar would also work) and a couple tablespoons of Sriracha sauce (to your taste, of course), and a pinch of salt and pepper.  This I covered and let simmer for 8 minutes or so, until the potatoes were almost tender.  Then I cracked two eggs on top of the tomatoes, sprinkled with olive oil, salt and pepper, re-covered and let cook for 5-7 more minutes, or until the yolks were set.  I grated a bit of my favorite jack cheese over the top, sprinkled on some chopped green onions and served to myself with a side of cornbread (ain’t nothing wrong with that).

Dinner for one and delicious.

Related posts:

1. Green Eggs…and some ham
2. I don’t really eat breakfast foods, but this one is an exception
3. Meal For One: Black and Green Pasta

I needed something to make and wanted something simple, that could feed a lot of people but without a lot of effort on my part and this recipe I had tucked away for an 8 layer Mediterranean dip did just the trick.  I got the recipe from Whole Food’s website, but ended up tweaking it a bit because I didn’t want certain layers, wanted to add others and in one case couldn’t find the ingredients for one so I mixed things up.

That’s the beauty of this recipe–it’s infinitely customizable.  And not to get all Sandra Lee on you, but it’s great for those of you who don’t want to make something from scratch because all you have to do is layer and assemble.  Layer and assemble.  And eat.

The original recipe is here, but my modifications are below:

Layered Mediterranean Dip

16oz roasted red pepper hummus
2 c. chopped baby spinach
1 jar artichoke hearts
2 diced tomatoes
1 c. lowfat Greek yogurt
4oz crumbled feta

Layer first hummus, then spinach, then artichokes and tomatoes.
Spread yogurt over the veggies and then top with feta.  Eat.  With
pita chips.

What are you doing for Vegetarian Awareness Month?

Related posts:

1. Chocolate chip (and pumpkin spice) cookies: best in the world?
2. Meat and Potatoes: the Green Edition
3. Veggie Carbonara: it's mostly healthy. And tasty. I swear.

It’s getting to be that time of year again.  Football season is in swing.  That’s good.  School has started up again.  That’s bad.  The days are bright and cool.  That’s good.  It’s darker in the mornings when I leave for work now.  That’s bad.  This post comes with a free frogurt.  That’s good.  The frogurt contains potassium benzoate.  That’s bad. But it comes with your choice of toppings!

(That’s a Simpsons reference, by the way.  If you got it, that’s good.  If you didn’t, that’s bad.)

But fall is also the time of year where I start thinking about, craving, making and eating what I consider to be the ruling class of the gastronomical world: comfort foods.  And that’s good.

Comfort food is not just a universal cultural icon, it’s a necessity.  It’s an inevitability, really.  It’s not just about favorites, it’s about associations.  And I have a lot of associations.  For instance, baked mac and cheese is one of my very top comfort foods because it’s a dish we always have at family holidays.  Apparently that’s not very common, but it’s a must for us.  And then there’s barbecue, which is more of a summer comfort food for me but really works all year round (I mean, I don’t turn down barbecue for just about anything).  I used to watch my dad make his neighborhood-famous ribs and homemade sauce every summer as a kid and it stuck with me.  Sugar cookie dough–because my mom used to make sugar cookies at Christmas time and I used to swipe the unbaked dough and eat it while watching my sister play video games.  Chili, because it’s the first comfort dish I learned to make on my own–and the first dish I ever cooked for a friend, in middle school.  And chocolate chip cookies because…well, I’m alive.  That’s reason enough.

And these are all things I find myself wanting in the fall and winter, as it gets colder and darker and a slew of holidays begins to creep forward (or sprint—Costco actually has Christmas stuff on sale.  In September).  So the time has come, the Lauren said, to talk of tasty things, of stews and soups and casseroles, of comfort foods and drinks. 

I started with a simple favorite, a classic favorite.  A favorite that’s basically two slices of nostalgia with a thick slice of childhood in the middle, buttered and griddled until gooey and hot.  Yep, that’s right: grilled cheese sandwiches.

Anyone can make a grilled cheese sandwich.  No, strike that.  Anyone should be able to make a grilled cheese sandwich.  It doesn’t always happen.  I’ve met a fair number of people who could not.  But it can be learned, and it can be loved and it can be perfect almost every time.  Really.

