Week 12: Chicken Satay Frittata

Tonight's frit was a last minute decision inspired by roaming aimlessly around Trader Joe's. I spotted a jar of Satay sauce and my gears started turning—I had a bush load of cilantro at home, throw some coconut milk & chicken in the cart and I was ready to cook. I decided to put the TJ's brand Satay back on the shelf and make my own. I loosely based my satay sauce on a couple recipes I viewed online, it was very hard not to eat it while the frit was cooking, it was delicious.

I used 4 small boneless, skinless chicken thighs and browned them in the frit pan in a little olive oil and s+p.

The egg mixture:
6 eggs
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/4 chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp sriracha sauce

Satay sauce:
1/4 natural chunky peanut butter
1/8 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp sriracha sauce
1/2 tsp agave syrup
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp soy sauce

Mix together all ingredients to make the Satay sauce. Mix together all egg mixture ingredients and pour into greased (from cooked chicken, drain extra oil out) pan over medium heat. Stir gently around a bit until the mixture starts to set on the sides and then throw in the broiler for a minute or two. Slice the chicken breasts into strips and brush with satay sauce. Arrange the slices around the frittata and then throw back into the broiler for a couple minutes until the top is nice and browned. Serve garnished with more chopped cilantro, thinly sliced red onion and the remaining satay sauce on the side.

This was great. The coconut milk gave the eggs a wonderful smooth and delicate texture and lovely subtle essence. I was surprised that the cilantro flavor in the egg was a little lost, which is why it was great to have the backup garnish. I made a simple salad with little heirloom tomatoes and dressed it with this outrageous 18 year balsamic vinaigrette mixed with a dash of olive oil. We got this balsamic for Christmas and I just cracked it open this weekend, what took me so long? It is divine drizzled over strawberries.

Special happy birthday wishes to my wonderful friend's beautiful daughter, she turned 1 this past Monday and I was lucky enough to celebrate with them this past weekend.

Week 11: Tunacan! Frittata Nicoise

This week’s frittata was inspired by a gift from our friend and
upstairs neighbor Paloma Torres. In our local grocery store, she found
jarred tuna in oil like they sell in Spain and gave it to me for my
birthday (March 10. Yeah, I’m 36.). The tuna became the centerpiece
for this week’s frittata, which after some back-and-forth with the
wife became a frittata with all the ingredients of the French nicoise
salad: tuna, red potatoes, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, black olives,
hard boiled egg, green beans, capers, and Parmesan cheese.

                           
The dressing was awesome, taken from this recipe on simplyrecipes.com—we had none of the fresh herbs, so we used tarragon Dijon instead of plain:

1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
2 Tbsp minced fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

We had some guests over so we made a 9 egg frittata instead of 6 and
we used a larger Le Crueset platter instead of a cast iron skillet. In
advance, wife boiled and halved the red potatoes, blanched a mess
of green beans, and hard-boiled three eggs. I steamed the spinach for
a minute or two until it wilted. Then I beat the 9 eggs with 2 tbsp
cream and 1 tbsp water. I grated a 2 cups of Parmesan cheese.

I coated the big platter with olive oil and the oil from the tuna jar.
Vanessa suggested mixing the steamed spinach into the egg batter so
that the spinach wouldn’t be clumped in one layer. This is smart, but
we also wanted to avoid having spinach touching the bottom of the
platter. So after warming the platter and oil, I cooked a thin layer
of spinach-less eggs first, then poured in the remaining mix of
spinach and egg.

The eggs cooks like an omelet under high heat on the stove. Peel the
edges back to allow the wet batter to seep under and cook fully. Have
the broiler ready on high. We felt the bottom cooking too quickly, so
we put the platter under the boiler to cook the eggs from above for a
bit. With the eggs barely wet on top, we removed it from the broiler
and layered the tuna on top in thin pieces. Back it went under the
broiler for a few minutes to warm the tuna and cook the last of the
egg. Then we topped it with Parmesan cheese and return to broiler
until the cheese was melted.

