Anytime Asparagus Frittata

A quick and easy recipe to whip up for a savory, protein-rich meal for any occasion or time of day or night. I served this frittata tonight with a mixed lettuce salad with sliced tomato and pickled beets drizzled with a vinaigrette.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 large Onion, thinly sliced
1 pound (bunch) of Asparagus with thick stems snapped off, then cut diagonally into 1" lengths
6 large Eggs, beaten
1/3 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup shredded White Cheddar Cheese
1/3 shredded Parmesan Cheese
Herbs* and Paprika (optional)

*Cilantro, Italian Herb Blend, etc.

Directions

Preheat broiler.

Drizzle olive oil in to a deep 10"-12" ovenproof frying pan.

Over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, sauté onion rings 

with salt until onion is soft, but not browned.

Reduce the heat to medium-low heat and add the asparagus, 

and cook covered until asparagus is just tender for about 7 minutes.

Pour in the egg mixture and cook for about 3 minutes, 

until the eggs are almost cooked but still a bit runny on top.

Sprinkle the cheeses and paprika over the egg mixture and 

broil for another 4 minutes, until the cheeses are melted 

and slightly browned on top.

Remove from the oven and slide the frittata onto a platter.

Cut into wedges and serve with a fresh salad or selection of fruits.

Thanksgiving Special - How Artists Would Plate Thanksgiving Dinner by Hannah Rothstein

Repost of : Thanksgiving Special: How 10 Famous Artists Would Plate Thanksgiving Dinner by Christopher Jobson on November 26, 2014 on This is Colossal.

Piet Mondrian

René Magritte

Vincent van Gogh

Pablo Picasso

Jackson Pollock

Georges Seurat

Andy Warhol

In this fun series of photos titled Thanksgiving Special, San Francisco-based artist Hannah Rothstein imagines Thanksgiving dinners as plated by famous artists throughout history. Gravy, corn, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and even the plate itself is used as a medium for edible artworks in the style of Jackson Pollock, Cindy Sherman, Georges Seurat, and Vincent van Gogh. To see all 10 artworks head over to Rothstein’s website. Prints of the artistic plates are available, and Rothstein is donating 10% of the profits to the SF-Marin Food Bank. (via Coudal, Quipsologies)

Zucchini-Feta Flapjacks

When I asked a friend of mine what she was doing today, she replied that she was making flapjacks for a bonfire tomorrow night.  Her comment reminded me that I had not posted my recent gluten-free recipe for making a savory pancake (aka flapjack) as a brunch, lunch or dinner side dish or entree. 

So here it is!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds of Zucchini, grated (about 3 cups)

1/4 cup Feta Cheese, finely crumbled

2 eggs + 1 egg white, beaten

3/4 cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour

3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Sea Salt

1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (or 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper) 

1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano

Olive Oil (spray) for coating fry pan

Directions:

1. Once the zucchini is grated, squeeze out excess liquid using just your hands pressing down the zucchini in a fine strainer, through cheesed cloth, or like in my case since I had neither at hand, pressing the moisture out into layers of paper towels (worked great).
2. In a large mixing bowl, blend well the zucchini, feta, eggs, flour, baking powder and seasonings.
3. Heat over medium-high heat, a wide frying pan that is coated with the olive oil.
4. You should be able to cook 3 to 4 flapjacks that are 2-3 tablespoons of mixture each, spreading them out to make 4-inch rounds.
5. Cook the flapjacks for about three (3) minutes per side, or until golden. 
6. Serve warm as is, with butter, sour cream, greek yogurt, savory cream sauce or condiment to taste.

These were a BIG hit at my dinner table!

Crab Babies

DZ is harvesting crabs daily, with a limit of five per harvest - Washington State limit per person, per day. It was dark by the time I got home, and DZ was still in the garage removing the crab meat from the  five he brought home and steamed late afternoon. The day before, he bought a small freezer to keep in the garage to store the vacuum-sealed seafood we will enjoy after their perspective season has ended.

