Frittata with green beans

 

Overcooked the eggs on the bottom. Not sure why. I think it's because Marcella cooks it all the way through, almost. Just a few seconds under the grill, she says. It's never a few seconds for me, no matter how much I cook them. I think next time I'll cook it less on the stove, and more under the grill, to reduce the risk of overcooking the bottom. 

Guilano says to grill till brown. Marcella says do not brown. Evolution...

Frittata with onion, tomato and basil

I picked up some nice free range eggs, tomatoes and basil at the markets yesterday and so thought I would put them to good use for breakfast by making a frittata.


You can make a french omelette very quickly, but I didn't mind waiting a little longer for this.

As it turns out, it took a little longer again, but it was worth it. I think this is the most successful frittata I have ever cooked. First, the onions are softened and browned. This produces the most sweet, delicious substance and is quite remarkable given it is 'only' onion, salt and oil. Then the fresh tomato is added. I was a little worried about the absence of some juice in the tomato, especially since Marcella talks about simmering, and the oil floating free from the tomato (in the same way it does when preparing a tomato based pasta).





I need not have worried, this absolutely mindbendingly delicious substance turned out just fine. It just took a little while. When people complain to me about this - that is, time spent cooking, I ask them how they would have spent their time otherwise. Watching TV? It is a good way to spend one's time, I think.


Once cool it was mixed with the eggs and basil and I went ahead with the slow cooking on the stove. I have bought a large non-stick frypan especially for frittatas and it worked a treat with this one. I let it cook a little longer this time, until it really was cooked except for a bit on the top. I then put it under the stove for another 30 seconds or minute, and we were away.




It looked like a colourful thin pancake, waiting to be sliced. It was extremely enjoyable, and tasted of so much more than just egg (as is the case with crap cafe frittatas). You could taste everything in it: the onions, the tomatoes and the basil. It really would be a nice thing to cut and take to a picnic or to have at a barbecue. I like the idea of having little squares for people to munch on as finger food when they arrive at your house for dinner.


I will be cooking this again.

A lazy Hazan Saturday

Nothing new here, but I thought I would post about the food I cooked yesterday, pretty much on a whim, drawing on my Hazan training.

I was off in a shopping centre looking for some walking shoes, and thought about buying some lunch. I preferred not to, and instead wandered into the supermarket where I bought a nice looking eggplant, a punnet of blueberries, an onion, a potato and some rosemary. I felt quite virtuous queuing up at the checkout, with my real food, especially looking at some of the processed crap other shoppers had selected for themselves.

Lunch was blueberries followed by baked eggplant slices and a rosemary, onion and potato frittata, cooked carefully with my specially bought non-stick frypan. It is true you only need two tablespoons of oil when you have a non-stick pan. It set more than my prior effort, although it was perhaps not quite as delicious not being as creamy. It was still quickly devoured and appreciated and will be cooked again. It looked more like a frittata should.

I managed to go for a reasonably long walk around the mountain with my new shoes, and as it started getting dark I dreamt of risotto for dinner. Although I had not shopped for any special ingredients I knew I had precious meat broth in the freezer. I started this on my return, and as I was cooking for three I also attempted a pasta sauce. I spotted a red capsicum, which I dutifully peeled and then cooked with onion, garlic, chili flakes, canned tomatoes and, as a last minute addition, olives.

And so dinner was butter and parmesan risotto, which was a triumph, followed by a competent pasta that was made sweet by the capsicum and given some intrigue by the olives and chili.

Not a bad dinner given I had not shopped for it and on first glance there was nothing in the house.

One thing I have noticed about Hazan risotto, when cooked with real parmesan and real meat broth, is that people are absolutely stunned the first time they eat it, as I was. I suspect they have never eaten risotto like it in their lives, and perhaps feel differently about all of the tired, packet stocked, chicken breast ridden travesties they have cooked proudly for themselves following recipes of dubious origins.

