I was a naughty girl yesterday. I should have been holed up in my apartment finishing my last paper and preparing for my exam on Thursday, but I played hooky with my husband and went to see ‘Spider-Man 3′ instead. I resisted for a while, all the way to the theatre in fact, but then a box of milk chocolate Raisinettes winked at me from the concession stand and I gave in. Whee! Can you blame me?

In truth I think taking a break was the best thing. I needed to step away from the books, leave that shoulder tension behind and clear my head by marveling (get it, MARVEL-ing? ha!) at how creepy Venom was. When we got home I made another cup of coffee, laced it with chai, flexed my fingers and finished that paper lickety split - which means the only thing I have left to do between now and Thursday is study for my last Hebrew exam. Go me.

However, despite the headway I’ve made with finals, I’ve still been woefully remiss in returning comments - both on this site and on yours. I hope you’ll forgive me for that since lord knows I’d much rather be frolicking around the blogging world than studying. Instead I’ve been completing worksheet after worksheet with instructions like “Vocalize each of the words below in the הפעיל, then rewrite the word and vocalize it in התפעל, then identify it by root, tense, and pronoun.” Aa! Even groovy study music can’t make that fun.

With such a schedule dinners have remained on the simple side, yet I still have something delicious to share with you. A frittata filled with potatoes, roasted garlic, goat cheese, scallions, thyme and cherry tomatoes. The recipe is by Margaret Fox, who is quickly catching up to Carrie Levin as my favorite breakfast diva and is the inspiration behind the hazelnut coffee cake I posted recently. Not unlike stir-frys, frittatas require little effort and are open to improvisation. From potatoes to pasta, you can use whatever is on hand to create a quick and satisfying dish. I’m especially fond of their varied texture - a taste of roasted garlic and goat cheese in this bite, the burst of a warm cherry tomato in the next. And the colors, oh the colors, with flecks of green and red against a yellow backdrop. It’s heaven, especially when served with a crisp spinach salad and homemade honey brown-butter dressing.

This post is my contribution to “A Taste of Yellow,” an event that Barbara created to support Lance Armstrong’s “Livestrong Day.” Livestrong Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s grassroots movement whose purpose is to unite people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer on a national level and in local communities across the country. This semester one of my uncles died of colon cancer, and in the past few years I’ve also lost relatives to pancreatic and lung cancer. Cancer affects people from all walks of life and it’s important that we support organizations like the American Cancer Society and Livestrong in their quest to raise awareness and fund research. Together we can make a difference.

Mendocino Frittata
Reprinted with permission from “Morning Food.”
Ingredients: Makes 1 Large Frittata

• 9 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley
• 1/4 cup grated dry cheese (Parmesan, dry Asiago or dry Jack)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 cups cubed, cooked and peeled potatoes
• 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped red peppers (I skipped this ingredient)
• 2/3 cups finely chopped green onions (aka scallions)
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 ounces goat cheese, cut into small cubes or thin slices, depending on shape
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1/4 cup roasted garlic

Step 1: Roast the garlic.
In a saucepan, place peeled garlic cloves and cover with water. Bring to a boil and lower heat. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes until the cloves are easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Drain well. Coat the cloves with a generous amount of olive oil and bake them in a small oven-safe dish at 325 degrees F for about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally, until caramelized. Store in the refrigerator, covered in oil, if not using immediately.

Step 2: Make the frittata
Peel two medium sized russet potatoes and steam them for 20 to 25 minutes. (Detailed instructions can be found here.) Allow them to cool, then cut into cubes.

Beat the eggs with the parsley and dry cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I used a pinch of each). Set aside.

Heat a large ovenproof saute pan, add the olive oil, and cook the potatoes over medium heat until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add the peppers and saute until soft. Add the green onions, cook until limp, then add the thyme. Sprinkle cayenne pepper over the vegetables and stir to distribute.

Turn on the broiler in your oven.

Turn up the heat on your stove and add the egg mixture. After about 10 seconds, turn the heat down to medium-low. Quickly sprinkle the goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and roasted garlic evenly over the surface. Reduce the heat to low and let cook, slowly, until the edges are set. Lift the edges so that uncooked egg can run underneath, and repeat this a couple of times during the next 5 minutes or so. Peek underneath and make sure the bottom isn’t browning too quickly. If it is, reduce the heat.

When the top is set and still moist, place the pan under the broiler for about 60 seconds, or until the top is slightly browned. (Mine was in there for 2 minutes.) Carefully remove the pan from the oven - it will be hot! - and slide the frittata onto a warm dish. Cut into wedges and serve.

Honey Brown-Butter Dressing
The recipe for this dressing can be found here. I like it best with spinach salad, but of course it goes well with other kinds of salad too. On occasion I have substituted Vidalia onion for the shallots and have used 2 tablespoons of olive oil to replace half of the butter. I also prefer to use Orange-Blossom honey. Play around and see what you like!

Congratulations to Ann and Sandy who won the “Win a Free Cookbook” raffle and each received a new copy of Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings! One hundred and thirty-five people participated and at 12:01AM on March 24th I put all the email addresses in a hat and drew out the two winners. I hope they enjoy their books and perhaps send me a few photographs of what they bake. (hint, hint.) Being a graduate student I can’t run contests like this all the time, but fate seems to think one more is in order since I recently earned enough points at e-rewards.com to get a two-year subscription to Saveur magazine. What does this have to do with another raffle? Simply this: I’m already subscribed to Saveur so I’ve decided to give one of you a chance to enjoy my prize instead. If you haven’t read Saveur I recommend picking up a copy the next time you’re at your local bookstore. I love its engaging combination of recipes, culture, culinary history and beautiful photography. Learn more about the raffle here.

