Potato Frittata with Feta and Scallions

Whelp, remember when I said that I was hoping for a snowy winter?  Looks like I got my wish, plus some!  As I'm sure everybody know, Connecticut got a gigantic storm over the weekend, starting Friday morning, and ending Saturday morning.  We got about 3 feet of snow! That's the most I've ever seen in one shot. I couldn't even see my car when the storm was done, and we were stranded in our apartment for a few days. Luckily we never lost power, and so we were able to stay inside all warm and cozy, with an excuse to be totally lazy. We did get outside and shovel, which was extremely exhausting, and my arms feel dead now because of it, but other than that, this was the perfect time to just relax. As I am a hoarder of food, we had no problem keeping ourselves well-fed. We even decided to risk salmonella poisoning, and made a batch of cookie dough and no cookies. Here's to snow!

So this is something I cooked last week before the blizzard hit. It's the second recipe I've made from Deb Perelman's wonderful cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. (The other was her flat-roasted chicken with tiny potatoes- something I will be making again and I will make sure I share it with you were when I do.) Her blog is one of the best out there, and I urge you to check it out! Ron got me her cookbook for Christmas, and over vacation I read the entire thing, front to back. I am now slowly working my way through the archives of her blog. I love her writing, and reading both the cookbook and her blog make me feel like I'm sitting right there with her in her tiny kitchen listening to a good friend tell me a story.

I made this frittata for dinner and Ron and I devoured it! I busted out my cast-iron skillet to cook this, and as I did, I resolved to not fear this skillet. I don't know why, but cooking with cast-iron really intimidates me. I decided that I have to get over this once and for all, especially since this frittata turned out so beautifully in it. This frittata reminds me of another dish I love, Ina Garten's Omelet for Two, from her cookbook Barefoot Contessa at Home. I love that recipe and that cookbook. I don't think I've ever made an Ina Garten recipe that I've disliked! While that omelet (which really is more of a fritatta also), uses cheddar cheese and diced potatoes, this one uses feta cheese and sliced potatoes. Other than that they are very similar and are both awesome! I'll post that recipe soon.

Potato Frittata with Feta and Scallions
Serves 4 (as a dinner) or 6-8 as a breakfast

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4-1/2-inch slices, and then into half-circles
1/2 tsp table salt, plus more for roasting potatoes
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound bacon, thick-cut, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 bunch (3-4) scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
2/3 cup (3 oz) crumbled feta cheese
6 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk or cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a baking sheet or roasting pan with 1-2 Tbsp of oil. Place the potatoes, on the pan, and season with salt and pepper. (They do not all have to be in one layer). Roast about 30 minutes until the potatoes are mostly cooked through, tossing halfway. Remove from oven, and let cool down a bit.
2. Place a cast-iron or other 9-inch oven-proof skillet over medium heat, and cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels. Add the remainder of the oil to the skillet with the bacon drippings (1 Tbsp), and reheat on medium. Make sure you swirl the oil and drippings around in the skillet to coat the sides of the pan.
3. Place the potatoes in the skillet, browned side up. Then sprinkle on the bacon, scallions and feta.
4. Whisk together your eggs and milk, adding 1/2 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour over the potatoes.
5. Cover your skillet with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are set in the center, and the edges have puffed up.

Source: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Bacon and Cheddar Quiche

Once upon a time I wasn't a fan of quiche... I also wasn't a fan of scrambled eggs, or other assorted egg dishes, and then something changed!  It was a miracle that began with the addition of cheese and chives to scrambled eggs, and then branched out.  I still am grossed out by sunny side up eggs (something my boyfriend feels the need to terrorize me with now and again), but other than that I have to say I'm an egg fan.  Despite that, quiche is something I've never actually made- and neither is pie dough- so making a quiche from scratch encompassed two firsts for me.  I know there are about 7863 recipes for pie dough and quiche out there, but I decided to be all fancy-like and start with the recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, because quiche is a classic French dish and all.  I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about making this- especially the dough, because it's one of those things that you have to work quickly to make or else!!