My favorite basic grilled cheese is exactly the way I made it as a kid: two slices of white bread, buttered, one slice of Kraft cheese and a moderately hot skillet.  Don’t move the sandwich around, only flip it once.  Eventually you begin to develop a sixth sense about when each side is done.  I can’t tell you how I know, I just do.  Maybe it’s the smell, maybe it’s the sound, maybe it’s the result of thousands of grilled sandwiches having been made over the course of a lifetime, I dunno.  And don’t think I don’t know that some of you shuddered when I said “white bread” and/or “Kraft cheese.”  I was a kid, we didn’t have tons of money and that’s what we ate.  And it was delicious, because it has been chemically formatted to be so.  And Kraft is an excellent melting che–well, it’s not actually cheese.  But whatever it is, it melts fabulously.

These days, of course, though, I don’t buy Kraft.  I can’t.  I can’t buy something that looks like cheese but can’t legally be called that.  So I buy cheddar instead, usually sharp, and slice it myself.  We often still use white bread, though, since Josh likes it and because it really does grill better than whole wheat bread, usually.  Multigrain and seeded breads get too…crunchy almost.  You need a soft bread.  Challah works well.  You want to well-butter one side of each slice of bread and you want the pan to be over medium high heat.  Not so hot that the bread scorches, but that it browns quickly and nicely.  And most importantly, you want a good melty-cheese, like cheddar, mozzarella or Monterey Jack.

I find add-ins to be optional and vary from person to person.  Josh doesn’t like anything added, but he does like two slices of cheese.  Paul likes tomatoes.  I like ham sometimes.  And apparently, I like green apple.

You see, once you’ve mastered the basic bread-cheese-butter formula (and arguably, what else could you need?), you should start to experiment, which is what I did on Saturday.  I tried out a new combination, which I think you should try.  That combination is:

• Slices of good Italian bread
• Thin slices of green apple
• Slices of leek-morel infused Jack cheese (from Great Midwest)–although any good, flavored melty cheese would probably do
• I did not use any butter.  Gasp!  I instead used cooking spray.  You know, healthier.  But whether or not you do that really depends on the bread and your comfort with achieving a nice level of brown-ness.  And I don’t mean your tan.

I wasn’t sure if it would work out or not but it was indeed delicious.  Melty and hot and crunchy thanks to the apple.  I ate it with a few chunks of leftover apple, some pretzels and a Mexican Coke–in a glass bottle of course.  It was like eating lunch at school again, only in a nicer, cleaner, quieter cafeteria that more closely resembled my dining room. Now that is comfort.

Related posts:

1. Thoughts on Grilled Cheese
2. Comfort Food: Rorschach Cookies
3. Comfort Food: Three Little Pig Chili

It’s been a busy spring.  So busy that I’ve fallen behind in my Recipe Experiments. But there’s one thing I never fall behind on:

Glee.

Yes, it’s true.  I’m a Gleek.  A huge one, too.  But I’m not alone.  There’s many of us.  We are legion.  We are loyal.  And we love to throw Glee parties and drink mojito slushies.  In fact, we had one such occasion this past Tuesday at the house of my fabulous friends, Brian and Rita.  We had a potluck dinner, complete with chicken marbella (delicious), quinoa (delicious), homemade bread (delicious), a corn-feta salsa (supremely delicious), more potato and corn chips than is probably healthy, homemade wine, the mojitos (of course) and these zucchini sticks.

Chase signed up to be the taster for this particular recipe experiment and he approves.  I’m in fact going to order a stamp that says “Chase Approves” and use it accordingly.  Seriously.  Well maybe not seriously.  But maybe seriously.  How much do stamps cost anyway?

This was a Parmesan zucchini recipe that I found originally on Cooking Light and then adapted a bit.  It makes a good appetizer, crunchy, delicious, and in there underneath the awesomeness and the bread crumbs is a vegetable.  So that counts towards your daily 5.  Just FYI.  And these are in fact so easy that I just prepared the parts of the recipe at home, brought it all to Brian’s and then assembled and baked them there.  About 5 minutes of prep, 20 minutes of baking and that’s all there is to it.