We were both tired and hungry, with two portions of fresh crab in the refrigerator... so while DZ was dealing with the crabs outside, I need to quickly get creative and productive in the kitchen, if we wanted to eat anytime soon.

Having served my friend, Kris, sweet Dutch Babies filled with fresh fruit and Greek yogurt drizzled with agave nectar, for breakfast a few days earlier, I thought it would be tasty to serve us savory "Crab Babies" for dinner... simple, quick, and with little taxing of what brain cells I had left, a creative solution that proved to be excellent, despite how I had to take a number of little offerings from the refrigerator to generate enough content to feed two people. Our Crab Babies ended up just right - flavor-wise and portion-wise, especially for two, who whatever reasons, forgot to eat lunch.

Dutch Babies are easy-cheesy to make and take few ingredients... even with alternative ingredients in the batter, they hardly ever fail to impress, look and taste great.

Here's the ingredients and directions for making my version of a gluten-free Dutch Babies, using what I had on hand:

Ingredients for Dutch Babies Batter:

1/4 cup, same as a half a stick of Butter or butter substitute (four pats - two for each baking dish)

3 Eggs

1/2 cup Rice Milk

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour

Pinch of Salt

Note: Dutch Baby batter recipes may vary slightly as to the ratio of number of eggs, milk, flour and butter per serving.

Directions and Other Ingredients for making Crab Babies:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425-degrees with two glass pie plates on a rack in the middle of the oven. Do not have a rack above, as the Dutch Babies have the potential of rising on the sides, sometime quite high.
2. Liquid first, put all the ingredients, sans the butter, in a blender and blend until... well, blended.
3. When oven reaches temperature,  put two pats of butter in each glass pie plate and melt, without browning - happens very fast, so watch carefully. It's easy to forget and set off the smoke detector.
4. As soon as the butter is melted, pour half of the batter into each of the two glass pie plates.
5. Before or while they bake at 425-degrees for 18-20 minutes, prepare the contents to fill the "Crab Babies" after they are transferred to dinner plates, as shown above.
6. In a saute pan, lightly saute together in olive oil savory ingredients of choice. Here's what I had on hand: chopped Green Onion, diced White Onion, diced Red Bell Pepper, sliced Mushrooms, teaspoon or less of Capers (rinsed), a quarter + teaspoon of Fennel Seed and a pinch of Salt and Cayenne Pepper. Keep warm, but don't over cook.
7. In a small mixing bowl, whip together - best at room temperature (a quick microwave works to take the chill off) -  whatever portions seems right to you of creamy ingredients. I found a little of each of the following in our refrigerator and combined them to make a wonderful, creamy base to my concoction: Tofutti (soy cream cheese substitute), Greek Yogurt, Mayonnaise, shredded Parmesan Cheese, a squeeze of fresh Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest... and a pinch of Salt.
8. As soon as the Dutch Babies come out of the oven - oven mitts compulsory - very, very hot and easy to burn yourself - transfer them to dinner plates. They should have lovely, toasty brown edges, perhaps bubbly in the center slathered in melted butter... then immediately start to "settle" on the dinner plates.
9. Best using a rubber spatula, divide and spread the creamy mixture across each, hot serving, then divide both the savory filling and warmed, cooked crab meat, and cover the creamy mixture with color and texture of the sauteed mixture and bite-size pieces of crab.
10. Garnish with a light sprinkling of Paprika and serve while hot. 

Generously serves 2

Recipe dedicated to Crab harvesters DZ and Phil.

Festive Gluten-Free Quinoa Salad

Very exciting news! Our daughter Effie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this past Wednesday, on December 15th.

Besides caring for our two year old "big sister" granddaughter, I wanted to make a nutritious meal for the family to enjoy when they returned home from the hospital.

