Greek Frittata with Spinach and Potato

I admit it. I'm a Costco shopper. I know that not everything there is a good deal and buying in bulk goes slightly against my anti-hoarding tendencies, but I really do like a lot of the items that they offer.  One item in particular (and this may sound silly) is their bag of baby spinach.  They sell a 5 lb bag of cleaned, trimmed, baby spinach leaves for $5.  That is way more than I can produce out of my garden and for $1/lb cleaned and trimmed, how can I say no?

However, I don't like to waste either. We do have a compost heap in the backyard to properly recycle food scraps, but I still don't like having to toss food out.  So once I buy this rather large bag of spinach leaves, I must dig out all my spinach recipes and put them to work. This recipe is a new one, but certainly one that I will use again.  This one was inspired from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best as it's one of those "suggested recipes" where they only give you the idea and not the "how-to."  It was really easy and ready to eat in less than 40 minutes with minimal hands-on time.  This made for a delicious dinner but could also be served for lunch or breakfast.

Greek Frittata with Spinach and Potato
Inspired by Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Serves 4-6

8 eggs
4 cups raw baby spinach (or a 10-oz frozen package of chopped spinach, thawed and drained well)
4 scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon fresh dill (or 2 tablespoons dried)
1/2 cup heavy cream (though milk would be fine also)
3 cups diced potatoes (I used a package of frozen diced as I didn't have any fresh but make sure they are thawed)
salt and pepper to taste


Heat the oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet (oven safe). Cook the potatoes until almost done. Add the scallions for just a few minutes.  During this time, mix the eggs and cream together in a separate bowl.

Add the spinach into the skillet and cover with a tight fitting lid.  Turn the heat down to medium low.  You want to steam the spinach until it wilts, but do not stir.  This should take a few minutes.  When it looks wilted, sprinkle the feta and dill above the spinach. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Add a dash of salt and pepper on the top (optional).

Turn the heat down to low and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the top is almost set.  Slide under a preheated broiler to finish cooking and brown the top. Cut into wedges and serve hot or cold.  For lunch or dinner, serve with a fresh green salad.

Balsamic-Macerated Strawberries

Yes, I know.  Technically, strawberry season has come and gone.  Therefore I know the package that I recently purchased was carted in from elsewhere, but I can't help that I'm a sucker for the delicious red fruit (and so are my girls to be honest).  I always want to make something with them, however, they usually get eaten too quickly and I am not left with much to work with.  I have managed to make a delicious strawberry bread with them and put them in salads with a nice balsamic vinaigrette dressing and some goat cheese, but that is about the extent of my creativity.

This time around, I actually hid the strawberries in the back of the refrigerator back behind the leftovers as I found a new recipe for them in my copy of Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best, balsamic-macerated strawberries.  The notes in the recipe indicate that it can be served as a dessert or as a filling or a topping, a nice versatile dish in my mind.  So I actually made a chocolate pound cake so that I could serve the topping as a topping.  After the pound cake was made and set to cool, I had to sneak a taste of the macerated strawberries and decided they should be served on their own, and I went so far as to serve them as a side dish rather than dessert.  This was probably a little non-traditional, but it tasted great with the other meal pairings and, again, great for a hot summer day.  Thankfully, I still had a chocolate pound cake to serve for dessert.  Just add a dollop of whipped cream and serve. (Yes, you will note that this photo is from a previous post, but I can't help it if two components of the meal were recipes were from this month's featured cookbook.)

Balsamic-Macerated Strawberries
Taken from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Serves 4-8 (depending on if it's served as dessert, filling, or topping)

2 lbs fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced 1/8 to 1/4 thick (about 4 cups)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
8-10 medium fresh basil leaves (cannot used dried)


In a large bowl, gently toss the strawberries with the sugar and vinegar.  Let sit at room temperature until the strawberries have released their juices but are not yet mushy, about 30 minutes.  (Don't let them sit for more than 90 minutes or they'll start to collapse.)

Just before serving, stack the basil leaves on a cutting board and roll them vertically into a loose cigar shape.  Using a sharp chef's knife, very thinly slice across the roll to make a fine chiffonade of basil.  Scatter the basil among the strawberries just before serving.

Serving ideas:
-over grilled or toasted pound cake. Garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche.
-put the berries on split biscuits for shortcakes; top with whipped cream and scatter with the basil.
-mash the berries slightly and fold into whipped cream for a quick fool. Garnish with the basil.
-serve as is in small bowls for dessert, or in my case, a nice summer side dish.

