Week 8: Chorizo & Shitake Frittata, Olé!

Hub's parents came to visit this weekend. Although they were unable to stay for frit night, they were able to turn us onto a great Korean grocery store, H-Mart. It's a chain, look for one near you. They have great produce and seafood—we were even able to find Chorizo there! It is a visual and olfactory feast for those who love interesting ingredients—and they have more kimchi that you can throw an enormous stick at.

Our good friends joined us for dinner last night. They are both from Spain and because of this, my husband insisted that the frittata have Chorizo in it. Apparently, Spain=Chorizo. We also picked up some gambas, baby Shanghai greens and vegetable pancakes to round out this hearty meal. Pictured below: Onions and shallots (a little over browned), Chorizo (naturally crumbled while sauteing), and my pre-sliced Shit ake mushrooms—got to love the packaging...

2 links chorizo, sliced and sauteed (casings removed)
1 small onion & 1 medium shallot (browned in canola)
5 large shitake mushroom heads, sliced and lightly sauteed
8 eggs
2 tbl agua
1 tbl heavy cream
1/4 cup shredded cheese + a bit more to sprinkle on top (we finally used the last of the Gruyere—typically I would use a different cheese in this particular frit, but part of the beauty of these are that you can empty out the fridge)
s + p to taste

After sauteeing the chorizo, onion, shallot and mushrooms (separately) incorporate them into the 8 eggs that have been beaten with the water, heavy cream, cheese and s+p. Go lightly on the salt—chorizo and cheese have plenty. It was a good frittata. You really can't go wrong with eggs, chorizo and mushrooms.

My sous (sous) chef was busy looking cute elsewhere in the house...

Chocolate Cake with Rich Chocolate Cream Frosting and Raspberry Filling

This cake was made for a friend's birthday, a chocolate-chocolate-raspberry request! I used my usual go to chocolate cake recipe, substituting 3/4 cup fresh coffee+ 3/4 warm water, instead of just 1 and 1/2 cups warm water. This cake is great, but you have to keep an eye on it because I've had it go dry on me very quickly and I loathe dry cake, who doesn't? I baked my three 8" pans for 15 minutes, rotated them and baked another 10 minutes and then toothpick checked them—not even close to being ready. I baked and checked for two 5 minute intervals until the toothpick was clean.

I set aside the cakes to cool and went about my other errands for the day. Later in the afternoon I made the raspberry filling and chocolate cream frosting. I halved the raspberry recipe which still yielded more than enough, but I could have been more generous with it in between the layers.

The chocolate cream frosting...the taste was delicious, the consistency, eh. The description describes it as soft and rich, mine started to set so quickly as I was frosting the cake—it resembled a ganache, it's consistency was like the inside of a truffle. Maybe I chilled it to long, maybe I over stirred? Sous chef hubs had to keep whisking to "warm" it as I was frosting the cake. This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated's New Best Recipe's. I took the below recipe and added another half of the ingredients for my extra cake layer.

Rich Chocolate Cream Frosting
(yields 3 cups, enought to ice one 8 or 9" two layer cake)

16 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped fine
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place choc in heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over med-high heat, pour over choc. Add the corn syrup and let stand for three minutes. Whisk gently until smooth, Stir in vanilla. Refrigerate 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency. This frosting does not keep well, use within a day.

Assembly of the cake:
The bottom two layers, I cut off the top, about 1/4" to level off the surface. I was skimpy with the leveling because I wanted good height. I ended up having plenty of height and some pesky round edges in the layers that were a pain to cover with frosting. I added a layer of chocolate cream, then raspberry filling, then another layer of chocolate cream to the clean underside of the next layer. Same on the second layer and then finished off the whole cake with the choc. cream. It was good, but not great. I will likely not make the frosting again, it needed to be creamier. I loved the raspberry filling, but need to add double what I did.

Week 7: Heart Beets, Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day friends! Last night we were lucky to share our love frittata with friends. I wanted to incorporate V-day into the frittata and of course the rich beautiful red of beets came to mind. I upped the egg count for our guests and incorporated last week's techniques for a fluffy rich frittata. My mother-in-law gave us a wonderful pancake mold last Valentine's day in the shape of a heart and I was able to use the smaller part to shape the beets.

8 eggs
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp water
1/8 cup shredded Gruyere
1 small onion
1 medium shallot
sprinkle of cayenne
s+p to taste
beets (I used about 3/4 of a small can of sliced unsalted beets)
goat cheese

Saute the beets in a bit of oil and s+p for a couple minutes on each side, set aside on a paper towel. Finely slice the onion and shallot and saute for about 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Beat eggs, cream, water, Gruyere, cayenne, and s+p and pour into frittata pan. Cook on the oven top until the bottom and sides set. Throw the pan under the broiler for a minute or two, look for the top to set and become fluffy. Take out and add goat cheese medallions followed by your beets, place back under the broiler for a minute or two.

