After the first few weeks of this blog, I realized I’ve done a lot of complicated and time consuming recipes. So, I went looking for something super duper easy, and relatively quick.
Thankfully, there’s always a variation of breakfast casseroles.
Breakfast casserole ingredients.
I’ve made breakfast casseroles in a sheet pan and in a Dutch oven, and went with the traditional Denver omelet in my little skillet. But the fun thing is, they’re all a little different, and you can’t go wrong with breakfast foods.
The one slight twist on this Taste of Home recipe is my sweetie accidentally didn’t get enough bacon but did mercifully come across wonderful spicy smokies (Li’l Bites) from Beeler’s for an extra breakfast treat, so I just used some of those.
I can’t really take credit for it, considering I didn’t pick the smokies, nor did I make them, but man, they really made the meal. It would’ve been a delight with just bacon, but the smokies accidentally made this an extra special treat. All without extra effort.
MMmmmm, smokies.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
1 package (32 oz) frozen cubed hash brown potatoes, thawed
8 oz bacon, cooked and crumbled
8 oz smokies (we used the jalapeno and cheese Li’l Bites from Beeler’s that are highly recommended if you can find them), thickly sliced and cooked in bacon fat to brown if desired (they’re fully cooked so it’s not necessary!)
1 to 1 ½ c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
8 large eggs
2 c. whole milk
Paprika, to taste (I used hot paprika to build on the spice)
Pepper, to taste
Butter for greasing the casserole dish
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 in. casserole dish.
In a large bowl, combine the hash browns, bacon, smokies, and ½ to 1 c. cheese. Spoon into the prepared casserole dish. In a separate large bowl, beat the eggs and milk until blended. Pour the egg mixture over the hash brown mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and pepper.
Bake uncovered, until a knife inserted at the center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining about ½ c. cheese, and enjoy!
I have heard the calls on the left warning against simply going back to brunch now that Trump has been defeated. And there is still so much work to do, starting with gains in Georgia and then working to achieve actual progress.
However, we are now approaching eight months of living with the pandemic, and I am really missing going out to eat. Being immunocompromised, and not willing to risk my life for a meal, I don’t dare enter a restaurant. Especially after this week, just for once, it’d be really nice to go out to brunch or, frankly, to a bar and kvetch with friends and loved ones. And a girl’s gotta eat sometimes.
Denver omelet ingredients.
Though delivery is an option (if not the same as seeing friends), there are few options for round-the-clock breakfast items, and eggs and hashbrowns, etc., just don’t keep as well once in a plastic container. On top of that, it takes out the spontaneity of deciding to go out to breakfast when you just really have a craving or really need to grumble over biscuits and gravy.
Thankfully, I found a semi-solution.
One of my favorite foodie sites Serious Eats had a Denver omelet recipe I found recently, and I could finally taste the joy of round-the-clock brunch, straight from the kitchen.
I still think my technique could be improved, and it’s still not the same as being able to wait 20 minutes (I’m a late riser, which considerably cuts down on waiting!) to sit at a booth to get diner food, but boy is it still a comfort in these times.
Not that pretty, but pretty effing tasty.
Here’s what I did, perhaps overdoing it on the meat and veggies and cheese but still enjoying my monstrosity:
Ingredients
5 large eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 oz. shredded pepper jack pepper (I’m sure I used more)
2 T. butter, divided
3 oz. ham slices, cut into ½ in. pieces (I didn’t precisely measure)
½ large bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
½ medium yellow onion, diced
Pinch of smoked paprika
Directions
In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until the eggs are homogeneous and frothy. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a 9- to 10-in. Skillet (cast iron or nonstick) melt half the butter over medium-high heat, swirling until lightly browned. Add the bell pepper and onion, and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown. Add the ham and cook further until the ham slices are browned in spots. Stir in the smoked paprika and some additional ground pepper. Scrape vegetables into a medium bowl (glass, or otherwise heatproof) and add the cheese, stirring to combine.
Wipe out skillet and set over medium heat. Add the remaining half of the butter and cook until melted and lightly browned. Re-whisk the eggs until foamy, and then add to skillet and cook, using a spatula to push the edges toward the center and tilting the pan to spread the uncooked egg underneath. Continue the process around the skillet until the eggs are almost set. Sprinkle the ham and cheese mixture over half the omelet, remove from heat, and cover, letting the omelet sit until mostly or fully cooked through on the top, about one minute. Use the spatula to loosen the edges and carefully fold the omelet in half to enclose the filling. Split in half and serve, preferably with some hash browns and coffee, and enjoy!
