Frittata Al Fresco

Dinner ready. Lounge playlist set. A perfect Friday evening.


Friday nights used to be a big going out night for me, but now I usually prefer to wind down the week with a mellow evening. I decided to call a friend I hadn't spoken to in a while, and the timing was perfect. Her kids were napping and she had some time for an undivided attention catch up session. It was a warm evening so I decided to open up a chilled bottle of white. My friend and I had our own virtual happy hour, and it was just what I needed. Our phone date ended when her boys woke up, so I turned my attention to what I would have for dinner.

I didn't want anything too complicated, but I also wanted to use up some of the vegetables hanging out in my refrigerator, begging to be eaten. My eyes roamed the shelves and found orange and yellow bell peppers, scallions, some fresh spinach, roma tomatoes, eggs, a bunch of cilantro, pepper jack cheese, and two lonely red potatoes. A frittata it would be then.


*6 eggs
*1/4 cup milk
*1/2 cup pepper jack cheese
*1 small yellow or red bell pepper, sliced
*2 tablespoons olive oil
*6 small red potatoes, sliced
*1 cup torn fresh spinach
*2 tablespoons sliced green onions
*1 teaspoon crushed garlic
*salt and pepper to taste


Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place potatoes in the skillet, cover, and cook about 10 minutes, until tender but firm. Mix in spinach, green onions, and bell peppers. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes, until spinach is wilted.

In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, milk and half of the cheese. Pour into the skillet over the vegetables. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until eggs start to set. Sprinkle rest of cheese on top; transfer to broiler and cook for 3-4 minutes, until melted.

Slow Cookin' II - Chicken Adobo

I woke up this morning craving my college roommate's chicken adobo. The last time I had it was in September when I was visiting her back east. I had followed her around the kitchen with my pen and notepad in hand, writing down everything she did -even having her measure when she ordinarily wouldn't have. I have that recipe around here...somewhere. I tried to recall how she made it, but I could only remember bits and pieces. One thing I clearly knew, was that I'd be in the kitchen for a while. Today wasn't one of those Sundays. Sure, I had the craving, but I wasn't quite inspired to try my first hand at it the old fashioned way. Today was going to be a lazy Sunday, I could already tell.

I decided to look up some slow cooker recipes and tweak them a bit, like adding carrots and mushrooms. I know it's not traditional adobo, but hey, I like it. I was sure it wouldn't be the same as sauteing onions and browning the chicken, but I was hoping to get close enough to satiate my craving.

I put the ingredients in the slow cooker, set it to high, and let it go. In the meantime, I was left free to do the dishes, take out the trash, and sort through two weeks of mail. I even had time to get a little writing done and relax with a cup of tea while catching up with an old friend over the phone. Oh, yeah, and I had time to make a few paper cranes. Yes, I said paper cranes. (I'm helping a friend make some for a wedding.)

Put the following in slow cooker and cook on high for approx. 4 hours. I've come to realize that not all crockpots cook at the same level so I tried to check on doneness after about three hours, making any adjustments to salt, acidity, etc.

1 lb chicken pieces, no skin
3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 large cloves garlic, crushed with the flat of a knife, and chopped
3-4 bay leaves, crushed
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp brown sugar
7-8 carrots, peeled and cut in large pieces
3-4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered
12 oz. package mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 large onion, chopped

After several views of a youtube video, I think I finally got it down right.



Results: definitely not as good as hers, but not bad for a first try!

Kale, Chickpea and Golden Beet Salad

I had to take something to a friend's potluck yesterday and couldn't for the life of me figure out what to make. I was in the mood to "make" and not just pick up something from the store. It was a beautiful Sunday and the sun was out. I could feel summer just around the corner. I put a bottle of lambrusco in to chill and headed out to the farmer's market. I thought the trip would help me figure out what I wanted to make; instead, I ended up with bags of vegetables all over my counter and too many ideas floating in my head. In the end I chose the kale as the main player and came up with this salad. (I also ended up making the Green Goddess Chicken Salad in the entry below.)

1 large bunch kale, rinsed thoroughly and coarsely chopped
6-7 golden beets, peeled
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
lemon
salt
pepper
ground roasted cumin

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. In bowl, add beets, some olive oil, salt and coarse black pepper, making sure beets are fully coated. Transfer to shallow baking dish and cover with foil. Cook for 30 minutes, or until a small knife easily slides through. When done, allow to cool, then cut into quarters. (Note: these can be roasted in advance.)