Minty Quinoa Tabbouleh

After four days in a row of working nights, I admit to not having cooked much last week. Actually, I don't think I cooked at all.  Of course this meant that I had plenty of "free time" to plan the next meal when I eventually had the opportunity to provide for my family. So in perusing through the pages of Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best, I came across a recipe for Minty Quinoa Tabbouleh.  Mind you that I already enjoy tabbouleh, however, I normally make it with bulgur and not quinoa.  Having a friend that absolutely adores cooking/eating quinoa, I figured I should give this one a whirl. 

Luckily, the only two ingredients that I didn't have on hand were a cucumber (not ready from the garden yet) and the fresh mint so I can easily classify this recipe as a garden/pantry meal.  I plucked the first tomato from the garden for this dish and was able to get some fresh mint from my neighbor.  The cucumber, unfortunately, was from the grocery store.  No matter though, this was a great summer tasty treat.  The quinoa cooks in less than 15 minutes and you can finish all your chopping during that time.  After the quinoa cools, throw it all together and stick it in the fridge to let the flavors meld and tah dah! A great summer side dish.  I served this along side of Grilled Chickpea Burgers with Creamy Lemon Tahini Sauce and they were well matched (also perfect for a vegetarian evening). And yes, there is a third item on the plate that I have not yet described, but I will get to that in my next post...

Minty Quinoa Tabbouleh
Adapted from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Serves 6 to 8

1 1/2cups quinoa
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 1/2cups finely diced tomatoes (canned is okay)
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (flat-leaf)
1 cup peeled, seeded, finely diced cucumber
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to taste
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus extra to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint (cannot use dried)

Rinse the quinoa well in a bowl of cool water and drain.  Bring the quinoa and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a boil in 3 cups of water in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.  (The outer germ rings of the grain will remain chewy and white. Some germ rings may separate from the grains and will look like white squiggles.)  Immediately fluff the quinoa with a fork and turn out onto a baking sheet to cool.

When cool, fluff the quinoa again and transfer to a large bowl. Add the tomato, parsley, cucumber, scallion, oil, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon salt.  Toss well. Cover and refrigerate to let the flavors mingle, at least 2 hours or overnight.

**The recipe states that this should be served at room temperature, however, served chilled on a hot summer day was also very nice.

Before serving, stir in the mint. Taste and add more oil and lemon juice and salt as needed.

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

I admit that I have a small weakness when it comes to French food.  I love almost all French food and yet can make hardly none of it (I'm sure there is a grammatical error in there).  Maybe it stems from the fact that France was my first venture abroad when I was 19.  Maybe it was because I lived in the south of France for a summer when I was 23. No matter the reason, I do enjoy french cooking, er, I mean eating.

Today's feature recipe from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best is a french dessert that I have been meaning to try for a while.  The dessert, Cherry Clafoutis is defined as "a baked French dessert of black cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm" as per Wikipedia. The irony of my sharing this definition with you is that I had to look up what a clafoutis was because I didn't actually know myself.  I could guess what the look and texture should be based on the ingredients but I wanted to know the technicalities.

This recipe, of course, brings me to address the main ingredient, cherries.  Last week I spent an hour up on a ladder picking these tart beauties out of a tree on my parents' new property less than 10 minutes away.  I then proceeded to spend the next hour pitting them.  My mother had asked me to bring my cherry pitter with to her house and was bummed when I handed her a paperclip. Quite honestly, they were so ripe that if I gave them a little squeeze, the pit came right out.  I knew that I was going to be baking with the cherries so I wasn't too concerned with how they looked post-pitting.  If appearance is key for you, just use a large paperclip to push the pit out, leaving the cherry itself looking wholesome.  This recipe was not difficult at all (minus the picking and pitting) and so if you have the cherries available it's a great last-minute dessert to throw together for guests.

With my remaining loot of cherries, I plan to make a cherry cobbler, however, I don't have my own recipe...yet.  So if you have a delicious one that you would like to share, please send it my way!
Bon appétit!

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis
Adapted from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Serves 8


softened, unsalted butter, for the pan
1 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extra (vanilla bean paste if you have it)
pinch of salt
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
4 cups pitted fresh cherries (be sure to use a sour cherry like Montmorency if possible, but Bing is
     delicious too)
confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling


Heat the oven to 350 °F .  Butter a shallow baking dish (such as a 10-inch quiche mold or pie plate).

Combine the milk, cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, and flour in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until froth, about 5 minutes.

Pour enough batter into the prepared baking dish to make about a 1/4-inch layer; reserve the rest. 