A few weeks ago, I rediscovered the joy of my vegetarian cookbooks, particularly one from Deborah Madison.
The first recipe I made of her vegetarian stuffed peppers fit a large casserole, so no blogging about it, but you can get the recipe here. However, it had an interesting way of incorporating onions that at first I scoffed at. As I looked closer, though, I didn’t see a way around doing it her way. I ended up very glad I actually followed the recipe. While the onions (first deglazed in wine) baked on the bottom of the casserole, since it was stuffed peppers, they ended up as a sweet and sour topping that complemented the rest of the ingredients incredibly well.
So, for my second recipe, I looked specifically for things that would work in my small skillet.
It didn’t take long to find the perfect meal. With the amount of cheese, it wasn’t light exactly but a simple eggy dish didn’t feel all that hefty in the summer heat.
Egg and cheese skillet pie ingredients.
Even better, it was incredibly easy. Mix up some ingredients in a large-ish bowl. Pour in a buttered small skillet. Bake, and voila, you’ve got dinner.
Pulling back the curtain, I will admit I made the focaccia to go with this meal, and a bread is the perfect addition so you have a more filling meal. Alternatively, it’d make a good breakfast item.
So much cheese, so tasty.
Here’s what I did, sticking to the recipe, though I used my 9-inch skillet rather than the called-for 10-inch (and it just fit!):
Ingredients
¾ lb. feta cheese
1 lb. ricotta cheese
6 eggs
¼ c. flour
¾ c. milk
1 T. dill, preferably fresh and chopped (I used more)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Butter, for coating
Directions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix ¾ of the feta with the ricotta in a medium bowl, without worrying about getting it perfectly smooth. Beat the eggs into the cheese. Then, add the flour and milk. Season with the dill and salt and pepper.
Butter a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet. Pour in the batter, and crumble the remaining feta cheese on top. Bake until golden, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Cut into wedges and serve with bread or another preferred side, and enjoy!
At this point, I’ve lost track of the last time I went to the grocery store and have no idea what it looks like now.
I do, however, get dispatches from my sweetie when he makes his weekly stop, as he’s good enough to be our designated shopper given my compromised immune system. And what I know now is that while many staples are still available, and we’re in no danger of food shortages, some of the things we’re used to are getting harder to come by.
We appreciate it more when we can find the fresh herbs and vegetables we want, and especially, for me, when I can get the meat I most enjoy.
This week I was ecstatic to see that my grocery list items to make this Persian frittata all made it into the cart, and into the refrigerator at home.
Persian frittata ingredients.
I have even more reason to be grateful to my sweetie because in the before times he’d already test-driven this recipe from Bon Appetit for me, so I knew I was in for a treat.
There’s a fair amount of herb chopping, but I have these wonderful herb-cutting scissors that make the whole thing go smoothly. It’s so simple and easy that I made it with a simple Middle Eastern soup so we’d be able to enjoy the frittata for breakfast after our first meal.
If you’re able to find all the veggies and (mostly the) fresh herbs, this is a real, simple treat.
Eggy, green, and great!
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
5 T. vegetable oil, divided
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium leek, white and pale green parts only, finely chopped
5 large eggs
1 t. baking powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ t. ground turmeric
½ T. ground fenugreek
1 ½ c. finely chopped cilantro (about 1 bunch)
1 ½ c. finely chopped parsley (about 1 bunch)
1 ½ c. finely chopped dill (about 2 small packages)
Directions
Heat 2 T. oil in a 9- to 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion and leeks, stirring occasionally until soft but not browned, 10–12 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Wipe out the skillet and set aside.
Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, baking powder, salt and pepper, turmeric, and fenugreek in a large bowl. Mix in the onion mixture, cilantro, dill, and parsley. The egg mixture should look thick and very green (with bits of egg poking through, depending on how finely you chop the herbs; mine could be greener).
Heat the broiler.
On the stove top, heat the remaining 3 T. of oil in the reserved skillet. Pour in the egg mixture, and spread evenly across the pan with a spatula. Cover and cook the frittata until the bottom is just set, about 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat and take off the cover.