Romano Zucchini Sticks
Serves 8

3 large zucchini
1.5 c. panko
1/2 c. grated Romano cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 eggs, whisked
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut each zucchini in half cross-wise and then cut each half into 8 sticks.  Combine panko, salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes and Romano cheese in a medium bowl.  Dip the zucchini sticks first in the egg, letting the excess run off, and then dredge in the panko mixture, pressing as much of the mixture into the sticks as possible.  Place sticks side by side on a large baking sheet that’s been coated with cooking spray.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until browned and crispy.  Serve!  Eat.  Share.

Related posts:

1. the Great Recipe Experiment: #7-Red Pepper Cannellini Dip
2. the Great Recipe Experiment: #5-Asopao de Pollo
3. the Great Recipe Experiment: #4-peanut butter cups

The children of the corn give this two thumbs up

It’s officially summer here.  It’s sunny, it’s 80 degrees at 11am in the morning, my farm share is starting next week (!) and my husband can barely stand to go outside.  Yep, officially summer.

Every summer I seem to have a meal that I make on a regular basis, far more than anything else.  When I was 15, it was grilled chicken and rice.  Like every day of summer vacation.  Last year, it was hamburgers.  I seem to be coming into my groove when making burgers now.  It may sound weird, but ground beef brisket is the way to go, mixed in with a bit of ground pork if you’re of a mind, topped with a good flavorful cheese and onions that have been diced and cooked in butter with some dried herbs, and some guacamole.  But this year, this year my summer is apparently going to be embodied by simple evening meals of some good old grilled beef hot dogs and sausages.  Simple, quick, tasty, easy…perfect for hot weather, heavy on the sodium but light on my wallet.  But sometimes I feel the need to kick things up a notch and instead of slaving over an elaborate main dish, I instead serve the sausages simple and grilled (with some onions and peppers, of course) and pair them up with an awesome side dish instead.  Enter the corn.

Cows should not eat corn.  But I should.  Often.  Because its delicious.  Grilled, sautéed, roasted, whatever you want.  I’m a big fan of grilling it myself, myself, and not just because 1) I love to cook, 2) my 150 year old kitchen gets kinda warm in the summer so cooking outside is a “Yes please!” and 3) I like fire, but because it’s easy and tasty.  But if you’re used to just cooking up your corn, slathering it in butter (or buttah, as my grandmother from Rhode Island would say) and calling it a day, you should continue reading this post.  Actually, you should continue reading no matter what.

I’ve seen recipes for Mexican style corn on the cob for years but never bothered to make it, partially because I’ll admit that the idea of putting sour cream on my corn is kind of odd.  I have a very hesitant relationship with sour cream and I’m not really sure why, but I feel the same about cream cheese.  But I figured–hey, it’s summer and I’m very daring.  So let’s do it.  If you’ve never had it before, Mexican style corn is a street food served on the cob, grilled and slathered with Mexican crema, crème fraiche or sour cream, lime and cayenne pepper.  It’s creamy, spicy and delicious, and adds an unexpected but flavorful touch to a standard cook-out side item.  It’s also very easy to make.  I used the recipe below from Cooking Light, which is also reasonably healthy!  Yay!

Grilled Mexican Corn
from Cooking Light

1  teaspoon  chipotle chili powder (or cayenne)
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
6  ears corn
Cooking spray
1/4  cup  crema Mexicana (or light sour cream)
6  lime wedges

Prepare grill.

Combine first 3 ingredients.

Place corn on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; cook 12 minutes or until corn is lightly browned, turning frequently. Place corn on a platter; drizzle with crema. Sprinkle with chipotle mixture. Garnish with lime wedges.

I made a few basic changes to mine; like I said, I boiled it first to soften, then grilled it.  I sprinkled it with olive oil instead of spray because I like my heart-healthy fats.  And I used sour cream mixed with a couple tablespoons of lime juice.  It was good.  Josh liked it a lot.  And olé, that’s all she wrote.

Related posts:

1. the Great Recipe Experiment: #8-Romano Zucchini Sticks
2. Green Goddess Potato Salad…
3. Sorry Nemo: Fish Tacos

Immediately I thought, “I’ll do something French.”  It’s my usual fallback.  I credit this to five years of French class and billions of hours spent watching Pepe LePew cartoons in my youth.  That crazy Pepe.  Doesn’t he realize that’s a kitty?