While beets are roasting, heat 3tbs olive oil in large pan and add garlic. (Don't let the oil get too hot or the garlic will burn.) Add kale and saute until it starts to wilt. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of rice wine vinegar. This particular batch of kale was more bitter than usual, and I found the addition of the vinegars helped cut the bitterness of the kale. Once kale cools, transfer to a large bowl. Add chickpeas, onions, and roasted beets. Toss with juice of one medium lemon, salt, pepper and roasted cumin powder.

The Goddess In You

Inspired by the cover of a Food and Wine issue from last year, today I made my version of a Green Goddess Chicken Salad. I took quite a few liberties with the ingredients, but tried to keep the integrity of the recipe -a creamy, herby, lemony dressing. Ordinarily, the creamy dressing is typically tossed with a green salad, but here it is added it to a chicken salad.

Interesting factoid: The coined "Green Goddess" dressing - a mix of mayonnaise, sour cream, herbs, anchovies and lemon— was created at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the 1920s, as a tribute to an actor starring in a play called The Green Goddess. (This, according to Food and Wine.)

Salad Ingredients:
- two poached chicken breasts, pull meat apart into large pieces (the F&W recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, skin and bones discarded)
- 5 celery stalks, with leaves (the light-colored ones near the core of the bunch), thinly sliced
- 1/2 red onion, chopped

Dressing:
In food processor, pulse together the following: 1 cup chopped cilantro, 1 cup chopped parsley, 1/2 cup chopped mint, 1 clove garlic, lemon juice of one small lemon. In bowl, mix together 1 cup plain yogurt, 3 tbs mayonnaise*, and the lemon-herb mixture. Set aside in refrigerator to chill.

In separate bowl, toss together chicken, celery, and onions. Fold in half of the dressing, adding more until you have your desired amount. Salt and cracked pepper to taste.

*I'm not a big mayo fan, so I used a small amount and substituted the rest with yogurt. You could also use sour cream instead.

Spicy Indian Meatloaf

For Mother's Day this year, I wanted to make a multi-course dinner for the family. Our mom likes to eat different types of food, things she would never make herself, where our dad is more of a traditionalist -preferring his homecooked indian food to most other cuisines. I decided on a few dishes that were new to them, yet that would have a traditional flavor that he would enjoy. This was our main course, and I'm glad to say it was a hit with the "kids" - that would be us - and the parents alike.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

1 1/2 lb 15% ground beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
about 1 inch of ginger root, finely chopped
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
one roma tomato, diced
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbs garam masala
1 tbs turmeric
1 tbs ground coriander
1 tbs "curry powder" (the one I used is called Raja Masala)
1 cerrano chili, diced
2 eggs
1 cup plain bread crumbs

In small bowl, combine all ingredients except for ground beef and eggs. In a larger bowl, mix ground beef and eggs, folding the eggs into the beef with a fork. Then add ingredients from small ingredients until evenly mixed. Place in loaf pan, glaze top with the cumin ketchup*. Bake for 45 min to an hour.

Cumin Ketchup
1 cup ketchup with 1 tbs ground roasted cumin (the roasting really brings out the flavor of the cumin, but if you don't have roasted cumin powder, use regular ground cumin). Use as much as needed for the glaze, serve remainding ketchup on the side.

Pan-Seared Polenta w/Asparagus-Chutney Puree

pan-seared polenta w/roasted red peppers and asparagus-chutney puree

A friend of mine asked, "asparagus and chutney?" when he saw the caption. I could almost hear the "tsk, tsk" in his question. My response was that in my fusion-mind, you will find the most unexpected of flavor combinations, and hopefully they come together to create something new and delicious. The sauce for this particular dish came about when I found myself with some very-overcooked asparagus. The flavor was still there, but the texture was so beyond mushy that I couldn't get myself to eat it. I thought about throwing the batch out, but I've been trying really hard not to waste food. With a few ideas, some ingredients in my refrigerator, and my food processor, I ended up with the asparagus-chutney puree.

7-8 cooked (in this case, overcooked) asparagus stalks
1/2 cup fresh cilantro chutney (cilantro, lemon juice, salt, cerrano peppers, blended in a food processor)
1/2 cup plain yogurt

combine above in food processor and pulse till you get a smooth puree

Mushroom-Arugula Omelette

Omelette stuffed with sauteed chopped arugula, green onions, and mushrooms.