The Frittata Pan

When J and I were registering for our wedding, he insisted we register for a Calphlon Frittata Skillet from Williams Sonoma. Personally, I wasn't certain we would really use said kitchen accessory. For starters, I've never made a frittata, Jeremy certainly has never made a frittata, and I already had a 7 piece All-Clad set from mi madre. Thus, two more skillets (you heard me right - its a set) sounded a bit frivolous and we were quickly running out of cabinet space! Anyfood, his comrades at the Defense Appellate Division bought us the Frittata set and they have been stored these last 18 months under our couch (skillets, not comrades - no room in the cabinet!) What a mistake! And by that I mean I cannot believe we've waited this long to use them!

Jeremy decided one morning after soccer to whip up a frittata for me - and we didn't have to buy a thing, we had everything in the fridge! Yummo! This recipe is out of Martha's Great Food Fast (must have, so many great and easy recipes!)

Potato and Onion Frittata

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 baking potato (8 ounces), peeled and thinly sliced (we used some Yukon gold potatoes)

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled (we didn't have any rosemary, so we used thyme instead)

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

5 large eggs

5 large egg whites

1/2 cup whole flat-leaf parsley leaves (we actually had the curly kind)

Instructions

1. In a medium (10") nonstick broiler-proof skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, potato, and rosemary; season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine.

2. Cover the skillet, and cook for 10 minutes (oh yah, this is where we used the second skillet - so it did come in handy...although a lid would work just the same); uncover. Cook, tossing the mixture occasionally, until the onion and potato are tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, parsley leaves, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

4. Heat the broiler with a rack set 4 inches from the heat. Add the remaining tablespoon oil to the vegetables in the skillet. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet.

5. Cook on the stove, over low heat, lifting the mixture a few times around the edges with a spatula to let egg flow underneath. Continue cooking until the frittata is almost set int eh center, about 10 minutes.

6. Place the skillet under the broiler; broil until the frittata is set and the top is lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Run a clean spatula around the edges to loose, then slide the frittata out onto a serving plate an cut into wedges.

Bell Pepper Saute

2 bell peppers, red, yellow, or both

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 small red onion, diced

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

Remove the seeds and ribs from the peppers; cut lengthwise into strips and halve crosswise. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the peppers and onion; season with slat and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are just tender, about 1o minutes.

A Fishing We Will Go...

Jeremy went fishing on our very first camping trip!  These babies are 35 pounds a piece.  Nice, right?  I'd like to say that he actually caught one of these suckers and we served it up for dinner around the camp fire, but that would be a lie.  Jeremy was not so lucky to catch one of these suckers.  In fact, he didn't catch a thing.  These babies were caught off a fishing boat - they just happened to be downloaded at the pier right by where we were sun bathing, so we came to inspect these fine specimen.  Have you ever watched professional fishermen in action?  Um, what an interesting species.    

Anyfood, we went on our very first camping trip!  This was big for two reasons: 1) there was no TV and 2) I've never been camping without a motor home (except once, and I was with extremely experienced campers that had all the fancy gear).  So we had to fend for ourselves around the campfire and camp stove.  I would say it was a raving success!
The first night we had dogs and corn...the corn took about 4 hours.  Seriously, the fire simply was not hot enough.  At Virginia State Parks, you aren't permitted to bring in your own fire wood - you are forced to buy their damp, moldy wood.  So it burns slow, low, and smokey (Jeremy was baffled that I knew this - however, even though I grew up in a motor home, we camped every single summer and Easter Break until I graduated from high school.  I did learn a thing or two about camp fires!)  Anyfood, the dogs were delish, however they were covered in a wee bit of smoke and char which I wasn't too excited about.  The corn, once it FINALLY cooked was delish!
The first morning, J fired up our brand new camp stove!  It took a bit for us to figure out that the stove was actually lit...apparently the caps over the burners prevent us from seeing the flames.  Good to know.  Anyfood, we had turkey bacon, flat fried eggs, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  We also tried out our new percolator - YUMMY coffee.  For serious.  However, we ground our coffee a little too fine so there were some grounds in our joe.  If you look close enough you will notice a picture of yours truly on the coffee mug - I think I might have been about one or two in that snap shot.  For my 16th birthday my ever-so-thoughtful parents took me and a group of friends camping at Doheny - the party faves were pics of each of the girls on their own mug.  My mom had contacted their parents ahead of time to get the pics.  She recently sent my mug to me, and I thought it was fitting that I use it on this trip.  We'll have to get one for the J man!
Night number two I made burritos!  My cousin JJ and her husband are avid campers and highly recommend burritos.  OMG, fabulous!  A must for our next trip.  Piece of cake to chop up some bell peppers, red onions, and 1/2 a jalapeno; heat up some refried beans (vegetarian kind - no lard for me thanks!); toss in some taco meat that we used earlier this week and ta-da!  SO GOOD.

Great trip, great company, and great food!

Puttanesca and Peas

Hello foodies, Coxina here.
I fed some friends last night with these two lovely and super easy recipes. Alas, no pictures, but I haven't figured out how to post pics on the blogspot yet anyfood... (aaah yee-ah!)

Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives, and Capers
from Best of Cooking Light, serves 4

Ingredients

* 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp black pepper
* 1 tsp vegetable oil
* 1 T. bottled minced garlic
* 1 C. chopped fresh parsley
* 1/4 C. chopped pitted kalamata olives
* 2 tsp capers
* 1 (14.5-oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained


Directions

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.
4. Add garlic to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients; scrape pan to loosen browned bits.
5. Return chicken and accumulated juice to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is done.

We had it with rice to sop up the juices, or you can have it with some delicious bread. I guess pasta would make sense too, riiight?

To accompany the chicks, and the crowd favorite, Pesto Pea Salad
from Ina's Barefoot Contessa At Home, serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
* 1/4 pound baby spinach leaves
* 1 (10 oz) package frozen peas, defrosted
* 1/2 cup prepared pesto
* 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts


Directions

Wash the spinach leaves and spin them dry. Place the spinach and the peas in a large bowl. Add the pesto and Parmesan, then sprinkle with salt. Toss well, sprinkle with pine nutes, and serve.

Note: To toast pignolis, place them in a dry saute pan and cook over medium-low heat, tossing frequently, for about 5-10 minutes until evenly browned.

Looking forward to making this salad again soon. It will be great for summer too. Just a footnote, we finished off our meal with... the dump cake! It's fan base is building!