We've discussed the value of back pocket recipes, of those 'what to eat when there's nothing (or almost nothing) to eat' meals that work out so well but often can't be recreated. Usually those 'what to eat' evenings have me scouring the cupboards for tins and packets, and the freezer for vegetables that will add colour and another of those all important five-a-day items to my mish mash meal.
Our grandparents solved the 'what to eat' evenings with bread and dripping and a hot cup of strong tea. The fate of so many made alarming cardiac statistics fifty years ago. Our parents' generation was a little more switched on to nutritional values and health issues and their taste buds were not about to be insulted with dripping, so they went for scrambled egg on toast. It's a good standby, comfort food of the highest order and makes a great breakfast, but feeding two hungry men and a moderately hungry woman after a long day can't adequately be done with breakfast food. Why not have a bowl of cornflakes and be done with it?
Yet eggs have all kinds of beneficial properties and they are enormously versatile. Whipping up a quiche is all well and good but this isn't about quiche: now we're talking odd items which need to be combined into a cohesive and palatable whole.
Enter FRITTATA: easy, quick, endlessly versatile and elastic when it comes to amounts.
My inclination would have been to put a tin of tuna into this one, but I discovered to my surprise and dismay that Kit had scarfed the one tin of tuna in a sandwich a few days ago so all I had in the arsenal was a tin of salmon. So be it. A root round in the fridge produced a few more ingredients and away I went to produce
Salmon and vegetable frittata
I've tried to get the amounts in some reasonable proportion but really, as long as you can adequately cover the base with the egg topping/filling, the gram amounts are not too important.
5 good sized potatoes, peeled, sliced and boiled
200g mushrooms, sliced finely and sauteed in a mix of olive oil and butter
2 green onions (more if you like onion), chopped finely
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 - 240g tin red salmon, drained and flaked
5 -7 eggs beaten lightly with 150 ml milk (the more eggs the more milk)
100g grated cheese (cheddar is as good as any but really any mild cheese will do)
Assemble ingredients and then layer first four in a greased oblong casserole dish. Pour egg mixture over all and let it run into the corners, then sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake in a 190ºC oven for 15 - 20 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly brown and the whole has a 'set' look to it. The above amounts serve four comfortably.
Apologies, dear readers, to the strict vegetarians among you. It will be just as good if you leave out the salmon and add another vegetable. But I've included this recipe in the Vegetarian section of the index simply because it doesn't fit neatly with the fish category (have we even got one yet?) and it so easily could be a veggie option.
Our grandparents solved the 'what to eat' evenings with bread and dripping and a hot cup of strong tea. The fate of so many made alarming cardiac statistics fifty years ago. Our parents' generation was a little more switched on to nutritional values and health issues and their taste buds were not about to be insulted with dripping, so they went for scrambled egg on toast. It's a good standby, comfort food of the highest order and makes a great breakfast, but feeding two hungry men and a moderately hungry woman after a long day can't adequately be done with breakfast food. Why not have a bowl of cornflakes and be done with it?
Yet eggs have all kinds of beneficial properties and they are enormously versatile. Whipping up a quiche is all well and good but this isn't about quiche: now we're talking odd items which need to be combined into a cohesive and palatable whole.
Enter FRITTATA: easy, quick, endlessly versatile and elastic when it comes to amounts.
My inclination would have been to put a tin of tuna into this one, but I discovered to my surprise and dismay that Kit had scarfed the one tin of tuna in a sandwich a few days ago so all I had in the arsenal was a tin of salmon. So be it. A root round in the fridge produced a few more ingredients and away I went to produceSalmon and vegetable frittata
I've tried to get the amounts in some reasonable proportion but really, as long as you can adequately cover the base with the egg topping/filling, the gram amounts are not too important.
5 good sized potatoes, peeled, sliced and boiled
200g mushrooms, sliced finely and sauteed in a mix of olive oil and butter
2 green onions (more if you like onion), chopped finely200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 - 240g tin red salmon, drained and flaked
5 -7 eggs beaten lightly with 150 ml milk (the more eggs the more milk)
100g grated cheese (cheddar is as good as any but really any mild cheese will do)
Assemble ingredients and then layer first four in a greased oblong casserole dish. Pour egg mixture over all and let it run into the corners, then sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake in a 190ºC oven for 15 - 20 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly brown and the whole has a 'set' look to it. The above amounts serve four comfortably.
Apologies, dear readers, to the strict vegetarians among you. It will be just as good if you leave out the salmon and add another vegetable. But I've included this recipe in the Vegetarian section of the index simply because it doesn't fit neatly with the fish category (have we even got one yet?) and it so easily could be a veggie option.
This looks yummy! Especially like your ingredient still life picture - I remember having to set up something similar for a Year 10 art exam ;) And a great recipe for those nights when you need to use up what you have in the house and don't feel like spending hours slaving over a hot stove.
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