We served in a buffet style: a slice of frittata, some potatoes, some
beans, some lettuce, some tomatoes, some black olives, some capers,
some sliced of hard boiled egg. Add some vinaigrette to everything.
The plate cold and fresh except for the hot frittata, making for a
tasty spring meal on our first 60 degree afternoon. We also served a
fresh baguette. The delicate eggs and tuna with the salty capers,
olives, and vinaigrette was delicious!

Quick Mac and Cheese

On our drive home from New Hampshire yesterday we were able to catch the end of Splendid Table on npr. A non-bechamel based Mac and Cheese recipe was briefly discussed and after a mental tally of my post-vaca pantry at home I thought (and wished) that I just might be able to pull it off without a visit to the grocery store. And sure enough I did have everything give or take an ounce or two less of cream cheese and the cup of milk which was an easy borrow from a neighbor. Also, I used regular breadcrumbs instead of saltines and I used a smoked Spanish paprika which added a wonderful rich undertone to the dish. This was easy to put together and quite delicious. We ate it as a main with arugula (that amazingly made it through the vacation wilt free) and a California chardonnay.

Here is the recipe:
21st Century Mac and Cheese

Week 10: Frittata's Fancy Cousin Visits for a Birthday Party

It's hubbie's birthday and he requested Quiche Lorraine for his birthday dinner—which he insisted should take the place of the frittata this week, phew. While attending a pastry course at the French Culinary, we made this dish as part of our pastry dough and custard session. I brought it home and hubs loved it so much and couldn't stop going on and on about it. Whenever we're looking for something to make he always mentions Quiche Lorraine, much to my chagrin. It is incredibly delicious, but I remembered it being a bit daunting to make, so I always shy away from it. But I could not deny a special birthday request, despite a hectic schedule. After Pasta Pietro on Monday, a lovely friend helped me prep for Tuesday night's dinner—I made the dough and she weighed and finely grated the Gruyere (we also made a chocolate buttercream for the birthday dessert). Tuesday morning before work, I rolled out the dough, placed it in tart pans, then covered and chilled for the day.

Pâte Brisée (flaky tart dough)

For a 8 to 9” tart , ~240 grams

125 grams cake flour

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp granulated sugar

62 grams cold butter, cubed

32 mL water

Mix together flour, salt and sugar. Cut the cold butter into ½ cubes. Add butter cubes to flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are the size of dried lentils. Form a well in the butter-flour mixture and add some of the cold water (be careful not overwork the dough). Dough should be soft and shaggy, add more water as needed. Gather pieces together and wrap in plastic, chill for at least 30 minutes.

Quiche Lorraine

240 grams of pâte brisée

50 grams bacon, cut into ¼ cubes (I used pre-cut proscuitto)

50 grams Gruyere, grated

125 mL milk

125 ML heavy cream

2 eggs

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of ground black pepper

Roll out dough until 10” in diameter and 1/8” thick. Line your tart pan and chill the shell. Preheat the oven to 350°. Blind bake the tart shell until light brown, set aside to cool. Cook the bacon in a bit of oil until the fat is rendered and the bacon is lightly browned, remove and drain on paper towels.

Making the custard: Scald the milk and cream by heating on the oven top until there is a “skin” layer on top, set aside to cool. Whip the eggs and spices in the mixer and add the semi-cool scalded milk and cream. You don’t want the milk mixture to be to warm—it could start to scramble the eggs. I added the milk mixture while my mixer was on low-medium speed and then turned it up and whipped the eggs and milk until it was quite frothy on top. My French Culinary recipe has you fine strain the custard, I skipped this step.

Arrange the bacon and Gruyere on the bottom of the cooled tart shells. Pour the custard over the bacon and Gruyere. Bake the quiche for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the custard is set and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

My quiches were in the oven for over 45 minutes…I don’t think I blind baked my tart shells long enough— the dough could have been a little flakier, and the custard took forever to set. But the end product was very tasty and hubs was happy! I am confident I can take on this quiche more often in the future.