Broil for about 1 minute until the top is just set and starting to brown.
Let cool slightly, slide out onto a platter, cut into triangles, and enjoy!
I admit that this week’s recipe was one of those where I just happened to have all the ingredients in the house, and so had the perfect excuse to make it.
Even easier to do as it was another of the Jamie Oliver 5 Ingredients recipes, so I literally only needed to have 5 ingredients (plus salt and water) on hand, most of them household staples for us.
Now, not all ingredients will be household staples for most. I’m just lucky that my sweetie has been doing the shopping for us since the pandemic began and has been adding a stop at the local Asian market to his errands while he’s out. That’s how we came to have kimchi available any time.
While the Korean eggs and rice dish is, of course, Korean, it’s also possible to replace the kimchi with another vegetable. Kimchi worked really well with the cilantro as well, but again, anyone could use a different herb or spice accompaniment.
Korean eggs and rice ingredients.
I might recommend giving kimchi a try, though, as the fermented cabbage is quite a bit tastier than its name or its description might make it seem.
This is the second time I’ve made the dish and I’ve stuck to the recipe both times, other than the fact that I’ve used a smaller skillet than called for and increased the cilantro amounts. It’s been fine, though I’ve never quite managed to get the eggs to fully encompass the rice; I think next time I’ll just go ahead and stir it in a bit rather than hoping it wraps around. However, it does still taste great and does allow the rice to crisp a little more, which I enjoy quite a bit.
The meal also delightfully works as both breakfast and dinner. All around a nice, easy meal when you don’t have a lot of time or the energy to make something too difficult.
Looks good, don’t it.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
1 T. sesame seeds (I didn’t really measure so definitely used more)
150 g. basmati rice
150 g. kimchi
8 sprigs of cilantro
4 eggs
Salt, to taste
400 ml water
Directions
Toast sesame seeds in a 9- to 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Once lightly golden, remove to a plate, and reduce heat to medium-low. Place the rice in a pan with a pinch of salt, and then pour in 400 ml of water. Cover and cook the rice for 10 to 15 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
Meanwhile, chop the kimchi and tear up half the cilantro, and place in a medium bowl. Beat in the eggs, and then pour over the rice when it’s ready, spreading evenly with a spatula. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes or so until the eggs are just set.
Loosen the edges with a spatula, and then slide it out on a plate. Scatter the sesame seeds on top and then place the remaining cilantro leaves on top, and enjoy!
Another week of self-isolation, another simple recipe for the end times.
My sweetie found this simple egg dish from the Add a Pinch blog that managed to use ingredients we mostly had lying around the house. We did end up needing to get more eggs by the time I worked up the energy to make it, but so much of the dish called “eggs in purgatory” includes household staples that make this a simple and tasty breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.
Eggs in purgatory ingredients.
As is typical when I try to poach eggs, I overcooked them. I pretend that one day I’m going to solve this but I have eaten eggs where the whites aren’t quite done and I would rather eat hard yolks for an eternity than have to eat underdone eggs ever again. So, I will live with my choices.
However, for you dear reader, know that 9 minutes is likely waayyyy too long; three minutes definitely was still too short, so somewhere in between is probably good.
Other than that (not very) helpful advice, the only other key is to use a good tomato sauce as it makes up most of the flavor. I ended up using a straight up pre-made pasta sauce, particularly arrabbiata, so if you have that on hand, it’s even better. Oh, and a good bread to serve this with makes this dish go from good to great.
So simple, so good.
Here’s what I did, slightly adapting the recipe:
Ingredients
~1 T. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 ¼ c. tomato sauce or pasta sauce (the more flavorful the better, but whatever you have on hand will work)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
¼ t. red pepper flakes (I didn’t measure but did not use a lot as arrabbiata is already semi-spicy)
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ c. fresh parsley, chopped, divided
4 eggs
¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese
Toasted bread, for serving (optional)
Directions
Drizzle olive oil into a 9- or 10-inch skillet set over medium heat. Once the skillet warms, add the onions and cook about 3 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
Then, stir in the tomato/pasta sauce, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Add about half of the parsley and cook for about 5 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken and flavors to meld.
Break eggs into each quarter of the skillet on top of the sauce (the recipe, of course, says to place it into a small bowl first, but I’ve never dirtied another dish *embarrassed face*). Top with the grated cheese and any additional salt and pepper, as desired.
