Tuesday Night Supper: Fast Frittata

Frittata (plural: Frittati?) is the quick cook's best friend. The only required ingredients is eggs: beyond that, the sky's the limit. (I will say, at times, it's not the most photogenic of dishes, thus, this picture.)

My quick formula for frittata requires something sort of starchy (potatoes, rice, pasta, cubes of bread), a vegetable (or several) and some kind of cheese. That said, I have made frittatas (frittatii?) with only vegetables, or with no cheese, etc. The formula is very flexible.

Last night's frittata used leftover Spanish potato salad (potatoes boiled and tossed with romesco sauce) and artichoke hearts left from Monday night's pasta dish.

First, I sauteed the potato salad and artichoke hearts. I just wanted to warm them up, since they were already cooked. While they were cooking, I whisked 6 eggs in a bowl. When the potatoes and artichokes were warmed through and sizzling, I poured the eggs over them (I used a 12" non-stick skillet for 6 eggs ).

I cooked the eggs for about minutes, using a rubber spatula to clean egg off the side of the pan . When the eggs looked mostly set (just a little runny on top), I put the pan under the broiler for another 5 minutes to cook the frittata through. I did not use cheese in this dish because the romesco sauce was fairly rich-tasting and I didn't think I would need the extra richness and saltiness from cheese (I was right).

Let the frittata sit while you set the table. Cut into wedges and serve.

Note 1: My method makes a thin frittata. If you want a thicker frittata, use a smaller pan, and cook the frittata over lower heat.

BTW - My lettuce was stored last week, using my super-duper lettuce preservation method. It truly works well.

Week of April 27: Monday Night Supper

Okay, so this is shaping up to be another "cooking by the seat of my pants" kind of week. But this time I don't even have a gorgeous panoply of produce to work with. So, no meal plan for the week again, and I am cooking from the pantry yet again. Thank goodness I have a well-stocked pantry!

So, Monday night I pulled together the pantry cook's greatest tools: dry pasta and canned beans. If you have those two items in the larder, you have nothing to worry about. Then I rooted around in the fridge and freezer and to see what else I could find. I am also fortunate that the chives in my herb garden are taking off.

I ended up with a box of orzo, a can of chickpeas, a half jar of tuna packed in oil, a bag of frozen artichoke hearts (great product to have on hand), a lemon, parsley (keeps a long time in the fridge) and thyme from the vegetable drawer and chives from the garden.

Making dinner was pretty simple. Cook the pasta (orzo doesn't take long to cook). When you drain it, save about 1 cup of the cooking water.

While it's cooking, make the sauce: Cut the artichokes in half (the long way). Saute them with a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the artichokes are browned and warmed through (I threw them in straight from the freezer), add in one can of drained chickpeas. When they are warm, add in the tuna (with its oil). Break up any large pieces, but leave the tuna chunky. Toss in the zest from one lemon, the juice of one lemon, some thyme, and finely chopped parsley and chives. Stir and season with salt and lots of black pepper.

Add your cooked pasta to the pan - you may not want to add all of it. The amount of sauce I made was enough for about 1/2 pound of pasta (before cooking). If the pasta and sauce seem too dry, add 1/4-1/2 cup pasta cooking water and stir. Add more water and a little olive oil if it's still too dry. Done.

Note: This is a very adaptable dish: I could have gone a different way and made it with dried mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, black olives and anchovies (keeping the chickpeas, chives and parsley in the dish). I prefer little shell pasta when I'm cooking with chickpeas (the beans nestle into the shells), but I didn't have any.

Now what am I making for dinner tonight?

Happy Easter Monday

For those who celebrated Orthodox Easter yesterday, happy Easter to you. I was raised Orthodox and while I'm not too observant these days, Easter is a very important holiday.

We had a lovely Sunday afternoon at a pot luck lunch organized by our local convivium of Slow Food. The meal had a Spanish theme, but due to a serendipitous conversation with my mother about the dessert she was making, I decided to follow her lead and make the same thing (she's a smart lady, my mom is).

This is from Martha Stewart Living (March 2008) issue. It is not on her website (Believe me, I looked) and I'll transcribe the recipe for you if there's interest.

The Greeks out there would call this dessert galatoboureko, Martha et al. called it Semolina Custard Tart with Honeyed Pine Nuts. More descriptive, I'd agree. Galatoboureko is a custard, thickened with semolina flour in addition to eggs, wrapped in buttery phyllo and topped with honeyed syrup (the pine nuts are a nontraditional touch). I dusted it with non-melting confectioners' sugar from King Arthur Flour - what a marvelous invention!

It was very delicious, and unlike Greek desserts you may be used to, it was not too sweet. As a result, it was a super conclusion to a filling and convivial meal.

Drink of the Week: Negroni

The Negroni is one of many drinks in the pantheon of "Classic but Sorta Forgotten Cocktails." (It's so forgotten that I actually had to talk a bartender through the process of making one recently. He did a fine job making it, but then killed any chance for a large tip by asking "Why would you want to drink something that tastes so horrible?")

... anyhoo ...

It's a simple drink and rather refreshing as the weather starts to get warmer. Tonight I had mine up, but it's completely acceptable to serve this drink on the rocks. You can also make it a "longer" drink by putting it into a tall glass and topping it off with soda. That variation is called an Americano.

Negroni
In an iced mixing glass, combine equal portions* of:

• Gin (Beefeater is a good choice here)
• Campari
• Sweet vermouth

Stir until well chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist**. (If you are making an Americano, use an orange slice instead.)

