Garlic Scape and Salmon Frittata

This is a summer favorite in the Kosher, She Eats kitchen. We grow our own garlic scapes and jalapeños and Kosher Hubby cold smokes his own salmon. (Yes, I know... overachievers.) One Sunday morning we decided to forgo our usual cheesey eggs (another KSE kitchen invention) and make frittatas with whatever was in our fridge. I will share the 'recipe' and preparation instructions below but first some ideas and explanations.What are garlic scapes? There are two main varieties of garlics and many sub-varieties. These two main varieties are hard-neck and soft-neck. Soft-neck garlic looks just like a mutant, large blade of grass. The magic is below ground with the garlic clove. Hard-neck garlics are neat because they give you TWO edible products. The first is the scape, which if left unpicked will become a flower with little bulbils (teeny tiny garlics). However, you can cut them off and eat them. They taste like a cross between garlic and green onion. Obviously, the second product you get from a hard-neck is the garlic clove. Here's a picture of our Kosher puppy with our garlics from last season. You can see the scape begins to curl and are fully curled when they are ready.Okay, ideas... this is sort of a kitchen sink dish. You can put what ever you want in here. We choose jalapeños, scapes, cheddar cheese, and smoked salmon because that is what we had in the house. You can use other types of peppers (hot or sweet), regular garlic, mushrooms, onions, spinach, goat cheese, whatever you want!How many eggs? Well... it's a safe bet to do two eggs per person. It depends on how many people, how big your pan is, and how hungry you are. For the larger size pan that we have, we would recommend six eggs. I am not going to put a quantity below, you can toss as much or as little in as you want!As for pans... we used our older non-stick skillets and no additional oil or spray however, this recipe calls for them to go into the oven SO there are a few caveats.1. Non-stick in the oven decreases the lifetime of the pan. We decided to designate a couple of our pans for oven usage, knowing that they will have to be replaced sooner. Fortunately, non-stick isn't too expensive.2. NO PLASTIC HANDLES IN THE OVEN!!Other option: you can, instead of using a non-stick pan, heavily coat a stainless steel pan with oil/butter/non-stick spray. The goal here is to have the frittata slide right out at the end and not make a mess. You will cut this like a pie, so staying together is a virtue for this recipe. We love this pan (this size is the smaller size we use) - Professional Non-Stick Restaurant Frying Pan Size: 8"- the rubber handle is removable![ingredients]Preparation:

1. Set your oven to broil
2. Dice jalapeños and chop scapes then toss them in the pan with butter to sauté. Sauté for approx. 5 minutes.
3. Crack your eggs into a bowl (NOT THE PAN) and beat them together with approx 1 tablespoon of milk or cream (or half and half if you are out) per egg.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the veggies and let cook for a minute or two and then layer the salmon on top.
5. Grate cheese on top of the mixture. Add as much as you like.
6. Here's the tricky part... when to put in the oven - let the eggs cook until they begin to set up on the outer ring of the pan. It is now time to put it in an oven. Put it on the top rack, right under the broiler.
7. Keep watch on the frittata and pull it out when it begins to get golden brown on the top.
8. Pull the frittata out and serve immediately. You can top with chopped chives or dill. We did one of each and really enjoyed both!

The process in pictures: See it starting to set up/cook on the sides? Time for the oven! Post oven... no flipping necessary! Those are chives! And that is dill!

Kosher Cheeses

With all these recent (ok two...) dairy recipes we have been trying, I got to thinking about Kosher cheeses. Kosher Hubby and I don't use cholov yisroel cheese (if that is Greek to you, that's ok, I'll explain below) but we try to steer clear of animal rennet. So let's talk cheese.What makes cheese Kosher?

Ok. So first and foremost... if the animal that makes the cheese is Kosh... then so is it's milk. However, there are two types of cheeses... soft and hard. Soft cheese (cream cheese, cottage cheese, even brie) are what they call "acid-set." They add bacterial cultures to milk and it forms soft curds (with liquid whey). These are usually Kosher,  most folks will still look for a hechsher because of the production equipment. It is the hard cheeses that pose some issues.