Delicious! Beets and goat cheese are a great love match, another keeper frittata. We served this with roasted white sweet potatoes, arugula salad and bubbly!

On another beet note, I used some of the leftover beet juice to dye frosting for my chocolate whoopie pies with rosewater-vanilla butter/cream cheese frosting. The cakes/pies were delicious, they had a great texture on the outside, although they were slightly dry and crumbly inside—maybe I cooked them a minute too long? The frosting was great, next time I will add more beet juice to get a richer pink (hard to see the color below). I was nervous about the frosting picking up the earthy fragrance of beets, but it didn't at all.

What a lovely way to end a lovely day.

Week 6: Mushroom, Gruyere, & Onions

Once again, our frittata was pushed to Monday night. A frit did not have a place in our Superbowl junk food menu. After last week's somewhat lackluster performance I wanted a little decadence. Gruyere and heavy cream in this week's frittata delivered the decadence and the calories.

6 eggs (2 of my had double yolks! sort of ew, but sort of cool!)
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
2 tbsp butter
1 small yellow onion (finely sliced)
1 small shallot (finely sliced)
4 ounces of mushrooms (I used a blend of bella, shitake and oyster)
s+p to taste

I sauteed the onion and shallot in a tbsp of butter for about 10 minutes, until they were nicely browned. In a separate pan I cooked the mushrooms in a tbsp of butter. Meanwhile the eggs were beat with the cream and water and I added the cheese and eventually the onion/shallot mixture and mushrooms. After cooking on the stove top for a few minutes I popped it into the broiler a little earlier then I usually do. This fluffed up and browned beautifully. The mushroom flavor was subtle, woodsy—the egg fluffy and rich. This is a keeper.

Week 5: The Target Frittata

Instead of making our weekly frittata on Sunday evening, we got to spend some quality time with good friends in our old neighborhood in Brooklyn. A fab friend turned 30 and her hubs & sister threw a surprise party at Sheepstation on 4th and Douglass. Sheepstation has yummy food and wonderful drinks—their dark n' stormy is top notch, a perfect balance of ginger and rum without being overly bitter or sweet.

So...this evening after work I drove to Wegman's only to find myself parking the car closer to Target. I had not been there in over a month and decided it was high time. I wandered around longer than expected and ending up getting very, very tired—I'm still a gal on the mend, so the idea of a trip to Wegman's after Target was daunting. Crossing my fingers, I made my way over to the 'grocery' section of the store and devised a plan for our week 5 frittata. I picked up eggs, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and threw it in the cart with some pajama pants, mascara and a cute cable knit cardigan (couldn't get those at Wegman's). By the time I got home I was pooped—hubs to the rescue!

6 eggs
1 tomato
6 slices of mozzerela
basil leaves
1/2 shallot
1/2 clove of garlic
s & p to taste

Hubs chopped the shallots and garlic and sauteed them briefly before adding them to the 6 eggs. He placed the slices of tomato, basil and mozzarella on top and then placed the pan in the 350° heated oven. Despite my advice shouted from the couch, hubs did not use the broiler, so the cheese was not as melted as much as it could have been. It was tasty, but pretty basic—which makes sense for a Target frittata.

Advice for next time: Add 2 tbsp of water and/or milk, beat the eggs a little more, this frittata was lacking fluff (I shouted this advice too, but I guess he didn't hear...). Slice the tomatoes & cheese smaller and scatter more basil, so each bite has a mixture of the delicious flavors. And Broil!

P.S. the place mats and napkins are from Target too!
P.S.S. and don't worry, I know that my hubs was really sweet to make the frittata tonight and put up with my micro-managing shenanigans from afar.

Week 4: Prosciutto, Aged Gouda, Caramelized Onions & Pears

Last year we were given a fruit-of-the-month gift from Harry & David. At first I was a bit skeptical about being shipped fruit—I try to support local farms and we have plenty of options in my neck of the woods. Also, I was concerned about the freshness, ripeness, etc. However, all my skepticism was washed away when I bit into a peach from the first shipment. It was the most delicious peach I have ever had. And the pears—out of this world! This week's frittata was inspired by my January shipment of Royal Riviera Pears. I was a little concerned about adding a sweet ripe pear to a savory egg dish, but paired with the prosciutto, gouda, and onions—this frittata was a dream.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 small yellow onions

1/3 cup chopped prosciutto (I had the deli cut it thick ~3/8")

