Frittata with Asparagus

From Chef Pasquale comes a recipe for a nice frittata with bacon and asparagus.  I just made it for the second time this month.  It’s good!  Tastes good, looks good, is easy, bacons up your cast iron, and reheats well for breakfast for a few days.  Minor variations from the source: here’s how I do it.

Calorie Estimate: 1600

Ingredients

• 10 eggs
• 5 strips bacon
• 1 lb asparagus (top half of the stalk only)
• 2 T butter
• 1 t black pepper
• couple pinches salt

Preparation

1. Preheat the over to 400.
2. In a cast iron skillet, cook 5 strips of bacon over medium-high heat, starting from cold.
3. As soon as the bacon is done to your liking, take it off the heat and drain it over paper towels.
4. If you haven’t already done so, turn the heat to medium. Toss in the asparagus and cook it in the bacon fat until it softens up and maybe browns a touch.  Scrape up any bacony bits as you move the asparagus around.
5. While the asparagus is cooking, scramble 10 eggs in a large bowl and cut the bacon into bite size pieces. Season the eggs with pepper and a pinch or 2 of salt.
6. When the asparagus is almost done, put in the butter (you need it for the taste–it’ll brown with the eggs–and to prevent sticking).  Put the bacon back in and give everything a toss. When the butter is melted, pour in the eggs and give everything a good mix. I like tongs for this.
7. After a few minutes on the stovetop, put the skillet in the oven.
8. After 5 minutes in the oven, flip it. How it’s done (7:26).
9. Finish it about 5 minutes more in the oven.
10. Flip it out of the pan again and enjoy!

I haven’t tried making a frittata with other veggies yet, but I’m sure red peppers, caramelized onions, or maybe a lightly pickled red onion, or what else would be great.

Wilted greens with balsamic eggs

Taken from Chow.com.  This is a very fast, healthy dish that can make a good breakfast or light dinner.  The richness of loosely cooked eggs goes nicely with the greens, and balsamic vinegar is always tasty.  Serve with a bit of crusty bread, either as a base to the eggs or just to mop up the plate.

Calorie Estimate: 500 (w/o bread)

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil (or 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 garlic glove minced
• onion, little bit, diced, (or some green onion)
• 6-8 ounces of greens (swiss chard, spinach, arugula, dandelion, etc)
• 3 large eggs
• balsamic vinegar (2T cheap stuff, drizzle of good stuff)

Preparation

1. Remove any large or tough stems from the greens. Slice greens into 1/2 inch ribbons.
2. Over medium heat, warm 1 T olive oil in a skillet until it shimmers. Add onion and garlic, cook for about 30 seconds.
3. Add greens to skillet, season with a little salt and pepper.   Fold them around to coat with the oil.  Cook for about a minute until they wilt.  Remove the greens from the skillet and plate them.
4. Wipe out skillet.  Return it to the heat and add 1 T of oil (or butter).  Fry eggs sunnyside-up until the edges brown, the pan gets pretty dry, and the edges pull away from the pan, about 5 minutes.
5. If you’re using cheap balsamic, add 2 T to the eggs in the pan with about 2 minutes left on the cooking time.  Reduce and pour the remainder over the finished eggs.  If using the good stuff, just drizzle some on the eggs when they’re done.

Broiled Fish and Eggs Breakfast (4-star = Very Good Food)

Cook and prep time: 20 minutes

Care of the New York Times, here’s a recipe for an excellent weekend breakfast.  After skiing yesterday, sleeping for 10 hours, and having this (and an almond horn from Larsen’s), I feel pretty good.  I also need to get better at taking pictures of food if I’m gonna keep this blogging thing up…

Fish and Eggs a la Mike

a la Melissa Clark

Tools

• cast iron skillet
• cutting board
• knife
• spatula

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound rockfish (2 filets) (or any other cheap, fresh whitefish)
• 3 eggs
• 1 T butter
• scallions, chopped
• 2 T capers
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat skillet under broiler for 5 – 10 minutes until smoking hot.  While waiting, prepare the fish for cooking.  If it’s not super-fresh, rinse the fish and pat dry before prep.  Salt and pepper the fish.  Coarsely chop 3 or 4 scallions.
2. Place 1/4 T butter into the hot skillet.  Add fish to skillet with remaining 3/4 T butter sectioned and placed on top of the fish.  Broil fish for 2 minutes (8-10 mins per inch of thickness is a general rule).
3. After 2 minutes, crack three eggs over the fish and broil for 2 more minutes.
4. Plate, add in scallions and capers.  Break egg yolks over the fish to increase the decadence.

Update (January 12)

Pan frying over medium heat works just as well as broiling.  The only difference is the fish needs to be flipped halfway through, and the eggs should be cooked directly on the pan instead of over the fish.  They can be placed on the fish when plated with no noticeable difference.