Hard cheeses are rennet-set. This means they add rennet enzymes to milk then firm cheese curds form with liquid whey. There are so many shades to this conversation but let us say this... rennet comes from the stomach of animals, most often from cows.  Additionally, there are some artificial rennets out there.

Just to add another dimension, some folks ban cheeses that are not made by Jews/Jewish companies. It comes from issues around understanding if the rennet came from a Kosher cow (aka when slaughtered, was it un-diseased). It is literally called gevinat akum (non-Jewish cheese).

What is Cholov Yisroel?

Cholov Yisroel is an extra stringency involving milk and milk products. In this case, every thing from start to finish (milking to packaging) was supervised by an observant Jew. This is to ensure that there are no unseen problems and make sure that your dairy products are of the highest kashrut standards. There was, at one time, fears that a farmer might mix in some milk from a non-kosher animal (horses, pigs) to the cow or goat milk. There are many groups that observe this stringency, including Chabad.

Where can I find yummy Kosher cheese?

Good question! Well, one way is to make it! Perhaps Kosher Hubby and I will make mozzarella one day for the blog. He has done it in the past and said it's delish! But for ease of use, you can buy a lot of good cheese out there. A favorite in the Kosher, She Eats home is Tillamook Kosher Cheddar. We call this "egg cheese" in our house because we love it on eggs in the morning! It's no longer easy to find true Italian Parmigiano that is Kosher any more. Here's an article on the death of this delicious cheese. As mentioned in the article Parmigiano has a nice cousin, Grana Padano. You can find it in stores or here though it is not easy to come by and expensive. The Cheese Guy is awesome. He has TONS of varieties. I haven't tried his brand personally but as far as cheeses I enjoy... check out the Parmesan and Pecorino. He's got a great selection. Here is another site with a decent selection of cheeses. Zabar's has some kosher cheeses too. And one last site with kosher cheese options.

Here is a really good article about how cheese is made and about the Kashrut of cheese: Say Cheese! I really recommend reading it! Great details on most of what I addressed here!

Winter Soup

Well. It's cold. No doubt about that. So today, Hubby and I decided to make a yummy minestrone soup. Actually what happened was, Hubby wanted to make a butternut squash gratin (yes, recipe coming) and I remembered a recent recipe from Real Simple for a minestrone soup with butternut squash. Perfect pair for dinner!Please forgive the lack of pictures... the Kosher, She Eats kitchen was NOT clean enough to get any good pics. I promise we will have some new ones for you the next time we make this!Of course, nothing in the Kosher, She Eats kitchen could be simple... We don't eat pasta or bread (regularly) plus we wanted to use what we grew/had canned in season so we adjusted the original recipe. Here is our version of the Winter Minestrone. One thing... I totally 'free-handed' this recipe... do what feels right. I love carrots in soups so I added more. If you love beans, add beans or squash or whatever!Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 half pint (8oz) jar of homemade tomato sauce (yes, you can use canned... but NOT PASTA SAUCE, actual tomato sauce... we will get you canning next season. It's easy!)
• Some butternut squash, cut into 1-inch pieces (The other recipe calls for a small squash... I didn't have that much since we were using it mainly for the gratin.)
• 6-7 medium carrots, chopped
• Some green beans (we used a sandwich bag of green beans we had frozen during the season. If you do not have this luxury, grab some frozen ones at the store. They are usually flash frozen at the peak of the season.)
• 2 15-ounce cans navy beans, rinsed (or pinto, or kidney... whatever bean you want... I wouldn't do black beans though... personal preference. Also... I forgot to rinse mine and the world kept spinning.)
• Vegetable stock
• 1 3-inch piece Parmesan rind (optional), plus grated Parmesan for serving
• 1/2 Savoy cabbage, chopped

Preparation:

1. Before you start... get a big soup pot. Don't do this step in a frying pan... keep the flavors in there! Okay, heat some olive oil in your SOUP POT. (I say vociferously because at first I didn't then switched pans... don't bother to get that frying pan dirty.) Add the onion, about ¾ teaspoon salt, and about ¼ teaspoon pepper. Sauté, stirring frequently, until soft and nearly translucent (about 8 to 10 minutes).
2. Add the tomatoes and their juices as well as your tomato sauce to the pot with the onions. Simmer until thickened (about 6 to 8 minutes... I left it on a bit longer as I was prepping the other ingredients).
3. Add squash, carrots, beans, green beans, 8(ish) cups vegetable stock, and Parmesan rind, if desired, and bring to a boil. Then turn it down to a simmer, stirring occasionally. You want the vegetables to get tender. This could take about 20 to 25 minutes, however, since I put mine up early in the afternoon, I kept it on a low simmer for more than an hour. I let the veggies get soft and even added some more vegetable stock to bring it to the right soup-y-ness.
   1. NOTE: If you added the Parmesan rind (which I totally recommend trying, if you are serving a dairy meal) continually taste the soup. The rind really imparts A LOT of flavor and you might want to take it out before the cooking time is up. We left it in for maybe 30 minutes.
4. About 30 minutes or so before you plan to  serve the soup, add cabbage. Simmer until the cabbage isn't too crunchy.
5. Serve with grated Parmesan on top.

Ok, like I said, we were a little loosey goosey about this recipe. And it totally worked. I put it up around 3 and we ate it around 6:30. It stayed warm the whole time but make sure the liquid doesn't boil out!! It really didn't take long to prep and made everything smell great while we were cleaning our house. After I put the soup up, we had extra butternut squash (from the gratin) and we threw it in. Also, the first night we ate this, the cabbage had a bit of a crunch to it (delish!) but at subsequent "eatings" the cabbage was less crunchy (surprisingly still delish)!If you don't use the rind or top with Parm, this is a great parve soup. And it's fabulous as a dairy soup as well!One last tip for you... Start with one bowl. We got so excited the first night we each ate two... and the rest of our dinners which left us totally over stuffed! This soup is SUPER filling.Enjoy!Kosherly yours,Kosher T & Kosher Hubby

Colorful and Healthy Frittata

I know I have given you a lot of desserts lately for Shavuot but here is a nice lunch dish that can be reused for breakfast the next morning. It's colorful and healthy.I highly recommend getting farm fresh eggs (like literally from chickens) or buying free range organic eggs. I know most people don't understand the value of this but having recently been turned on to these types of eggs, I can tell you first hand there is a HUGE difference in taste and quality. It is better for you and your family. But I will leave the egg rant for another time...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli florets
• 3/4 cup sliced fresh button mushrooms
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 2 green onions, sliced thin, green tops included
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup finely-shredded Cheddar cheese

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a shallow 1-1/2-quart casserole dish with vegetable oil.
2. Saute broccoli, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and green onions in the butter until barely cooked. They should remain firm and colorful. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, water, Dijon mustard, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and salt until well-combined. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle the sautéed vegetables over the top of the eggs, then sprinkle with Cheddar cheese.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, until center is set. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.
5. Yield: 4 to 6 servings

This delish recipe is from About.com

Pesach Time Is Here!

I know, I've just been terrible about posting lately. There are a few times of year when the holidays all collide and everything gets so busy. That's why I am all over the idea of quick and easy meals. One of the big staples on Pesach is the egg... in my house we always boil way too many eggs for the seder so I end up eating eggs for the week. And while I am an egg fan... they can start to get a bit boring. So here are some options for your hard-boiled eggs for the end of Pesach.First... do you know how to hard boil an egg? I know, seems simple but there are a few tricks to ensuring that your egg is 1. cooked 2. easy to peel and 3. the yolk isn't green!Best way to hard boil an egg:

1. Put the eggs in a pot of COLD water, with enough water to cover the eggs by two-ish inches.
2. Bring the water to a rolling boil then cover the pot.
3. Turn off the stove, remove the pot from the burner, and let it stand, covered, for 12 minutes.
4. Fill a bowl with cold water. Immediately when the timer goes off, submerge the eggs in cold water

When it's time to peel, crack the shell then roll the egg on the counter to break the shell completely. Start peeling but have a bowl of cold water near by. This will help loosen the shell and remove any small bits that stick to the egg.Okay, now that we have a perfect hard-boiled eggs... what the heck do we do with them?!