So I read the instructions a bazillion times before attempting to make the dough... and I still think I worked too slowly.  Not that the dough wasn't good- it really was good- but I feel like it could have been better.  It also puffed up way more that I think it was supposed to which could have been a variety of things- did I work to slowly?  Did the dough get too warm while  I was making it?  Did I not roll it out thin enough?  Was it because I didn't put a mold, or dry beans, or anything in the crust while I pre-baked it?  I'm not sure- maybe it was a combination.  But despite that it turned out pretty well, although I took it out a little too early at first and had to put it back in for a few minutes because after I cut it I realized it was a little underdone...  Also, Julia Child's version is pretty custardy, I think that's the way it's supposed to be, but I personally like it a little bit denser I guess (I think that's the right word for my preferred quiche texture).  For my quiche I ended up substituting cheddar cheese for Swiss, and adding bacon, so I basically combined the recipe for Quiche Lorraine and Quiche au Fromage.. but hey, I like cheese and bacon together... they are a perfect match.

With the quiche, I served a simple mesclun salad with freshly picked greens from my garden- my first crop!!!  I didn't put anything in the salad this time- just the greens and a simple vinaigrette because I wanted to get the full flavor of the greens, but maybe I'll do something fancier next time- with cheese, and toasted walnuts or something.

Mesclun Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
For the salad:
Mesclun greens

For the vinaigrette: (makes about 1/2 cup)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
6 tbsp olive oil
Big pinch pepper
1-2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1.  Wash and dry greens thoroughly.
2.  In a bowl, whisk together vinegar, salt and mustard.  Then slowly add oil, and season with pepper.  If you have a salad dressing shaker, or emulsifier, combine vinegar, salt, mustard and oil, and shake vigorously, or use emulsifier to combine.  Stir in parsley, taste and season as needed.
3. Place greens in individual bowls, and dress salad as desired.

Source: Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking


Notes:

• I adapted this dressing from the Sauce Vinaigrette recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  This is just a simple recipe for a vinaigrette made from any wine vinegar or combination of vinegar and lemon juice.  Feel free to substitute any vinegar of your choosing - white wine or champagne vinegar I'm sure would be good.
• You can also add other types of fresh herbs- the herbs mentioned in the original recipe are parsley, chives, tarragon, and basil.  Or if you don't have fresh herbs, you can substitute a pinch of dry herbs. Or leave the herbs out altogether.  You can also leave out the dry mustard if you want.

Pâte Brisée

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch bits (if no food processor), or if you have a food processor, quarter the sticks lengthwise, and cut into 3/8 inch pieces
4 tbsp chilled shortening
A scant half cup iced water, plus a few droplets more as needed

Directions:
1. If you do not have a food processor: Combine flour, salt, sugar, butter, and shortening in a large mixing bowl.  Rub the mixture together rapidly between the tips of your fingers until it resembles bits of oatmeal flakes. (Do not overmix).  Then add the water and blend quickly with one hand, fingers held together and slightly cupped, and gather dough into a ball.    If there are remnants that are not part of the dough, add a few more droplets of water, and add that to the dough.  Press the dough into a ball.  If you have a food processor:  Place the flour, salt and sugar into the food processor.  Add the butter and shortening.  Then flick the machine off and on 4-5 times.  Then while the machine is running, add the ice water.  Flick the food processor on and off a few times.  The dough should mass up on the blade.  If it does not, add a few more drops of ice water, repeating as needed.  When it has massed together, scrape dough out onto lightly floured work surface, and form into a ball. (Do not overmix.)
2. On a lightly flours work surface, press your dough down with the heal of your hand and away from you quickly, about 6 inches.  (This is called the fraisage.)
3. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 1 hour to overnight.

To make your partially-cooked pastry shell for the quiche:
**Work as quickly as possible to prevent the dough from getting to warm**
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, and place on a lightly floured surface,
3. If hard, hit it with your rolling pin a few times to soften it.  Knead the dough into a flat circle, and lightly flour the top of it.
4. From the center of your dough, roll the rolling pin back and forth to begin flattening the dough.  Then, with the pin always rolling away from you start rolling out the dough into a circle.  Lift the dough and turn at a slight angle and roll again.  Continue turning, and rolling, until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick, and about 2 inches larger around the sides than your pie plate.  Lightly flour the surface, and top of the dough as needed to prevent sticking.
5. Gently place your rolled out dough in your pie plate, and gently flatten into the bottom and sides of the pan.

