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 Soba in Scapes_Originalbecome 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: 1_Jap scapes salmon 2_chopped 3_saute 4_eggs in 5_fish in 6_cheese See it starting to set up/cook on the sides? Time for the oven! 7_after oven Post oven... no flipping necessary! 8_chives Those are chives! 9_dill And that is dill!

BR: Sponge Cake For Passover

This is the first in a new series we are calling Baboushka's Recipes (BR for short). Baboushka, or ба́бушка in Russian, means grandmother. In this series we will explore and save the recipes our grandparents brought with them or inherited from their parents. Kosher Hubby's family is from Ukraine and Belarus and my family is from Poland, Ukraine, and Germany... so Baboushka seemed pretty appropriate.My grandma's electric mixerOkay! Here we go, our first vintage recipe. This is my great-grandmother's Passover sponge cake recipe. I dug it out today (yes, Sunday, the day before Erev Pesach) for our dessert for the first seder. These instructions are verbatim, in my grandmother's handwriting from her mother. I will add my commentary in italics and parentheses. Ingredients:

  • 8 eggs, separated
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup cold water, to which you add
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice (you can easily fresh squeeze this!)
  • 1 tsp. orange juice (you can easily fresh squeeze this!)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup matzah cake flour, sifted
  • Grated rind of 1/2 lemon and 1/3 orange

Preparation: whites In a large bowl (she really does mean large...), with an electric mixer, beat egg whites, adding salt, until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.Yolks-and-WhitesIn a small bowl, with electric mixer, beat yolks, add sugar, then liquids, and continue  beating for five minutes.With a spatula gently pour the beaten yolks on the stiff whites. Add 1/4 cup of sifted flour and fold in carefully. Continue to add 1/4 cup of the flour, carefully folding in until all is used.Lemon-and-Orange(She neglects to tell us what to do with the lemon and orange zest. I added it to the yolks before I added them to the whites. Worked great.)Final-before-bakingPour batter into an un-greased angel cake pan (we tried to use a 7x11 pan but it was too much batter... we used a 9x13 glass casserole dish in the end and it worked great). Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 55 minutes.Invert to cool, and cut out of pan when cool. (Oops... didn't do that. Planning to cut it tomorrow at the seder.)Final-productI tasted it, of course... had to right? It was delish. Just like anything else that is Pesachdik, it tastes like matzah meal but it's going to be a great, parve dessert tomorrow. With a tiny corner cut out. Don't judge. It's a family seder. :)This recipe is by my Nanny - Mrs. Abraham Cronbach (as she is credited on the recipe)... Rose Hentel Cronbach.CHAG PESACH SAMEACH from the Kosher, She Eats kitchen! Look for our adventures with Vegan cooking after the chag. We review Mayim Bialik's new cookbook - Mayim's Vegan Table.

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!