1. Deviled Eggs... the old standby... So delish but a bit of work. Once the eggs are cooked, cut in half length-wise and pop out the yolks. Take the yolks and mix in some mayonnaise, mustard, and a little bit of black pepper. (Look out for my homemade mayonnaise recipe soon!) Then put the yolks back in the whites and top with fun toppings such as asparagus bits, paprika, beets, all sorts of fun things!
   1. Secret to getting the yolks back in? Use a spatula to get them in a zip-loc bag and then cut off a corner. Instant pastry bag! Squeeze the yummy yolks into the whites!
2. Nicoise salad redefined. I love a good nicoise salad but I also like simple ingredients and clean flavors. Try this with your eggs: Get some albacore (white) tuna and drain it very well. Chop up some romaine lettuce (I totally prefer the hearts) and put it in a bowl. Crumble the tuna over the lettuce. Chop up the eggs (as small or big as you would like... I prefer bigger chunks) and put on top of the lettuce and tuna. Top it off with some Parmesan cheese. You can top with some store-bought kosher caesar dressing or make your own. I personally love the anchovy flavor in the caesar but I can understand those who don't. I'll post a recipe for this soon!
3. Now this one is innovative... bread-less egg pizzas! Take a large cross-section slice of tomato, put slices of egg on top, sprinkle some cheese over it. Flavor with oregano and salt. Then place in the oven for a few minutes, until the cheese melts. IF you put things on your matzah (not everyone does), this is a great grownup matzah pizza.
4. Talia's easy egg salad. Seriously. This is easy. Peel a few eggs, chop them up (size of whites is up to you). Mix a little mayonnaise and mustard in. Stir. Eat. Great quick snack!

I hope these Eggcelent ideas have given you a few more options to close out Pesach on a high note! Enjoy!

Let the kosher adventures begin - Black Bean Salad

Okay folks, let's start with something simple. How about a parve salad alternative for your shabbis table? I love this recipe. I discovered it on my new obsession, Pinterest. I have altered it slightly for my tastes and through trial and error. This is a great fresh dish and packed with protein.

Black bean and avocado salad

Serving Size: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 ears fresh corn, cooked, cooled and kernels cut off the cob (Frozen corn works very well for this when corn is out of season. Use one 10 oz package to equal the fresh corn.)
• Handful of yellow cherry tomatoes (I like these because they are fresh and crunchy. You can sub other tomatoes or peppers here)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots (approx one medium shallot)
• 2 teaspoons salt (Be very careful on this measurement. It can easily get over salty! I recommend starting with less and working up. You can always salt to taste.)
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (Be very careful on this measurement. It can easily get over spiced!)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 7  ish tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I usually free pour.)
• 6 ish tablespoons fresh lime juice (I also usually free squeeze.)
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (Zest limes before juicing them.)
• 2 avocados, diced

InstructionsThere are two ways to do this. Method one is very proper... great for shabbat (toss the avocados in before serving) and the second method is how I usually do it... less concern for the mashing. Number 1 will give you pretty results. Number 2 is ready right away.

1. Combine all ingredients except avocados in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. Garnish with a few sprigs of freshly chopped cilantro if desired. (That is never desired in my house! We aren't cilantro fans.) Serve at room temperature.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, leaving avocados for last, and mix well. Serve right away. Store leftovers in an airtight container (I prefer glass) in the fridge and serve later. The flavors will continue to meld the longer it sits. Serve at room temperature.

Thanks to OnceUponAChef.com for the original recipe and the inspiration.