Bake the thin layer just until it forms a skin, about 5 minutes. Remove the dish and arrange the cherries in a single layer over the surface.

Pour the remaining batter over them. Return the clafoutis to the oven and bake until it's puffed and brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let cool slightly (or to room temperature if you prefer) and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Creamy Leek and Prosciutto Pasta

I love leeks.  I only recently became acquainted with them in the past 2 years.  I would always seem them in the produce section of the grocery store, I would look them over and note how similar they looked to scallions (green onions) and then move on my merry way.  It's not that I was opposed to them, I just didn't know what do with them, which is probably my biggest reason for not picking up more radical unknowns from the produce department.  For example, would you know what to do with a rutabaga or celery root?  My recipes for them are very limited, but I've made it a personal mission to be more experimental with less commonly used vegetables. If you need to learn how to properly clean leeks (because I surely didn't know), you can click here for an easy description, however, this book Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best does explain how to clean them.  It may seem like extra work to clean them out, but the flavor that they deliver is amazing and might be tarnished if you are eating sand with every bite.

Remember how I mentioned that this month's feature of Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best is great for featuring seasonal fruits and vegetables and suggesting recipes that utilize them?  Remember also how I was slightly irritated with said recipe suggestions because they don't actually tell you how to make the dish, no ingredient list, no amounts, nothing?  Well, today's recipe stems from just that.  In the corner of the leek page, they gave a recipe suggestion for Creamy Leek and Prosciutto Pasta, and the instructions were as such, "Toss cooked fettuccine with sauteed leeks, sliced prosciutto, cream, and lemon zest."  And thus you should have a delicious pasta dish.  The end.  Anyway, I've tackled this recipe for you, writing out my ingredients and amounts of each and it turned out amazing.  I was quite impressed with myself and hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.  Make it vegetarian by simply omitting the Prosciutto, however, you will need to add a salty component to the dish as a replacement.

Creamy Leek and Prosciutto Pasta
Inspired by Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Serves 6

12 oz pasta (I used the Ronzoni Garden Delight Penne Pasta as it is vegetable-enriched pasta and it's pretty)
3 medium leeks (cleaned and chopped)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup heavy cream
shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 lb good Prosciutto, medium thickness, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 lemon



Bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta.  Start cooking the pasta just before you add the Prosciutto (see instructions below).

Heat a large pan on medium-high heat and add the olive oil. when the oil is hot add the chopped leeks and the garlic. Saute until just soft.  Add the Prosciutto and stir.  Continue cooking until the Prosciutto is cooked through, stirring so that the leeks absorb the juices from the Prosciutto.

The pasta should be done by now, so drain well and return the pasta to the pot.  Add the cream and stir well.  Next add the leek/Prosciutto mix and again, stir well, until the pasta is well coated.  Add the zest of the whole lemon and then squeeze the lemon juice into the pot as well.  Add a generous handful of the shredded Parmesan cheese and give a quick stir.  Provide extra Parmesan cheese for serving.  Open a bottle of white wine, pour yourself a glass and enjoy!

Basil Pesto

Alas, here we are in the beginning of July with the debut of a new cookbook from my bookcase.  The one that I have picked for this month is rather new in print and was put together by the Editors and Contributors of Fine Cooking magazine.  It is titled Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best. This will be my second cookbook in a row that is not produced by just one chef, but rather a collection of many (and obviously I'm not complaining). 

I really like this book because it is broken down into the seasons: spring, early summer, late summer, fall, and winter.  Each of these sections describe what fruits and vegetables are generally available during that season as well as providing great information on how to pick, keep fresh, prepare and suggestions on how or when to use the particular produce.  Why do I find this information valuable?  Because I sure didn't pay attention to my mother's kitchen when I was growing up and there doesn't seem to be a class in high school or college that prepares one for such cooking endeavors.  Despite the fact that I'm a married, "middle-aged," home owner with 2.3 kids and a dog, I figure that it's never too late to learn more about food and how to use it to my advantage. 

While the highlights are on the produce, there are many corresponding recipe ideas that reflect the produce of choice.  I emphasize the word ideas because they are just that. For example, under the cherries listing it provides a suggestion of preparing duck breasts with cherry-rosemary pan sauce. There are no instructions on how to actually prepare the suggested dish, just ideas on what else you can do with the featured produce.  I can usually work with an idea or suggestion, however, when my brain really is done for the day I just want to read what to do and not have to think too much about it. That being said, I have also encountered a few problems with the indexing as I was trying to locate a recipe which isn't a huge deal, but I feel that indexes must be very well done for a successful cookbook.

