Bacon, Peas and Goat's Cheese Frittata

I've been hooked on frittata's since I made my first one. They're good warm, cold, morning or night, sort of like a pizza made out of eggs.

Bacon, Peas and Goat's Cheese Frittata
adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cooking Course,  found on Scribd
click to print

8 bacon strips, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced diagonally
1 1/4 c frozen peas
2 oz goat cheese
8 eggs, beaten
3-4 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Fry the bacon over medium heat 3-5 minutes until cooked through but not yet crisp. Drain fat.


Add red pepper strips and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon begins to crisp and the peppers begin to char. Drain any additional accumulated fat.

After  four and a half minutes, my peppers still weren't charred at all but the bacon was crisping, so I just rolled on.

Stir in onions and sweat until the bacon crisps, 1-2 minutes.


Stir in the peas and heat through.


Cut the goat cheese into chunks and sprinkle over the top.


Meanwhile, add the Parmesan cheese to the eggs and season generously with pepper.


Pour egg mixture over the bacon and vegetables and gently shake over medium heat.


Once the bottom and edges are set, transfer the pan to the oven and bake 4 minutes. Turn oven up to broil and and bake an additional 1-2 minutes or until the eggs are puffed, set, and just beginning to brown.


Let stand 5 minutes before sliding the fritatta out of the pan; cut into wedges.



I'm still amazed by how the eggs in frittata's get so puffy! Not surprisingly, this frittata turned out very well. The bacon, peppers, onions, and even the peas went together just swimmingly. I wish I'd done a better job of crumbling/chopping the goat cheese since I didn't really like getting a big glob of it at a time.

Cost:

• bacon: $2.25
• red bell pepper: $1.50
• spring onions: $0.45
• frozen peas: $1.25
• goat cheese: $3
• eggs: $2.19
• Parmesan cheese: $0.54

Total: $11.18 or about $2.80 for four large servings and $1.86 for each of six smaller wedges.

Cherries with Almonds and Mint

A sucker for anything to do with my favorite fruit, cherries, I had to try this recipe after finding while trolling on Gordon Ramsay's Twitter. I do regret that I didn't try this last week as I'd originally intended.

For the convenience of other American's who are unaccustomed to the metric system, I've Americanized the recipe. With any luck we'll convert to the metric system in my lifetime, which makes way more sense.

Cherries with Almonds and Mint
adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Tweet
click to print

1.1 lbs ripe cherries, pitted
2 tbsp sugar
splash of amaretto liqueur
lemon juice
50 g slivered almonds
mint leaves, chopped
yogurt (or clotted cream or creme fraiche)

Warm the cherries and sugar in a medium saucepan until the sugar begins to dissolve and the cherries start to release their juices.


Add the amaretto and lemon juice; cook for a few more minutes until the liquid is reduced.


Divide the cherries among servings bowls and scatter the almonds and mint over. Serve with a generous dollop of yogurt.



Oh man, I am SO glad I tried this. It is just fantastic! Prep time takes longer than it takes to execute the recipe and it is completely worth it. I really should've measured out the ingredients nuts and toasted them since they are a little on the non-crisp side but still, just excellent. THIS is how fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt should taste. I am kicking myself for not trying this sooner since cherry season is over. Next year though, next year.

The original recipe says to serve the cherries with crème fraishe or clotted cream. I think yogurt is not as sweet as either of those options (a guess, having never tried either) so this is a little on the tart side. Still perfect. I imagine the cherries would be equally fantastic on ice cream or stirred with yogurt into granola.

Cost:

• cherries: $3.29
• sugar: $0.06
• amaretto liqueur: $0.39
• lemon juice: $0.76
• slivered almonds: $2, SWAG
• mint: $0.79
• yogurt: $1.75

Total: $9.04 or about $2.26 for each of four deliciously generous servings.

Sticky Lemon Chicken and Champ

Okay, so the initial Ramsay recipes were good but not absolutely outstanding. The good-yet-not-absolutely-outstanding ones were quick ones, as far as time spent on recipe execution. And then I struck upon the time-consuming-ish stuffed chicken legs recipe which was exceptional. I'm not sure where this one will lie - it's straightforward and quick and maybe not so great? OR it's straightforward and quick yet totally awesome. As with all recipes, there's only one way to find out. Let's roll.

As usual, I had to Americanize the quantities in the ingredients list before I got started.

Sticky Lemon Chicken and Champ
adapted from Channel 4
click to print

Chicken
1 large chicken, jointed into 8–10 pieces
sea salt
black pepper
3–4 tbsp olive oil
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
Few thyme sprigs
Splash of sherry vinegar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
1 lemon, finely sliced (ideally with a mandolin)
Bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Champ
2.2 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled
sea salt
black pepper
2 tbsp butter
 6–8 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
100 mL heavy cream
100 mL whole milk, plus extra if needed

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.


Season the chicken with salt and pepper.


Brown the chicken pieces (in batches if necessary) with the garlic for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
 
I did two batches, reserving the first batch on a plate. The garlic went into the skillet with batch two. The splatter screen is definitely a good idea.

Return all the chicken to the pan, add the sherry vinegar and bubble until reduced by half.

This just took two minutes.

Drizzle the soy sauce and honey over the chicken, add the thyme, and shake the pan to mix.

The thyme was supposed to be added to the skillet with the chicken when it was browning. I goofed up and when realizing my error, threw the thyme in ASAP.

Pour in a good splash of hot water and add the lemon slices. Let the liquid bubble and reduce down until syrupy, which will take about 10 minutes or so. By now the chicken should be cooked through.


Meanwhile cut the potatoes into similar-sized chunks and bring to a boil in salted water for about 10 minutes, until tender when pierced with a small sharp knife. Drain well.

2 lbs of potatoes in my 3.5-quart saucepan.

Mash the potatoes while still hot, using a potato ricer if you have one.


Stir through the butter and spring onions.


Pour the cream and milk into a saucepan and bring just to the boil.

Oh poop, the milk and cream boiled over within 4 minutes. Keep an eye on this!

Gradually pour the warmed cream on to the potatoes, mixing well. If the mash is too thick, add a little extra milk. Season generously.

I used only about half the cream mixture.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and sprinkle over the chopped parsley, serve with the champ and green beans.

Crap, I didn't do the green beans.



Excellent! I learned that champ is mashed potatoes with green onions in it I'd call them mashed potatoes with green onions (or in the case of colcannon, cabbage) but they actually have names.

The chicken is nicely browned, glistening, lemon flavored, and juicy. The skin though, is a little too wet and rubbery for my preference so I wound up removing it before eating the chicken. Skin notwithstanding, the chicken is awesome! The only thing I regret is that I didn't have the green beans on the side like the original recipe suggested.

Just an FYI, I used 2.36 lbs of potatoes (mass before peeling) and only half the cream/milk to make the champ. Consider this if you try it.

One last thing, in case you're wondering how this compared to the stuffed legs. Didn't come close. Definitely second. Well, I did like the rice. And the wings. And the orechiette even though it was salty. Let's just say it wasn't as good as the stuffed legs.

Cost:

• chicken: $12.02
• olive oil: $0.24
• garlic: $0.36
• thyme: $0.50
• sherry vinegar: $0.47
• honey: $0.36
• lemon: $0.53
• flat leaf parsley: $0.59
• Russet potatoes: $1.63
• butter: $0.14
• spring onions: $0.49
• heavy cream: $0.41
• whole milk: $0.15

Total: $17.89 for about $4.47 for each of four servings.