* Some like a drink that is ginnier (the Campari can be very strong). In that case, I suggest a ratio of 2 or 3 parts gin to 1 part of each of the other ingredients. I suggest Campari newbies try a 3 to 1 to 1 ratio, just to get their feet wet, as it were.

** The drink in the picture above is garnished with candied kumquats. As you know, I am a fancypants kinda gal and had said garnish in the fridge. Any other time, I'd be using an orange twist like a normal person.

Thursday Night Supper: Sandwiches and Sprouts

So, I have almost used up all my vegetables from my frenzy of produce purchasing last Sunday. Eagle-eyed readers will note that I haven't really used up the root vegetables yet, that is true, and that is because I thought they could wait for while - I wanted to get all the leafy, fresh stuff cooked first.

The last item I had left to conquer were some gorgeous brussels sprouts (yes, I said gorgeous). I normally roast sprouts in a hot oven. However, it was beautiful out and the idea of heating up the kitchen was rather unappealing.

So, I grilled 'em. What a happy outcome. It reduced the sulfur-cabbageyness that sprouts haters don't like. The sprouts took on a nice smoky note which was accented by the handful of speck I tossed over the top towards the end of cooking.

This method is highly recommended.

To grill your sprouts you will need a grill-top wok or grilling rack. This makes it easy to just toss the sprouts on the grill. If you don't have a grill pan, you could skewer the sprouts like kebabs, I suppose.

Slice your sprouts in half and toss them with salt, pepper and oil. Grill the spouts (stirring them occasionally) over medium high heat until they start to soften and brown (about 10 minutes). Towards the end of cooking, toss a handful of chopped ham, speck or semi-cooked chopped bacon over the top (optional). When done, throw them in a bowl and sprinkle on a wee bit more salt and perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice.

We ate ours as a side dish with Italian cold cut sandwiches, but I think this dish could be a nice cole slaw replacement (assuming you can find sprouts later in the year - they do tend to be very seasonal and I see the season coming to an end soon).

Wednesday Night Supper: Red Curry and Rice

Red and green curry pastes (and coconut milk) are your friends. It's amazing what deliciousness you can whip up when you have these key ingredients in the pantry.

I found the Thai Kitchen brand in my local Shaw's supermarket and the cans at my Asian market. The jars work fine, although they are rather hot hot hot (test your palate first - the heat gets hotter as the dish sits too).

Last night we had yu toy greens (sometimes called Chinese broccoli. Gai lan is also called Chinese broccoli), stirfried with garlic and chilies, and a red curry with tofu over jasmine rice.

Yu toy, like every other leafy green out there, really reduces down after you cook it. See before and after pics.

The curry is super easy to make if you have curry paste and coconut milk. I had limited proteins at my disposal, but I did have a half-pound block of firm tofu in the freezer. When you thaw frozen tofu it takes on a crumbly, scrambled eggy texture which is quite nice when crumbled into a curry sauce.

To make my curry, I sauteed some thin sliced onion and chopped carrots (just to give them a a head start on softening up). When they were a little soft, I added two teaspoons of red curry paste (Thai Kitchen brand). I stirred that around to "toast" the curry paste.

When the paste was fragrant, I added a can of coconut milk. I left it to simmer for a few minutes and added about a cup of chicken broth to loosen the sauce up (undiluted coconut milk is rich). I added in the tofu and let everything simmer gently while I waited for the greens and the rice to finish up. I tossed in a handful of cilantro and thai basil to finish. (Sorry, realized I have no picture of the finished dish.)

The whole process took about 20 minutes from start to finish, not counting waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

We finished with a salad of chunks of cantaloupe and cucumber tossed with mint, basil, chilies and lime.

Tuesday Night Supper: Antipasti Plates

When you have an assortment of items in the larder, a nice option for dinner (albeit a slightly time-consuming one) is to set a table full of antipasti. Traditional dishes include things like olives, cheeses and cold cuts. Raw or cooked vegetable salads are good additions also.

In an effort to use up more of the items we purchased on Sunday, these are the items I put together for dinner:

• Grilled eggplant in agrodolce (sweet and sour sauce)
• Melon wrapped with speck (similar to prosciutto, but it's smoked)
• Asian pears wrapped with bresaola (an air dried beef - sort of like really elegant beef jerky) and mimolette (a Gouda-like hard French cheese)
• Thinly sliced fennel in a lemon vinaigrette
• Semolina bread
  

Now this all sounds pretty fancypants (and I swear I really do eat things like hot dogs and french fries), but it was easy to put together and pretty quick, relatively speaking. Total kitchen time was about 45 minutes, including grilling the eggplant.

Sorry, no recipes again, but these dishes are easy enough that you don't need them.

For the melon dish: wrap thinly sliced melon wedges with strips of speck or prosciutto. The melon must be ripe (that is really the toughest part of this dish - finding the melon). I used about 1/4 pound of speck for one small melon.

For the Asian pears: wrap wedges of Asian pears (or ripe "normal" pears) with bresaola (you may wish to cut the bresaola in half - it's generally sorta wide), tuck in a piece of mimolette (or cheddar or aged Gouda), serve on a piece of radicchio (or Belgian endive or Bibb lettuce). Drizzle with olive oil.

For the eggplant agrodolce: Slice your eggplant into 1/2" slices. Drizzle with oil and grill or broil until cooked through. In a small saucepan, saute a minced shallot. When soft, add 1/4 cup or so of good red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar), a small handful of raisins and a tablespoon of capers. Simmer for a few minutes (this will be whiffy, simmering vinegar is certainly sinus-clearing). Pour the sauce over the eggplant, season with salt and pepper. This is better the next day when the sauce has had a moment to seep into the eggplant.