Cover the skillet and cook until the whites are set and the yolks are done to desired level (see note above for how long-ish to do that). Remove from heat, sprinkle on the remaining parsley, and any additional cheese, and enjoy with a fancy bread!
I still can’t get over the fact that since the caucuses have ended, my weekends seem freer. Sure, I’m doing my damnedest to fill them up still, but it’s nothing compared to the anxiety of door-knocking, waiting for door knocks, ignoring the multiple calls and texts a day, and all the ways that I worried about the results. (Going to resist a joke about being careful what I wish for here, but needless to say, it’s not like the weeks since have been any smoother for this recovering political reporter.)
So, with an entire extra day of my weekend to do nothing but clean, go to the library, and talk to my mom, I decided it was a good use of my time to once again try to caramelize onions. It has never once turned out the way it looks on TV and in magazines, but it has continued to taste pretty good. This time was no exception.
Surprise, caramelized onions ingredients include mostly onions.
Also, thanks to a picture-filled guide from Food & Wine, I had more guidance, and a good use for my finished product in a quiche.
That’s right. This is a two-fer.
Caramelized onion quiche ingredients.
However, I quickly disposed of the quiche recipe provided and substituted my own version that mirrored something my sweetie had made before. I learned the joys of adding walnuts to a pie crust, of the potentially overwhelming flavor of moldy cheese, and of the fact that a braiser is an amazing pie dish (As a long-time pie lady, I will remember that last one!).
Even if the onions overcooked, didn’t get as moist, and blackened the bottom of my pan, it really only sped up the process of cooking the onions (and reminding me again to adapt!), and they tasted fine. My only regret on the onions is halving the recipe that means we ended up with just enough left over after the cup that went into the quiche to add to the top of two veggie burgers.
For the quiche, I skipped the 1 c. of diced ham, and replaced it with walnuts and Gorgonzola, about a cup-ish of each. However, the 4 oz. of Gorgonzola was a tiny bit overwhelming for me, even as my sweetie adored its flavor. In addition, I added some parsley and some pepper, and tested adding about a half cup of ground walnuts into the pie crust for extra walnut flavor.
The crust was an extra joy, and I have plans for doing that again already. Everything else was also a joy, though YMMV with the Gorgonzola.
It actually couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate the day off than to spend it in the kitchen making something this special.
Couldn’t resist eating some before taking a picture. Oops.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
For the caramelized onions
2 lb. yellow onions, halved and sliced vertically
2 t. vegetable oil
2 t. salt
~¼ to ½ c. water
For the quiche
1 pie crust (my typical is 1 ¼ c. flour, 8 T. butter, 1 t. salt, ice water to form; with this I used ¾ c. flour and added ½ c. ground walnuts… but any crust will due)
1 c. caramelized onions
6 eggs
1 c. heavy cream
2 to 4 oz. Gorgonzola (use according to your love of Gorgonzola; 4 oz. was a bit much for me)
1 c. chopped walnuts
2 T. chopped parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
For the caramelized onions
Heat the oil in a 9- to 10-inch skillet or braiser on the stove top over medium-high heat. Add half the onions, turning to coat them in oil. Cook for about 2 minutes, and then add the remaining onions by the handful, using tongs to continue to coat the onions. The pan will be kind of full, but the onions will reduce, and continue to reduce. Once the onions are added, continue to cook for about 3 more minutes, adding salt to draw more moisture out. Reduce heat to medium, cover the skillet (braiser), and cook about 10 more minutes, when hopefully a pool of liquid will have collected (it didn’t for me). Remove lid, and continue to cook the onions, folding them over each other and scraping the bottom of the pan as necessary. Cook until liquid has evaporated, about 35 minutes. (If like me, there’s not much liquid, just keep stirring and cooking and gauge by color, not by time.) Scrape the bottom of the pan and shape the onions into a patty; add water as/if they stick to the pan, until the browned bits are loosened as much as possible. Keep cooking, stirring often, until the onions look the color of bourbon (that’s from the recipe but good advice!), up to another 35 to 45 minutes, as needed. Remove from heat and use/serve as desired.