I had the perfect recipe in mind, too, something I saw recently on FoodTV: balsamic chocolate truffles.  While technically a recipe from Everyday Italian, I consider truffles French.  And even if they were Italian….still fits the international theme.  Also: chocolate.  Win-win.  But then I actually read the recipe and realized it would take like 4 hours to make those things and there was no guarantee they’d come out right the first time, and it’s a weeknight and well—maybe those were better left for a weekend project.  C’est la vie.

So now I had to think of a real dish.  Go go gadget brain!  So to speak.  I scrolled through the 15 or so recipes in my Evernote cookbook that are tagged “French” until I found one for a Roquefort quiche.

Hmm.  Quiche, you say?

According to the omniscient Wikipedia, quiche is a:

baked dish that is based on a custard made from eggs and milk or cream in a pastry crust. Usually, the pastry shell is blind baked before the other ingredients are added for a secondary baking period. Other ingredients such as cooked chopped meat, vegetables, or cheese are often added to the egg mixture before the quiche is baked. Quiche is generally an open pie (i.e. does not contain a pastry covering), but may include an arrangement of tomato slices or pastry off-cuts for a decorative finish. Quiche can be eaten warm but is more commonly eaten cold, making it a suitable component of the food served in a typical summer picnic.

Commonly eaten cold, or room temperature…perfect for an office party.  Also, easy to make, efficient and provides a nice platter for toppings an ingredients.  Ching ching, all aboard for the Idea Express.

I ended up not making the Roquefort one, nor any of the other quiche recipes I looked up because I’m a rebel and I don’t need the claustrophobic and rigid rules imposed by imperialist recipes.  Ok, that’s not true, but I do still consider recipes to be much like the Pirate Code: “really more like guidelines, anyway.”  I knew that I wanted the quiche to be vegetarian, light, pretty and flavorful, so I opted to go with some standard Mediterranean ingredients: tomatoes, spinach, herbs and goat cheese.

Oh and not just any goat cheese.  Drunken goat cheese.

goat!

I know what you’re thinking.  “Wow, the people in the Mediterranean love their wine so much they even give it to their goats!”  No.  Well, maybe.  Someone might.  I’m not one to judge the farmer-goat relationship; that seems kind of private.  But no, “drunken goat cheese” is actually soaked in wine for a couple of days, hence the “drunken” and made from goats milk, hence the “goat” and is cheese….hence the uh, “cheese.”

Quiche is actually extremely easy to make, especially if you do what I did and use a pre-made pie crust (it’s not cheating, it’s efficient).  It’s also extremely versatile and scales very nicely.  I noticed that most of the recipes I looked at used 3-4 eggs for a 9″ pie crust and some cream and went from there.  I used my food processor to mix the ingredients thoroughly and grate the cheese, but all that can be done by hand.  I just happened to be gadgetically oriented.  (If “gadgetically” wasn’t a real word before, it still isn’t, but I’m going to continue using it anyway.  Gadgetically.)

Now for a confession: I didn’t taste the quiche before I sent it off with Josh.  No, I didn’t.  How do I know it was any good?  I don’t.  I relied on my gastronomical inner voice and my sense of smell.  And whew, thank goodness they were working because the reports that rolled in after the potluck yesterday were all extremely positive.  Whew.

The Drunken Goat Quiche
Makes 1 9″ quiche, serves however many you want depending on how small you slice it

1 9″pie crust, baked according to package directions
4 large eggs
1/2 c. (or so) heavy cream
5oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained well*
3/4 a pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tbsp herbs de Provence (or just dried Thyme if that’s all you have)
1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2oz drunken goat cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine the eggs, heavy cream, herbs, salt, pepper and goat cheese in a blender, food processor, or mix thoroughly by hand.  Add in the spinach and tomatoes and gently fold in by hand.

Set pie crust (still in pan) on a baking sheet that’s been lined with tin foil.  Pour egg mixture into the crust, smoothing out the top with a spoon.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until the egg mixture is set.  If you find that the pie crust is getting too dark while baking, wrap foil around the edges before putting it back in the oven.

