cooking ala mel

Broccoli Asparagus Frittatas and Tomato Bread

February 5, 2011

Broccoli and asparagus are two of my favorite vegetables. I could eat them all the time, but we try to mix it up so Alex doesn’t get bored with them. With some of the leftovers we had from the week, we made frittatas for brunch. We had a tomato, so we made up some tomato bread, too.

Frittatas are perfect for a brunch with friends. They’re quick to whip up, and you can put them in cute little ramekins so everyone can have their own little serving. They’re extremely flavorful, too. You can add whatever veggies you want to this – just sauté ’em up and add them in!

I made Alex a 2 egg serving; we made them before and I had trouble finishing it, so I made mine with just one egg. For the tomato bread, it’s extremely simple: toast your bread, warm your tomatoes in a skillet just to let out the juices, top with fresh chopped garlic and any italian seasonings and salt! It’s so delicious for how easy it is.

Here are the frittatas we made before, this time only with asparagus. Mine was topped with muenster, and Alex did a parmesan/romano blend on his.

Broccoli Asparagus Frittatas
yields two servings
3 eggs
splash of milk
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, chopped
3/4 cup broccoli and asparagus, chopped into small pieces
1 t Italian seasoning
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste
shredded asiago, to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the broccoli, asparagus, onion and garlic until tender. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with milk and add seasonings. Split the egg mixtures between two ramekins that have been sprayed with oil. Add the cooked veggies and mix. Bake at 375º F for about 20 minutes, until fork comes clean in the center. Add asiago and broil until cheese is bubbly and slightly browned (keep a close watch here to prevent burning). Serve in the ramekins.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

February 5, 2011

For New Years this year, we had a bit of a party with my mom’s side of the family. We didn’t get to celebrate Christmas with my cousins, who we do Secret Santa with every year, so we combined New Years and Christmas. I love the appetizer spread that usually comes with New Years, so I perused my bookmarked recipes and decided to make these pepperoni pizza puffs and roasted tomato caprese salad as bruschetta.

I really liked these puffs. I’m a big fan of Panera’s asiago cheese bagels, and they sort of reminded me of them, but with pepperoni added in. They’re nice and cheesy, and there’s just enough pepperoni to make them a bit spicy. My family loves pepperoni rolls, so I knew they would be a hit. I liked them better by themselves, but everyone really enjoyed them served up with some warm marinara.

I would recommend really greasing your mini muffin tin; I had a pretty hard time getting these out cleanly, and I used an older nonstick pan, so some of the nonstick coating was coming off a bit – scary!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
(yields about 40 puffs)
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups Italian cheese blend (we used 3/4 cup asiago, 1 1/4 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup romano and 1/4 cup parmesan)
8 oz. pepperoni, chopped into small pieces
2 cups of your favorite marinara or tomato sauce
4 T fresh basil or parsley, chopped, for garnish

Grease a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray, generously. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, milk, egg, cheese, and pepperoni, stirring until completely mixed. Spoon batter into the prepared mini-muffin cups, completely full to ensure they puff up over the pan. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh chopped herbs, and serve with warm marinara for dipping.

Better-Than-Hagrid’s Rock Cakes

February 5, 2011

I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. I have been since I was in about third grade (when I did a book report on the Chamber of Secrets). I went to the midnight release parties for books 6 & 7, and my friends and I made wands out of sticks (we debarked, sanded and finished them). I’ve read the books countless times, and I hate the movies because of that. I even have a Harry Potter shrine.

It would be assumed that I would love to have the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, but I wasn’t really that interested. I perused it one time I was at Barnes and Noble, and the recipes just looked sort of boring. My sister’s fiancé, Mark, got me the book for Christmas, however, and I ended up loving it (he got me a Harry Potter coloring book last year). I was a bit skeptical at first, but I tried out these rock cakes, and I was sold.

Before you start worrying, these rock cakes are not hard like Hagrid’s. They’re soft, lightly sweet, lightly spiced and perfect with a cup of tea. Very easy to make, too!

Better-Than-Hagrid’s Rock Cakes
adapted from Dinah Bucholz’s The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
yields about 1 dozen rock cakes
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (the original recipe calls for 1 stick of butter)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 ºF and grease a large cookie sheet. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the applesauce (or butter) into the dry ingredients until the mixture becomes coarse crumbs (the consistency of wet sand). Beat the egg together with the milk and pour it into the mixture. Fold it together using a spatula to form a stiff dough. Fold in the raisins. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until the bottoms are golden.