For the quiche
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out the pie dough to fit in a 9- to 10-inch braiser, or skillet. Lay the dough into the braiser/skillet, pressing around the edges, and shaping the ends as desired. Poke with a fork, layer with pie weights or aluminum foil and dried beans. Bake for about 15 minutes, until parboiled.
Meanwhile, in a large boil, mix together the eggs, cream, onions, gorgonzola, walnuts, parsley, and salt and pepper.
When the crust is ready, remove pie weights, and pour in the egg mixture.
Carefully place braiser/skillet back in the oven, and bake for about 35 minutes until the eggs have set and the top is browned, and enjoy!
It’s been nearly a decade since my family made a trip to Spain. It was, as many family trips, an experience filled with unforgettable moments, both good and bad. I’m thinking Vacation here, but like, scaled-to-reality levels of joys and traumas.
Among my favorite memories, though, was our cooking class with Josetxo.
I learned about drinking wine to cure hangovers, how to make mayonnaise from scratch, and the joys of anchovies. I also learned how to make a tortilla.
Frittata (*cough cough* tortilla) ingredients.
To American ears, this is not what you’d expect. It’s like a large frittata, not a flat flour- or corn-based wrapper for tacos or burritos. It was also the simplest and most satisfactory meal I knew immediately I’d be bringing to my kitchen at home.
My only issue with it is that it’s an egg dish that requires flipping, which usually results in a kind of eggy plate. Of course, in Spain, they make matching skillets that take care of this with ease. I never sprung for one, so I do it the difficult way.
That is, until I found a frittata — the French version of the Spanish dish — that had all the Spanish flavors I was hoping for … and some greens too.
Thanks to Bon Appetit I could make this at home easier.
However, I still am no expert in using my own broiler. The recipe said to cook in the broiler for 5 minutes; it was brown after 2 and not jiggly, but cutting in to the eggy dish revealed it was not finished yet. Trial and error minutes later it was ready. Thankfully, it never got browner but it was touch and go there for a bit.
Either way, it was worth it. I got a cleaner plate but still got my fix of eggs, potatoes, and Spanish chorizo.
Seriously, eggs, potatoes, and chorizo (and sure, greens) are the simplest but most incredible meal.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
8 large eggs
1 c. Manchego cheese, grated
1 T. flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 T. chives, chopped
4 oz. Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced (I used D’Artangnan chorizo, and 1 sausage link was 1 oz, shy but I went with it because I used extra cheese)
½ small onion, diced
6 fingerling potatoes, thinly sliced
1 small bunch Swiss chard, ribs and stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
1 T. olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
Heat broiler.
Whisk eggs in a large bowl, and whisk in the cheese and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
On the stove top, add the oil and cook the chorizo in a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet, over medium heat. After the chorizo is crisped, about 3 minutes, transfer to plate. Then, add the onion to the oiled skillet (or braiser), and season with salt, stirring often. Cook for about 1 minute, and then add the potatoes, until they are just softened, about 5 more minutes. Add the chard in batches, and cook each batch until wilted and fits in the skillet. Add salt and pepper, and mix back in the chorizo.
Pour the egg mixture on top of the sausage mix, tilting to ensure even distribution. Cook for about 2 minutes on the stove top, and then transfer to the oven and broil until the egg is cooked through, about 5 minutes. (Again, it seemed to me to be done after about 2 and then wasn’t so keep a close eye to ensure it’s not burnt but the eggs are also cooked through.)
Run a spatula around the edges to loosen, and slide on to a plate (or cut into wedges), and enjoy!
My mom got me a great gift for Christmas a couple years ago. All this silly chef could ask for, really. A Le Creuset. With a beautiful lilac finish. That I just love.
The problem? There isn’t one at all. Except that for years and years I’ve been thinking too big, most recently with sheet pans and Dutch ovens, and my little pseudo-skillet hasn’t gotten nearly as much love as it deserves. So, this year, I’m thinking small.
While I’ll be using my specialty equipment (sold as a braiser, apparently), the recipes I’ll be making this year will work in a 9- or 10-inch skillet, though a lid (or some aluminum foil) will be useful this week, and likely throughout the year.
I’ve done some minor research on recipes to ensure that I’ll have plenty to work with, but it’s not super easy to find recipes that say the exact size of the pan, pot, or otherwise that should be used for each recipe.