 
6. Trim off the excess dough around the edges, and on the edges press lightly with a fork all the way around to make a decorative edge.

7. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork, about every 1/2 inch.
8.  If you have weights or dried beans, you can line the inside of the dough with buttered aluminum foil or buttered brown paper, and then place the weights/beans inside to weigh down the dough.  Then place in the oven and bake for 8-9 minutes.  Then remove the weights/beans, and bake for 2-3 minutes more until the shell is just beginning to color and shrink from the sides of the pan.

Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1

Cheddar and Bacon Quiche

Serves 4-6


Ingredients:
8 inch partially cooked pastry shell (made with Pâte Brisée)
3-4 ounces bacon (6-8 slices of medium thickness), cut into pieces 1 inch long and 1/4 inch wide
3 eggs or 2 eggs and 2 yolks
1 1/2 cup heavy cream, or half cream half milk
1/2 to 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
1 to 2 tbsp butter, cut into pea-sized pieces


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat a large pan over medium heat, and cook bacon until done.  Remove with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels.
3. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, cream (or cream and milk), salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in the grated cheese.
4. Sprinkle your bacon into the partially cooked pastry shell.  Then pour egg/cream/cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle your butter pieces over the top.
5. Place in the upper third of the oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the quiche is puffed up and browned.
6. Remove from the oven and serve.


Source: Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Notes:

• Make sure, when you are looking to see whether your quiche is done, that the top has actually browned, and it's not just the cheese.  I think this is why mine was underdone at first- it was just the cheese that had browned a bit, and not the rest of the quiche.
• The original recipe for Quiche Lorraine calls for Swiss cheese, and I'd definitely like to try that.  Any good melting cheese would probably be good though- I'm thinking a Gouda (because it's my favorite).  I'd also like to experiment with some vegetable quiches- broccoli, or spinach, or asparagus would be good.
• Quiche is definitely something I'd like to experiment with a few different recipes on- both the fillings and the pie dough.  This one was good, but it may not be my personal ideal.  Like I mentioned, I'm not so sure I was in love with the consistency.  I thought it was good, but not great for my personal tastes, but if you like custardy quiche, this may be the one for you.

Gratin of Shredded Potatoes with Ham, Eggs and Onions

I've had Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for about a year and a half now, and the only recipe I've ever made was her spectacular Boeuf Bourguignon.  Why you ask?  Well, I'm a bit intimidated to be honest.  French food is scary- it just seems so exacting and fancy and complicated.  I look at the recipes and I come up with excuses like... oh man, it's Sunday and I don't have vermouth or cognac or port (yep, CT still has those pesky blue laws), and man, I just used up the last of my Fois Gras and beef marrow, darn, I guess I can't cook anything French tonight.  But, I decided recently that I need to get over that fear... I need to go all Julie and Julia and master the art of French cooking.  So I sat down with my cookbook this weekend and decided to pick a recipe.  I tend to forget that Mastering the Art of French Cooking actually has chapters other than Poultry and Meat.  It also has these recipes for eggs and soup and stuff.  I originally was thinking quiche, but then came the gratins and my mind was instantly made up.

So what is a gratin?  Julia Child says that it's kind of like a quiche, but it's baked in a shallow fireproof dish or pie plate instead of a pastry shell, so hey, that's easier than making pastry and then a filling.  Wikipedia also tells me that a gratin is topped with a brown crust using stuff like breadcrumbs, grated cheese, eggs, or butter.  So here you just need a filling and a brown crust, and the first one in the Gratin section sounded awesome- shredded potatoes? Yum! Ham? Yum! Eggs? Yum! Onions? Yum!  Mind made up!  This was super-easy to make, and extremely delicious, and it made my apartment smell just wonderful when cooking... it still smells wonderful a couple hours later.  I think I'll make a Gratin everyday from now on just to make my apartment smell like this always.  Why hasn't anyone invented a candle infused with Gratin smell yet?!?!?!  By the way, when I told my brother I was making a Gratin I pronounced it in an Americanized way, and he corrected me, so now I must always pronounce it like the French... much fancier that way!