Friends added to the birthday feast: dates wrapped in bacon, red potatoes stuffed with onions and smoked salmon, fried cheese with cilantro paste, a green salad laced with dill, and an awesome potato salad. The meal was finished with double chocolate melt in your mouth whoopie pies. Yum.

Pasta Pietro for Friends

I am taking an oil painting class, something I have always wanted to do. My homework this week was to make this pasta recipe, created by my instructor, and paint from the experience of cooking it. I made it last night for hubs and some friends. It was delicious! I was a little worried about the amount of garlic, but the taste was delightful and it is an easy dish to put together. I am missing class this week for a much needed vaca, but will post the results of my painting later next week...

 Pasta Pietro, directly from PietroDesigns.com

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic
• 35-oz can peeled tomatoes
• 1 small dried hot pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. capers
• large bunch Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 lb. imported Italian pasta (e.g. DeCecco)
• 10 sun-dried tomatoes

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Chop garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Drain juice from tomatoes. Chop tomatoes and hot pepper and add to pan. Add salt, capers and black pepper. Cut each sun-dried tomato into 8 pieces and add to pan. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cook and drain pasta, preferably a short shape such as penne or fusilli. Remove half of sauce from pan. Toss pasta in pan and mix well with sauce and chopped parsley. Move pasta to 4 plates and ladle remaining sauce on top of each serving. Serves 4. Mangia!

Week 9: Chile Rellenos Frittata

Last week after posting on Facebook, a friend asked if I would be willing to make a Chile Rellenos frittata. Sure, why not—I've never made chile rellenos before, so it might be fun, right? Ugh. I decided there were two routes I could take with this frittata: the first route would be straight on, make rellenos and throw them on top of a frit; the second route could potentially be great, or boring...incorporate the common ingredients of chile rellenos into the frittata, giving a generalized experience—like you commonly get with themed omelets. I took the first route, deciding it would be more educational and adventurous to make the rellenos. I called my sister last night on my way home from work asking for help with this endeavor. She scanned over a recipe and gave me a general shopping list. I ended up running a slew of errands and didn't get home until 8 pm, only to find that the Woodhull housemother just dropped off copious amounts of Mexican food for the boys as a late dinner (they get spoiled during finals week). I was starving and couldn't resist the option of not cooking, and boy am I glad I chose not to tackle these last night.

It's not that they are hard to make, there are just a lot of steps. So many steps that I am attaching the scan instead of typing out the ingredients and instructions (if you click on the image it will get bigger)!

Things started out pretty roughly. I failed to blister the peppers enough, so after sitting in plastic bags for 20 minutes they were still unpeelable. Hubs, who is out on dorm duty tonight, checked in at this point as I was angrily not peeling poblano peppers. He had a great idea of putting the peppers directly over the gas flame on the stove. It didn't really work to well or maybe I wasn't patient enough. I decided that skins were perfectly fine staying put on the peppers and probably even good for you, like the crusts of bread...

I also failed to read ahead on this recipe, I sort of quickly glanced over the steps and figured it would be a good time to test a new whoopie pie recipe. My peppers were sitting in bags and the boiled potatoes were already mixed with the cheeses. But then it came time to fry...and oh dear, I have to separate my eggs and whip two whites to stiff peaks and then fold them into the well beaten light and creamy yolks? Crap. Typically, I would throw the whites in my Kitchen Aid and skip the whisk, however my kitchen was a mess and my mixer bowl was dirty, so I whisked my heart out and worked up a nice sweat. No biggie, just an unexpected little step.

I kept the frittata part very simple: 5 eggs, 1/8 cup of skim milk, s + p, and red pepper flakes. I cut the chile rellenos down a bit so they would fit in my pan and added them while the top was still very moist and then threw the pan in the broiler for a minute or two. I paired this guy with a light salad, a gob of fayeh greek yogurt sprinkled with chipolte tobasco + cilantro, and a Stella.

It was yummy. Hubbity loved it and came back for more. I'm a little bummed about the prep time, although now that I've done it, I'm sure I could stream line the process with a little old fashioned mise en place. I'm also bummed about the deep frier smell lingering in the kitchen.