Rosti

Potatoes, eggs, and onions; every western culture seems to have a recipe that is built upon these three things. Latkes, bubble and squeak (w/cabbage), a spanish omelette, and probably many more that I haven't had yet. This is the swedish/norwegian version and is favorite of the kids. I like the spanish omelette or the latke better, but hubby and the kids like this one.

This recipe is really just one big latke with a softer center. If I was making latkes I would do everything the same except add a little matzo flour and fry into separate cakes. For this and for latkes I find myself just using a box grater. I know it is fast in the food processor, but there is more clean up. It seems to take the same amount of effort either way.

potatoes, shallots (for onions), eggs, oil, garlic, salt pepper

peel and box grate your potatoes

rinse the potatoes to remove the starch

mince garlic and chop your onions

while the potatoes drain

add onions, garlic, salt and pepper to your eggs

then add dried potatoes shreds and mix well

smoosh it all into a well oiled hot pan

let cook covered 30 minutes or so

then flip onto a plate (takes practice I know)

and return to well oiled pan

serve with hot sauce and ketchup for the kids

Always ketchup for the kids!

Quiche

For father's day my husband requested a quiche for breakfast. For breakfast I tell you. I don't think he has ever made a quiche from scratch before. Needless to say I was up at 6am, but it was well worth it. As you know he is milk free, so instead of spinach and cheese I went for sausage and onion, with veggie sausages of course. I forgot until almost the end that I had a little vegan cheese sauce left, so I threw that in for more savory goodness, but clearly you can make this with anything you like. The key is cool any ingredients you cook before mixing them into the eggs, and pour the egg mix into a hot crust. Both of those steps will ensure a yummy quiche. I made the pie dough the night before so it could chill using the illustrious J. Kenji Alt-Lopez's Cooks Illustrated vodka version.

eggs, onion, veggie sausage, butter, salt, pepper, coconut milk, and pie dough

roll out your pie dough

press into plate and chill

saute your onions and veggie sausage and let cool

once chilled blind bake the crust

mix eggs, coconut milk, salt, and pepper, add a little vegan cheese sauce you remembered you had

stir in cooled onions and veggie sausage

pour into hot crust and bake in a medium oven

remove once poofed and set, let cool slightly

serve up warm, and slightly less warm for seconds

where did it all go?

Most  yummy!

Frittata

Sometimes you just need a quick dinner and you haven't done any pre-planning. This is when I bust out the frittata. Now I have to confess, I really don't like eggs. They creep me out and I never buy fertile eggs, but my husband and my kids love them. This is one of the few ways I can actually eat them. The other is wrapped in a breakfast burrito hiding behind salsa and crispy potatoes. My method for frittatas, is to not cook them at all on the stove, I am pretty sure I read about this method in a Thomas Keller recipe. You use a cold cast iron and a hot oven and it works really well.

eggs, mushroom, spinach, salt, pepper, and oil

wilt the spinach

dice and slice the onions and mushrooms

saute them in a dry pan until the mushrooms brown

beat eggs with oil, and salt

then add spinach and mushroom/onion mix

pour into cold pans, top one with cheese for the kids

place into a hot oven until they just puff

let rest 10 minutes

then serve with siracha or ketchup

Bon apetit!

Tunisian chickpea soup

This is my second favorite soup to eat in cold weather, the first being borscht(we will get to that one eventually). It is another recipe from Food and Wine that has mutated over the years. Now the original recipe did call for veal stock as I remember, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. Most of the other ingredients we kept, except that I don't used canned beans. I always make my own. When you are making the soup, it is very bland and basic, and that is on purpose. At the end you add all sorts of yummy condiments similar to pho. So don't over salt or over season the soup thinking it needs more umpf, it will get that from all the stuff you add at the end.

start with the basics

soak your beans overnight with salt

cook the beans, skimming the muck, but in this case, don't over season

hard boil some eggs

saute onions in butter and oil

add beans, veggie stock, and tumeric - that's all, and simmer for an hour, adding more water if needed

gather your condiments, chopped olives, capers, harissa, cumin, lemon, and oil

start with an egg, add generous amounts of condiments, (hold the harissa for the wee ones)

then top with the soup and serve

Definitely chickpeas showing how awesome they are.

Yummy rice

This rice was not originally named yummy rice. This is the name my kids gave to it the very first time I made it. Needless to say that when we make this, all plates are cleaned. You can make this with leftover takeout rice if you keep the other ingredients on hand, but since we are a party of five, we make rice from scratch every time. We like leftovers for lunch the next day.

The original recipe is from issue No. 11 of the Diner Journal, and Diner is hands down our favorite restaurant in NYC. That was where we went when we wanted a good meal that felt special without feeling extra fancy. Sure we ate at fancier places like Le Bernardin, Danube(RIP), Babbo, blah blah blah, but we always came back to Diner. Now I have always disliked fried rice and I have a thing about egg in dishes. It is always too much and everything tastes like eggs, but given that this recipe was from one of my favorite places, I gave it a try. I was not disappointed. I have modified the recipe to our tastes. I use peanut oil instead of olive oil, which makes things taste yummier, I gently set the eggs and fold them in so that everything doesn't taste egg-y, and I also add some asian inspired seasonings.

one pot of rice, one bunch of scallions chopped, and a boatload of toasted sesame seeds,
you can't see but there is probably 1/4 cup there

plus eggs, peanut oil, sugar, ume plum vinegar, and soy

I add the soy, vinegar, and sugar before the rice is done to help it infuse

once the rice is cooked, transfer it to a large non-stick skillet
and fry it in peanut oil to develop super crunch,
you need to turn it on medium and walk away,
come back in 7 minutes flip in sections, walk away again,
don't sit there and stir it, that won't work

once you achieve crunch add eggs to center and let set

then I add the scallions and sesame seeds on top of the eggs

I fold everything in gently till the egg is cooked thru - see egg bits are both yellow and white

serve as-is or with a healthy dollop of sambal

Enjoy!