*If you’ve never used frozen spinach before, you’ll want to run it under hot water until it begins to thaw out (it will get everywhere so be careful) and then wring the water out of it by placing it in a clean dish towel and squeezing for a good minute or two.  A lot of water will come out, which is good, but surprising.  However, you want to get as much of the liquid out as you can or it’ll interfere with your eggs baking.

Related posts:

1. Joie de vivre: bacon, onions, butter, potatoes, goat cheese, mushrooms, cream and wine
2. Brunchin’ Munchin’: Freakin’ Fantastic Frittata
3. Meal For One: Black and Green Pasta

Shortly before Christmas, my grandmother gave me a cast-iron skillet.  Gorgeous one, too, with nice high sides.  I have no idea how old it is but judging by the facts that it had been laying in the back of a cupboard, she couldn’t quite remember how she got it it and that the average age of items in her home is 53, I’m going to assume it’s probably about as old as me. But it’s nice high sides, ability to maintain a constant high heat and ease of going between the stove and the oven made it perfect for this morning’s potato and spinach frittata.

I’ve made frittatas before but I just want to reiterate how fantastic they are.  You can put anything into one, they’re fast and easy to make, very filling, easy to expand for as many people as you like and best of all, easily done in one pan.

I had intended there to be ham in this frittata but while shopping for the cheese and spinach, I completely forgot about that.  However, I didn’t even miss the meat, but you can always toss some in if you like or serve something on the side.  Like…well, just about everything else I make, there’s no real recipe here.  Just a method and some options.

So first I cut up about a third of a large onion and diced it, along with two garlic cloves.  Reflecting back, probably one garlic clove is enough; was a bit much for me but Josh adores garlic, so it was fine with him.  Anyway, I sautéed all that in the cast-iron skillet over medium heat in a bit of olive oil and butter.  While that was cooking along, I steamed one medium russet potato in the microwave, wrapped in a paper towel, for about 5 minutes or until fork tender.  Then I let it cool down a bit while I grated two ounces of Swiss cheese in my food processor (obviously, if you have pregrated, you can skip this step).

Then I scooped out the nicely browned onions and garlic and put them into a bowl with two cups of fresh baby spinach, leaving the tasty oil behind in the skillet.  I turned the heat up in the skillet, added a bit more olive oil and then diced up the potato.  Threw that into the skillet and let them get nice and crispy for a few minutes.  While those were cooking, I cracked 6 large eggs into a bowl, added a couple good splashes of milk (probably about a quarter cup) and whisked it together.  Scoop the potatoes out of the pan and add them to the onions and spinach; the heat from them help wilt the spinach a bit.

I added a couple more tablespoons of butter to the skillet again—I’ve been watching a lot of the French Chef lately and my butter intake is going way up—and waited for the butter to melt and the foam to begin subsiding and then I poured in the egg mixture.  Once I could tell that it was beginning to set—the sides will stiffen up and pull away from the pan—and a nice crust was forming, I added the spinach-potato-onion mixture back on top and then sprinkled on the shredded cheese.  Into the oven that went at 350F for about 15 minutes until the egg was fully set and puffy.

Then I served it up for the two of us along side some fresh navel oranges and orange juice (for Josh) and chocolate soymilk (for me).

I had a dream the other night—which precipitated this frittata frenzy (I like alliteration)—in which we were hosting Easter at our house and doing a massive brunch which include this frittata as well as ham, apple scones, cinnamon rolls, steamed asparagus and a massive fruit plate. Seriously, that was all in my dream.  My goal now is to make that a reality because it sounds freaking delicious.

The frittata options are endless—I mean, there should be eggs and milk or cream, of course, but besides that you’ve got endless vegetable possibilities (roasted red peppers, artichokes, leeks, eggplant and arugula are a few of my faves), meat possibilities (bacon, ham, turkey, chicken, sausage—even leftover shredded beef!) and then there’s cheese…I’m partial to a good Swiss or a sharp cheddar, depending on the meat and veggie choices, but there’s also parmesan, blue cheese, goat cheese, feta…just think of all the combinations.

Think of the deliciousness.

Related posts:

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2. Meal for One: Eggs Out of Purgatory
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Cut up one small onion, one medium summer squash and two cloves of garlic.  Mix together with a cup of sharp shredded cheddar, a tsp of salt, a half tsp of black pepper and a tablespoon of ancho chile powder.