1/2 tbsp butter

1/2 of a lovely pear

1/2 cup (loose) aged gouda; gruyere would work well too

6 eggs

pepper

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp milk

Slice your onions thin, and add them to your frittata pan with the tablespoon of olive oil on medium to low heat. Let them brown and caramelize, about 10 to 15 minutes. In a separate lightly greased pan, saute your chopped prosciutto for about 8-10 minutes. Remove from the pan onto a paper towel. Add the 1/2 tbsp of butter to the prosciutto pan and add your sliced pears—medium low heat. A few minutes on each side. My pear was incredibly ripe, so it was hard to keep the pieces together. A less ripe pear would be easier to work with and will yield the same results. Whisk the 6 eggs, pepper, water and milk together. Add the prosciutto and onions to the eggs, mix and pour into your frittata pan. I employed hubby's method of whisking the egg in the pan for a couple of minutes. When it started to set on the bottom I put it under the broiler for a few minutes to set the top. I pulled it out when it was light and fluffy looking on top and arranged the pears and then distributed the gouda—back into the broiler for about 3 minutes.

This was delicious! My hubs remarked that it was very "French" tasting, oh-la-la. You do not need to add salt to this frittata, neither during prep or plate. The prosciutto and Gouda will provide plenty of flavor. Aged Gouda is wonderful—the more it is aged, the saltier and nuttier it is. This Gouda was aged enough to have a slightly nutty flavor, but not so aged that it acquired the crystallized brittle texture in the bite. It's texture and medium-low moisture reminded me of a nice Gruyere.

We paired the frittata with our usual roasted fingerling potatoes and arugula salad. I grated an extra bit of Gouda and made cheese cookies to top the salad. My lovely girlfriend brought over a bottle of Prosecco this weekend and I found the last glass to be a delightful match to this delicate yet rich flavored frittata.

Our uninvited dinner guest. She couldn't resist the delectable aromas and the chance to chew on flowers.

Week 3: Hubs wings it

Earlier this week, the wife had surgery and before visiting hours at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philly, I, the husband of the blogger, visited Morning Glory, a breakfast/brunch spot in Society Hill to pick up some frittata tips. Frittatas are their specialty and I knew I'd be handling the duties this weekend.

I sat at the counter and watched the chef, who happily answered my inquiries: 6-inch teflon skillet, potatoes on the side, 4 eggs per person (for a frittata I could barely finish), cheese on top before broiler to seal egg moisture, anything you want inside. This weekend, with wife recuperating on the couch, I endeavored to recreate what I had learned. With so much food delivered by friends, I decided to make a "whatever's in the fridge" frittata, which turned out to be spinach, arugula, onions, cheddar cheese, and of course truffle salt (our new savory indulgence). And because we have only an 8-inch cast iron skillet, we used six eggs and plenty of olive oil. That was about as much as I had planned, the key difference being that I would put only a few potatoes in the frittata and the rest on the side.

I started by slicing half a red onion and chopping about 3 cups of chopped multi-colored fingerling potatoes. I boiled the taters until soft and sauteed the onions in oil. Then I fixed myself a vodka cocktail and grated a healthy dose of Cabot extra sharp cheddar. Once the taters were soft, I put them in olive oil with some Old Bay and hoped they'd get crunchy in time (which they almost did). Onto the frittata. I heated some oil in the cast iron skillet and poured in 6 beaten eggs. I learned from the chef at Morning Glory to use high heat on the eggs and not to let them form an edge for quite a while. I really swirled them around like I was scrambling them before finally letting them settle. There was much less wet egg than before. Then I turned the fire off and dumped in the sauteed onion (I did send pinch of the onions into the taters so they'd get that burned onion flavor), a few taters, some truffle salt, a layer of spinach and arugula, and covered the whole mess with cheese. Into the broiler it went looking bushy and weird, but smelling good.

A friend gave us a loaf of delicious rosemary bread from a Princeton bakery, which I sliced and put in the toaster. The taters were still cooking and I wondered if I'd boiled them too long, if they were too wet to get crunchy. Still, the combination of Old Bay, truffle salt, and burnt onion was pretty awesome. I was pleased when I pulled out the frittata. The cheese was melted; the egg was fluffly and cooked through; the spinach and arugula wilted properly; and the edge of the eggs firm but not too dry nor stuck to the skillet.

We sat and ate. A bite of cheesy frittata on toasted rosemary bread washed down with savory potatoes (and a second vodka drink) was really good. Not quite Morning Glory, but not bad for a substitute chef, if I may say so myself. Wifey was less liberal with the compliments, but her plate was clean!

The animals did not help in the kitchen this week. They chose to knit & rest with the Wife.