Split-Pea Burgers with Jalapeño Home Fries

The recipes featured in this post are the result of two things: my husband’s and my busy schedule and our love of good food. During the week we usually don’t get home until about 7pm and by that time neither of us wants to be working in the kitchen for a lengthy amount of time. To get around this problem we’ve developed a system by which we write a menu for the week every Friday, and do the majority of the “labor intensive” cooking over the weekend. We prepare everything up until the final stage of cooking, which means that all we have to do when we get home is finish things up and enjoy a delicious meal. Total time: on average, about 30 minutes. (No Rachel Ray reference intended.)

Caramelized Plantains, aka Maduros. Sprinkled with fleur de sel (fine sea salt).

Actually, with practice two of the dishes in this post can probably be prepared in under 15 minutes. Really. The homemade split-pea veggie burgers are one of my favorite “simple night” (which is what we call our cooking-light evenings) dishes. Although I can tolerate some of the freezer section veggie burgers I’ve never been satisfied with their taste or consistency. These burgers solve that problem with their slightly crunchy breaded crusts and rich flavor. Made with a combination of brown rice, split-peas and mushrooms, which are then spiced with cumin and coriander, these guys are about as healthy as you can get without sacrificing taste. To make this dish a “simple night” option simply prepare the mixture on a Sunday night and refrigerate. Then, when you get home, shape portions into patties, roll them in bread crumbs, and fry them in a bit of olive oil. That’s it!

As far as side dishes are concerned sometimes we go with plain old tater tots from the frozen food section - but when you factor in the time it takes for the oven to pre-heat, and for the tots to cook, it’s actually faster to make jalapeño home fries. These take about 35 minutes to make from start to finish, even less time if you steam the potatoes a day ahead or microwave them. Diced jalapeño, sauteed onions, red potatoes and pure ancho chile powder give them a fantastic flavor. Sometimes we whip these up and enjoy them by themselves, no main dish required. Another side dish option is maduros, which are popular in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Panama and Puerto Rico, to name a few places. The name simply means “caramelized plantains,” and when garnished with fleur de sel I have to tell you: they’re so delectable. When preparing maduros I prefer to use fleur de sel instead of regular table salt because its aroma and intense flavor adds a lot to a dish. “Fleur de sel” literally means “flower of salt,” and according to Harold McGee it is “the finest and most delicate… product of the sea-salt beds of west-central France.” Fleur de sel is harvested by hand and consists of the salt crystals that accumulate on the surface of salt pans when the humidity is just right. (Ordinary salt is collected at the bottom of the pans and has sediment particles in it as a result.) Fleur de sel is expensive, but since it’s used more as a condiment than a cooking salt a modest amount of it lasts for a while. Maduros are made by simply slicing and frying up a couple plantains in peanut oil. They’re not in the oil for long so the resulting dish isn’t greasy - and talk about an excellent burger accompaniment. :yum:

That’s it for now. Today marked the beginning of a week and a half off from school so you know what that means: lots of cooking and blog posting! (And yes, getting ahead on school work too, but we’re not going to talk about that.)

See you soon!

Homemade Split-Pea Burgers
The recipe for these burgers can be found here. We usually skip the bell peppers and add a little more onion instead. Also, in the future we may add diced jalapeño or chipotle chile powder. See what works best for you - experimentation truly is the spice of life!

Jalapeño Home Fries
Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Collection Breakfast Book.
Ingredients: Makes 4 Servings

• 5 red potatoes, about 1 1/4lb total weight, scrubbed and patted dry
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 jalapeño
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder (see notes) *
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Fine sea salt

Pour water to a depth of 1 inch into a large pot and bring to a boil. Put the whole potatoes into a collapsible steamer basket and set over the boiling water. (The water should not touch the potatoes.) Cover and steam until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a small knife. 15-20 minutes, depending on their size. Transfer the potatoes to a bowl. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch cubes.

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the oil. When the butter has foamed and the foam begins to subside, add the jalapeño and the onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are glossy, about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes and cook, without disturbing them, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. With a spatula, turn the potatoes over in several large portions (don’t mix too much) and cook, turning (not stirring) only twice during the cooking time, to achieve the optimum crust and browning, about 15 minutes longer. Sprinkle with the chile powder, paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 1 minute longer. Stir together to blend in the spices, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve at once.

A note about chile/chili powder: Pure chile powder is not the same as chili powder, which is a commercial spice blend that usually combines dried chiles, cumin, oregano, garlic, cloves and coriander. For the best chile flavor, seek out pure ancho chile powder, which has a good level of heat and excellent flavor. Chile powder varies in strength, and will lose its flavor over time, so purchase it in small quantities from a store with a good turnover and replace it after six months.

Caramelized Plantains, Aka Maduros
Reproduced with permission from “The Cook’s Book” by Jill Norman.
Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe plantains. Their skins should be extremely dark, almost black.
• Canola or peanut oil. Enough to fill a large skillet to a 1/4 inch depth

Peel the plantains, then slice each one on the bias (at an angle) into eight to ten ovals each, about 1/2-inch thick. Pour 1/4 inch depth of canola or peanut oil into a large skillet and set over high heat to heat the oil.

Add the plantain slices to the hot oil, several at a time, leaving yourself room to flip them, and cook until they are golden with black edges, 1 - 1 1/2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve hot.