Gratin of Shredded Potatoes with Ham and Eggs and Onions
Râpée Morvandelle
Serves 4


Ingredients:
1/2 cup onions, finely minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 1/2 Tbsp butter, divided
1/2 cup (3 ounces) cooked ham, finely diced
4 eggs
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp parsley and/or chives and chervil
2/3 cup (3 ounces) Swiss cheese, grated
4 Tbsp whipping cream, light cream, or milk
Pinch of pepper
1/4 tsp salt
3 medium-sized potatoes (about 10 ounces)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt 2 Tbsp butter and oil in a medium saute pan over medium-low heat.  Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender but not brown.
3.  Raise heat to medium, add ham to pan, and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, garlic, herbs, cheese, milk, salt and pepper together.  Add the ham and onion mixture to the eggs when it has cooled a bit, and mix together.
5. Peel and grate potatoes.  Use the large holes.  Squeeze the water out of the potatoes, a handful at a time, and then stir them into the egg mixture.
6. Heat 2 Tbsp butter in an 10-12 inch baking dish or oven-proof skillet, by either heating it on the stovetop or in the oven.  When the butter is foaming, pour the egg and potato mixture into the dish/skillet.  Dot with the remaining 1/2 Tbsp butter (cut into small pieces).  Place dish in the preheated oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until top is browned.


Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1

Notes:

• Do not panic if you shred the potatoes a little early and they turn pink- or even grey!  This is a normal reaction caused by the oxidation of the potato flesh.  It's okay, it won't harm the flavor, and will not effect the color of the finished dish.
• The Swiss cheese was delicious in this Gratin, but I'm thinking substituting other cheeses would be awesome as well- I'm thinking a cheddar next time would be just wonderful... or maybe a gouda!
• Bacon would be a good substitution for the ham... or sausage would also be delicious.  Or you could make it vegetarian and do mushrooms or peppers!  
• The original recipe says to use an 11 to 12 inch pan for this, but I used my 10 inch Pyrex baking dish and it turned out just fine!

Migas

So I've been making a lot of enchiladas lately (if two types in two weeks equals a lot that is), and so I had some leftover corn tortillas that were about to go to waste.  I really hate to waste food, and so I decided I should make something with them... there weren't enough for more enchiladas, and so the second thought that came to mind was to make migas- something I've been wanting to try to make forever!  I went with a Tex-Mex version which traditionally is pretty much eggs scrambled with corn tortillas, cheese, chiles, salsa, and some other ingredients- like cilantro, for example, and is traditionally a breakfast dish.  After searching for a good recipe to try, I came upon one on Chaos in the Kitchen that was linked through Tastespotting (if you haven't been to this website I highly recommend it- fair warning though- it will make you VERY hungry!).  This was excellent and just what I was craving!

Migas

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp oil

2 cups corn tortilla chips or chopped corn tortillas

1 bunch green onions (green and white parts) or 1/2 onion, diced

2 jalapenos, diced (can be de-seeded, depending on how spicy you like your food)

2 oz melting cheese, shredded (i.e. Cheddar, Colby, or Jack)

1 cup fresh salsa 

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl combine eggs and milk, beat lightly with a fork.

2. Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.

3. Fry tortillas in oil until crisp and starting to brown.  Add onions and jalapenos.  Saute until soft.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Pour egg mixture into the pan with tortillas and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Stir eggs gently until soft-set.  Sprinkle with cheese and stir to combine. 

6. Make a well in the center of the skillet and add salsa.

7. Allow salsa to warm up in the center of the skillet for a minute before gently stirring in the egg mixture.

8. Taste, and season with salt and pepper to your liking.  Turn off the heat and stir in fresh cilantro.

9. Serve immediately.

Source: Chaos in the Kitchen

Notes:  

• I didn't have any fresh salsa or ingredients to make fresh salsa in my apartment, so I used a generic salsa that I had in the fridge, and it was good, but not quite as good as I imagine it would be with fresh salsa.  Next time I make this I will definitely be making fresh salsa to stir in!  I imagine that red and green salsa would be equally delicious, but  I'm leaning toward Tomatillo salsa for my next batch.  
• When crisping up the corn tortillas I actually ended up adding a little more oil than it called for, as the tortillas began sticking a bit.  I'm not sure whether this was due to the size of the skillet that I used (12.5 inch), but in any case, I wouldn't worry if you need to add a little more oil.  Even though mine stuck a bit, they didn't end up burning.