Cut the tops off two large poblanos, clean out the seeds and insides and then stuff as much of the squash mix as possible.  Pour a bit of tomato or enchilada sauce on the bottom of a small pan, place peppers on top.  Pour any leftover squash mix over the peppers followed by more tomato sauce until peppers are fully covered.

Cover with tinfoil and bake at 425 for 40 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with more cheese let bake another 5 or until cheese is melted and gooey.

Enjoy!  Serves two.

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It was an odd weekend, really, this past weekend.  There was very little cooking and no baking.  Indeed, a pall of sadness hung over our apartment.  Poor Josh had to have all four wisdom teeth removed at once and…well, let’s just say, he’s seen better weekends.  And while I was reasonably healthy myself and not even a fraction as miserable as Josh, I tried not to cook too much because I felt sort of like a meanie making delicious food when he was subsisting on soft oatmeal and light Gatorade.

But today, as Josh slowly makes his way back to health and normalcy, I am slowly making my way back into the kitchen.  I baked a super easy cake recipe I found on AllRecipes.com, which yes, I did choose because it didn’t require butter and lazy girl that I am, I didn’t feel like trekking to the store to get more.  What’s even more shocking about that is the fact I was nearly out of butter to begin with.  But no matter!  I experimented and the cake looks good but as of the time of this writing, I have not tried it yet..

I then made a small dinner for myself.  And another bowl of oatmeal for Josh.  Pauvre, pauvre Josh.  That’s “poor, poor Josh” in French.  I could have just written “poor” but “pauvre” is way more fun to say.  Anyway, I wanted a simple dinner for just me but I didn’t want to go to the store, so I threw together what I had.

What did I have?  Well, first I had a small pork tenderloin defrosting in the refrigerator.  I had some eggs (well, I had one egg…and then Josh brought me some more after his follow-up dental appointment), and some arugula left from making pizzas with a friend, Paul, last week, and a block of Monterey Jack cheese.  Well.  That sounds like dinner.

First, I started with the pork tenderloin.  It was small, about 9 ounces, and well, there’s no recipe for what I did.  Did you know that you can make food without recipes?  It’s very liberating.  If you’re one of those people who worries about how you just can’t “throw things together,”  well stop.  I spend most of my culinary efforts on just randomly throwing things together.  I sprinkled the tenderloin with olive oil, salt, pepper and a healthy dose of herbs de Provence.  Then I placed it in my meatloaf pan (my meatloaf pan has one of those inserts with holes in it, so the grease drips out instead of sloshing around below the meat, marinating it with its fatty goodness, or badness, depending on how you feel about fat), turned the oven on to 400F and popped it in.  The high heat and the herbs create a nice crust on the outside which seals in the juicy goodness of the meat.  It’s fast, easy and you get a nice herby flavor that is easily punctuated by any sauce or side dish you want to add.

My side dish?  Was really more of a main course, with the meat being more like a side dish.  It was a simple frittata.  Here’s what you do:

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan over medium low heat.  Add in one clove of garlic, chopped, and sauté for a couple of minutes.

Add in a cup or so of fresh arugula and sauté with the garlic until soft and wilted.  Add a sprinkling of oregano and red pepper flakes (to your taste).

Whisk together two whole large eggs and two egg whites with two tablespoons of cream (or milk).  Pour egg batter into the pan.  Add a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Chop one ounce of Monterey Jack Cheese into small cubes.  Sprinkle cheese on top of the egg mixture.

Let the eggs cook slowly on medium low heat for about 15 minutes or until just set.  Then place under the broiler for an extra 2-3, just to fluffy, fully set and browned.

becomes

Scoop around the edges of the frittata with a flat spatula, gently lifting it from the pan.  Slide it out onto a cutting board or plate and cut into slices.

Easy peasy.    This is enough for one person, or can be shared by two as part of a tapas meal or with another dish.  The bottom and top get all nice and crusty and the inside is gooey and warm and delicious.  Don’t think you have to conform to arugula and Jack cheese either; the great thing about frittatas is that, like the flat omelets they are, you can any sort of ingredient and make something delicious.  All that goodness on the plate…and I didn’t even break a sweat.

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