I had lunch the other day with a client at what I consider to be the best restaurant in town. He told me he often cooked risotto, and had in fact just cooked it the night before - from a packet. It just had to be heated up.

I told him Marcella would not approve.

Frittata with Potatoes, Onion, and Rosemary

Frittatas have been one of those dishes long on my wish list. I have made the simple parmesan dish before, but it was a tough sell for a meal at home. This time I wanted to make something with a little more in it. So I bought myself an onion in the knowledge that I had some food from earlier in the week - basil and tomato in particular, and hoped to find a frittata recipe that suited.

Flicking through Marcella Cucina I spotted this dish. I had potatoes, the onion, and some slightly old rosemary. And so I was away. The basil would keep.

I was worried at first about the amount of oil. No, before that I was a little apprehensive that the fat was oil at all. Aren't frittatas made with butter? Marcella Cucina was published at a time when butter was on the way out.

Nonetheless I proceeded as directed, except I put in a bit of extra oil. I know I'm meant to follow the instructions exactly the first time, but two tablespoons of oil is not a lot to cook this much onion.

Once the onion was soft - perhaps not as soft as I would like it, but I didn't want to brown it, I put in the potato and put the lid on. Again I was concerned that there was no liquid to be put in the pan - presumably the liquid from the potatoes themselves were to look after things. I was even more concerned when I had a peek and things were thinking about burning. I quickly put the pan on an even smaller burner but resisted the urge to put in a tablespoon or so of water.

Time past and eventually the potatoes did get soft as promised (although I snuck in a little extra salt), and I poured in the egg mixture and let it set slowly. Once it was reasonably firm except on the top I put it under the grill. I'm not sure what sort of 'broiler' Marcella has in mind, but running this frittata under my grill 'briefly' would not achieve much. I left it there probably for a couple of minutes, until it seemed set on the top although I could spot a little movement under the upper skin. It did not brown, as instructed (cf G Hazan in his works).

I was going to make a salad to go with it but failed to do so.

Instead, I struggled with how to get the frittata out of the pan. I did not use a non-stick pan, as I do not own one that is suitable. Do the frittatas just flop out of those pans? Mine would not, but I was able to use an egg flipper to cut slices and put them on a plate. To my horror, ancient and unpleasant water from the plastic flipper fell onto my frittata, but I did what I could to pour it off and it did not seem to affect the taste.

It did not look very promising on the pan. Rustic, my dining companion reported.

But skepticism soon gave way to adulation, and the dish was pronounced a great success, and much tastier than any frittatas that had been purchased at cafes. It was quite creamy, which I am reasonably sure it should not have been (see Cucina on page 52 - although Marcella also says it should not be stiff and dry).

A question was asked between pleasure noises: Is there much milk in this?

None, I retorted.

Butter?

Nope, I said smugly.

Cream?

Nary a drop.

And so I have committed to making this dish again. The onions were a great hit, as were the potato and the rosemary. And I guess the eggs played a part and so everything got involved.

My only question is whether or not what we ate was in fact a frittata - did I undercook it? Can frittata always be cut into little slices and taken on a picnic? Or are some limp, creamy and delicious to be eaten shortly after being cooked, as mine was?

frittata with cheese

I have decided I can't always have photos here or I won't get around to doing things. Tonight was frittata with cheese. Neil Perry taught me how to make french omelette and it sure was fine. But I like the idea of having veges, and just sticking it to the french...

Anyway, so I mixed the egg and parmesan cheese together along with salt and pepper. Not much in it, Hazan style! I then heated the butter and poured it into a little frying pan, hoping for the best. It seemed to take ages to 'set', apart from the top. I don't know how long, 15 minutes I guess. I then put it under the grill, as instructed, but rather than it needing 'a few seconds', it actually needed a few minutes. No bother.

So how was it? Delicious I must say. Like a little cheese and egg pie that you want to eat more of. So easy. It is crying out for a salad though - next time!