I slightly modified the "Southwestern Quinoa Salad Recipe" I saved from the blog A Chic Life. It seemed like a versatile offering; one they could enjoy as a main entree and serve the next day as a side dish. Although the perfect salad for summertime meals, this quinoa salad is also a colorful, flavorful and festive contribution to any luncheon, dinner or potluck during the holidays. And it's gluten-free!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, dry and uncooked
  
• 2 cups water
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn
  
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeds, minced OR 1 small can of diced jalapenos (mild or hot)
• 1 small jar of pimentos
  
• 3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
  
• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 1/4 tsp garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions:

1. Rinse the quinoa and combine with the 2 cups water in a medium pot.
   
2. Bring quinoa to a boil and simmer on low heat till the water absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking to the pot. Cool.
   
3. In a large bowl, mix the cooled, cooked quinoa, black beans, bell pepper, corn, jalapeno, and cilantro to combine.
   
4. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the lime zest, lime juice, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, and chili powder.
   
5. Pour dressing over the quinoa salad and stir gently to combine.
6. For best flavor, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Dinner and a Movie

Last night was date night, a "no cookin’ in the kitchen" night. Capitalism by Michael Moore was our movie pick. We started out with the intent of eating at a local restaurant we hadn’t been to before, but as our leisure time was ebbing away, we settled on McGrath's Fish House within blocks of the theater, which offers Celiacs gluten-free lunch and dinner menus.

I ordered the Halibut Parmesan served with a Petite Shrimp Louis with gluten-free dressing, Rice Pilaf and a glass of Pinot Blanc. Hold the tartar sauce. As we were engaged in deep conversation, my meal seemed tasty enough, but as I was finishing the last few bites, I realized that the halibut was “different”. I had ordered Halibut Parmesan before and this wasn't that. Right about then, my digestive tract confirmed my discovery - it was not Halibut Parmesan and it was not a gluten-free meal.

I called the waitress over, who conferred with the waiter who took our order, who conferred with the chef and restaurant manager, who in turn, conferred with us. The six of us unraveled what happened between the ordering and serving of my dinner. The waiter heard me wrong and wrote down the wrong entrée, the waiter nor the chef wrote “gluten-free” across the ticket, the waitress that took over our table, didn’t have a clue, was only doing her job, I wasn’t paying attention until it was too late to do anything about it… and the movie was about to start. No doubt, the manager will be holding a staff meeting to go over this scenario to avoid future, dangerous, costly mistakes, even a lawsuit. The manager was gracious, very apologetic, and our entire dinner was compt.  He of course hopes to avoid bad press and keep us as as happy, satisfied patrons of their establishment. None the less, it was very kind of them, considering I was partly to blame for the condition I found myself in.  The waiters were embarrassed and most apologetic. We left them a tip and headed for the theater.

We were fortunate to find a couple of good seats together. There has been so much press about Moore’s new film Capitalism: A Love Story that the showings have nearly been sold out. Ever heard of the term “dead peasants”? Neither had we. This was one of the bugged-eyed eye-openers of the movie. For more information, go to Dead Peasant Insurance. I’m not going to review the film here, but let me suffice it to say that the audience broke out in applause and cheers, all but gave a standing ovation.  Moore is garnering support for the notion that democracy and capitalism don't go together, and that the lies and scare tactics about the evils of becoming a socialist nation must stop. See for yourself. Make up your own mind. I’ll be adding Capitalism to our DVD library.

Bonus Feature  - How I make Halibut Parmesan in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

4 – 6 oz halibut fillets

½ cup of pine nuts, coarsely chopped

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450-degrees. Combine all the ingredients except the sea salt. Rinse and pat dry the halibut fillets and lay them on a baking sheet. Season both sides with salt. Pat the pine nut and Parmesan mixture onto the halibut, lightly pressing to make it stick. Turn the fillets and repeat on the other side. Bake the pine nut and Parmesan encrusted fillets in the middle of the oven for 10- 15 minutes, until you see that the halibut is opaque all the way through.

From "Halibut – The Cookbook", edited by Karen Barnaby. Published by Whitecap Books.