Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Herb-and-Olive Frittata

Mark Bittman is one of my food heroes. I love his low-pressure approach to cooking and his simple recipes. His old Minimalist videos are inspiring and often humorous. I’ve also been enjoying his more recent columns focusing on food policy and related health, environmental, and social issues. His blog, On Food, is located here: http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com.

In one of his more recent “Eat” pieces in The New York Times Magazine, Bittman gives special treatment to herbs! As a fellow herb-lover and an herb gardener, these recipes really whet my appetite. Here’s the recipe for one that I made this week. It includes no less than three cups (!) of herbs and it will leave a bright, refreshing taste in your mouth. If you don’t already have an herb garden, let this be inspiration for starting one next year...



Herb-and-Olive Frittata
by Mark Bittman
from The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 14, 2011, page 43.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/magazine/recipe-herb-and-olive-frittata.html?ref=magazine

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped black olives, preferably oil-cured
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or thyme
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and black pepper.

1. Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Add the olives and herbs and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and become dry, 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, milk, flour and some salt and pepper.

3. Turn heat to low and pour the egg mixture into the skillet, using a spoon if necessary to evenly distribute the herbs and olives. Cook, undisturbed, until the eggs are just set, 5 to 10 minutes. (You can set the top further by putting the pan in an oven at 350 for a few minutes or by running it under the broiler for a minute or two.)

Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Note: It took closer to 10-14 minutes for my eggs to set on the stovetop, then I did stick the pan in the oven for an additional 4 minutes at 350 degrees. They did not seem overcooked to me.

Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Herb-and-Olive Frittata

Sasha's Kitchen: Asparagus Feta Cheese Egg White Breakfast Frittatas

I was going to post a recipe for my amazing chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  However, the cookies were consumed in record time, and the photos accidentally were deleted from my camera.  I am not happy about this!  So, I am going to have to make a new batch of those cookies tomorrow (yes, they were that good) and save that post for next week.  In the meantime, I am sharing a less sexy, but perhaps healthier recipe for the egg white frittatas that I made for my husband and I for a quick and easy breakfast this morning.  I'm not much of an omelet maker.  I've gotten some requests to share omelet making techniques on this site, but that is going to require further reading on my part since I always have difficulty flipping my omelets and getting a lovely shape.  But my frittatas are always beautiful, perfect and loaded with yummy cheeses and vegetables.  I usually use whatever cheese and fresh vegetables I have left around the house, so this morning I prepared a simple pair of frittatas using egg whites, asparagus and feta cheese.  I used egg whites here that I had left over from making tiramisu for a dinner party that we are hosting tonight (tiramisu uses only the egg yolks).


Sasha's Quick Asparagus Feta Cheese Egg White Breakfast Frittata
6 egg whites (separated from the yolks)
4 stalks of asparagus, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup feta cheese

Combine all of the ingredients together and fill two small souffle ramekins.  Be sure to butter the ramekins or spray with PAM before filling with the frittata mixture.  Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Test with a toothpick to make sure they are done.  These are perfect for a weekend breakfast or a first course for brunch.

Frittata

Sasha's Kitchen: Asparagus Feta Cheese Egg White Breakfast Frittatas

Sasha's Kitchen: Baby Frittatas: Miniature Brunch Part II

Today,  I am going to make suggestions for a miniature themed brunch party, because I think tiny food is just perfect for brunch.  I prepared a second recipe on the small scale using my silicon muffin tray - miniature vegetable frittatas.  They were simple to make and delicious.  For a miniature brunch party (brunch on the bite-sized scale), I propose the following menu, all recipes from this site:

Mini Vegetable Frittatas (recipe below)
Sasha's Caesar Salad
Margie's Strawberries Romanoff
Sasha's Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes (yesterday's recipe for Miniature Food Part I)
Shooters of brunch cocktails (i.e. mimosas, blood mary etc.) served in shot glasses

The frittatas were very simple - first use Pam or Crisco to spray the silicon muffin tray.  Then, mix the following ingredients (of choose other vegetables more to your liking)

8 eggs, scrambled
broccoli heads, chopped
2/3 of a red pepper, diced
1 shallot, diced
1/3 of a cup crumbled goat cheese
10 toothpicks
10 grape tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Combine the vegetables with the eggs, just like if you were making an omelet or frittata.  Leave the tomatoes out for now, as they come later.  Fill the silicon muffin tray cups with the egg-vegetable mixture and make for about 15 minutes (until the frittatas are done and fully cooked, but not burnt).

When you take them out, you can scoop them out of the trays using a serving spoon, doing so carefully so as to keep the frittatas in tact.  Then, top with a toothpick and a mini tomato (I used grape tomatoes, but yellow heirloom mini tomatoes would be lovely in the summer).

You now have a delicious entree for the perfect miniature themed brunch party.  These were adorable and delicious.  Much better than making a large omelet that always disappoints when I have trouble folding it up nicely in the end.  You could make these with pretty much any vegetable you like in an omelet or frittata, and can substitute egg whites for the full eggs.

Check out my miniature key lime cheesecakes, yesterday's recipe, here.  Click here for Margie's brunch entree, of crunchy french toast.

Frittata

Sasha's Kitchen: Baby Frittatas: Miniature Brunch Part II