Small glitches aside, the first recipe on the list for me was a simple Basil Pesto.  I absolutely love the smell of fresh basil.  Admittedly, I'm only in the novice stages of how to use it.  I love shredding it onto homemade margarita pizzas, or inside a chicken salad sandwich (on a croissant of course), but I know it has many more uses (or so says the text in this book).  Pesto is actually very versatile and so easy to make.  This was my first time making it as I have always been gifted some by a coworker in the past.  This is a great use to trim down that basil plant that may be growing out of control by now and all the other ingredients are relatively straight forward as well.  Again, pesto can be tailored to meet your tasting needs so experiment with the quantities until you are satisfied.

Basil Pesto
Adapted from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups packed basil leaves
1/4 cup ice water
1 to 2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1/2 cups pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (I used a Parmigiano-Romano combo)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Bring 2 quarts of water seasoned with 1 tablespoon of the salt to a rolling boil.  Meanwhile, set up an ice bath by combining ice and water in a medium bowl. 

Put the basil in the boiling water, pressing it gently under the water, and cook for just 2 or 3 seconds.  Quickly remove the basil from the water (a strainer works well here) and plunge it immediately into the ice bath to stop the cooking process.  Let cool completely for 2 minutes.

Remove the basil from the ice bath, shaking off the excess water, and place it into a food processor (or blender).  Add the garlic, pine nuts, cheese, the remaining salt, and the pepper.  Blend until the basil is coarsely pureed, scarping down the sides and adding more water to facilitate blinding only if needed.  Be patient; don't add more water if it isn't necessary.  With the food processor/blender running, add the oil in a steady stream until the pesto looks creamy and emulsified. Taste and season to taste.  Cover and store in the refrigerator for a few days or in the freezer for up to a few months. (adding a thin layer of olive oil on top when the pesto is in the container helps preserve it for longer in the fridge)

Ideas for serving:
Mix with pasta, serve on toasted bread, add a thin layer to sandwiches, or a small dab to a tossed salad.
Do you have other great ideas?  PLEASE post them to share :)

Chicken and Hummus Wraps

I know, I know... It's a new month so I should be featuring a new cookbook. However, I couldn't help myself squeezing in one more recipe from Easy Everyday because this recipe could very well be titled "Leftover Delite." I was flipping through the book one last time when I came across this recipe and realized that I had everything on the ingredient list, and they were all leftovers from a previous meal. How silly would I be not to utilize a bunch of leftover items to make something new and tasty for dinner on a hot summer day? In fact, it's almost ridiculous that I had to realize this meal by looking through a cookbook instead of just coming up with it on my own. Alas, by the end of the day my brain is spent and I don't always have enough energy to be creative myself.  In which case, thank goodness for my super secret stash of cookbooks.

Seriously, this is way too easy. If you don't have these as leftover ingredients, I'm sure you at least have them in your kitchen somewhere. If you know you are going to be in a pinch due to a crazy schedule, you can even make these ahead of time to serve later. I usually make my own hummus, however, a brand that I like was recently Buy 1 Get 1 Free, plus I had coupons so I couldn't pass up buying the store brand out of convenience. I even embellished the recipe a bit, adding some chopped tomato and feta to the wrap toppings. If you want to make your own tzatziki sauce to drizzle on top instead of the sweet chili sauce, you can find my recipe here. I served this with a side of couscous mixed with olive oil and chopped green onion.

This can also very easily be made into a vegetarian dish. Simply omit the chicken and throw in some arugula to add some peppery texture. The listed ingredients are good enough on their own, but feel free to get creative. The possibilities are endless.

Chicken and Hummus Wrap
Adapted from Easy Everyday
Serves 2

2 tablespoons hummus
4 small tortillas
1 large grilled chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1/2 small cucumber, cut into thin strips
4 medium romaine/green leafy lettuce leaves, shredded
4 teaspoons chili oil or sweet chili sauce
     (or substitute with tzatziki sauce)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Optional items that I added:
1 small tomato, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons tzatziki sauce

Spread 1/2 tablespoon of hummus over each tortilla. Put the strips of chicken and cucumber on top of the hummus, then top with the shredded lettuce.
Drizzle each wrap with 1 teaspoon chili oil or sweet chili sauce and season generously. Carefully roll up the tortillas and secure with a toothpick if necessary. Chill the wraps in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat.

Serve with couscous, either room temperature or chilled if it's a hot summer day.