My vague memory is that pies were a rare exception among the hundreds of recipes I’ve looked at since recording my foodie adventures that specify the size of the equipment I should be using. So aside from thinking small, the challenge this year will be kind of a more literal version of “if it fits, I cooks.”
Mexican breakfast ingredients that fits so I cooks.
Mercifully, as I was thinking small, I remembered that one of my favorite cookbooks (another Christmas gift, this one from my brother) has recipes that uses just 5 ingredients. Now, this doesn’t have to mean small, but there are options. And even better, the author Jamie Oliver does occasionally list the size skillet. None were my 22 cm small, but several were close enough. I hoped.
With my fingers crossed, I tried my first recipe and prayed that a can of beans plus 4 other ingredients would fit. If it didn’t, I may have been reassessing my choice. I breathed a heavy, happy sigh of relief when my first test of Mexican breakfast was a success. I still overcooked the eggs.
I’m still working out some kinks in becoming an expert but I hope you, dear readers, will be patient and stick with me through the ride. Welcome to small skillet 2020!
Perfect Saturday breakfast for two, and maybe kinda healthy too.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
1 can (14 oz.) black beans
4 eggs
½ jalapeno, diced, divided
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
Juice from 1 lime
Olive oil
Directions
Add the olive oil to your small (9- to 10-inch) skillet over medium heat. Add about half the diced peppers. Once they start to sizzle, crack in the eggs, and then immediately spoon in the black beans, including about half the juice from the tin. Cover and simmer the eggs to your liking, probably around 4 to 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the avocado slices by squeezing on some lime juice.
Once the eggs are ready, remove from heat, top the mixture with the avocado around the pan, and then add the remaining peppers, and enjoy!
I was looking for another savory breakfast food when I was reminded that for years I’ve thought about making the Middle Eastern egg and sauce dish called shakshuka.
There were no hard-to-find ingredients; it just never quite made the cut when I was looking for something new to try. Until this week.
Green shakshuka ingredients.
My now-beloved Cook It In Your Dutch Oven cookbook even had a recipe all ready for me. Sure, it’s a different take than the traditional — it has a green sauce rather than a red tomato-based one. But that sounded even better. I can always use more greens in my diet.
The recipe turned out fine, if not my favorite. It calls for adding herbs in at the end, though I think adding them to the base sauce and then again at the end would be better — so that more of their flavor seeps into the sauce but also has the fresh zip that their late addition adds. (I should add that my sweetie quite liked the dish so maybe I just don’t appreciate greens as much as I should.)
Other than that, be prepared to buy a lot of Swiss chard, and preferably the kind without red stems if you want it to look vibrant green rather than my brownish-green.
Look at all those beautiful herbs. Noms.
Here’s what I did, roughly following the recipe (though changing some proportions):
Ingredients
3 bunches Swiss chard, stems removed and reserved and leaves chopped
12 oz. baby spinach
¼ c. olive oil, divided
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
Salt, to taste
2 t. ground coriander
½ c. vegetable broth
1 c. frozen peas
2 T. lemon juice
8 eggs
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
2 T. chopped dill (I recommend more for sauce)
2 T. fresh mint (I recommend a little more for sauce)
1 t. dried Aleppo pepper, optional (I had on hand but it’s a mild crushed pepper so regular crushed pepper isn’t a good substitute unless you want to add a little spice)
Directions
Chop chard stems to yield 1 cup. Discard the rest or save for another use.
Heat Dutch oven on medium heat. Add 2 T. olive oil. Add the chard stems, onion, and a pinch of salt. Cook until softened and lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and coriander, and cook for about another minute.
Add the chard leaves and spinach (I had to do it in batches so they would wilt down), and cook until wilted but still green, about 3 to 5 minutes. Here I’d recommend adding some herbs for more flavor, to taste. Remove the mixture from heat and add 1 to 1 ½ c. of the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth, about a minute. Stir the blended mix back into the Dutch oven.
Add lemon juice and peas, and stir.
Place back on heat, medium to medium-low. Make 4 indentations in the mix and crack 2 eggs into each indentation. Sprinkle with Aleppo pepper, if using, and more salt as desired. Cover the pot and cook until egg whites are just set, 5 to 10 minutes (You have to keep a close eye on it). Remove from heat and let sit, covered, until the whites are fully set, another 2 to 4 minutes.
Add the herbs, feta, and drizzle with more olive oil.
