Sausage and Green Bean Frittata

 Do you ever feel inundated with vegetables during the summer? While the season can deliver an embarrassment of riches for those who crave fresh produce, it can sometimes feel like overkill. What to do with all these vegetables? A happy problem for sure, but one an avid cook may face if they feel trapped into making the same-old same-old.

The frittata is one simple solution for what to do with summer produce. It's simple, flexible and satisfying. Basically, gently cook any mixture of vegetables, preferably with some onion and/or garlic, combine with eggs and cheese, cook briefly on the stove and finish in the oven. It's pretty simple and it's delicious. I made this frittata with green beans, shiitake mushrooms, scallions and sausage. The combinations are really endless here.

Sausage and Green Bean Frittata

2 cups fresh green beans, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz. mild Italian chicken sausages, casings removed
1 bunch of scallions, white and light green parts chopped
8 oz. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced into 1/4-inch strips
Salt, to taste
1 tsp. Aleppo pepper flakes
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
2 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven broiler with rack about 4-5 inches from the broiler.

2. Insert a steamer insert into a medium saucepan and fill with water below the insert. Heat over medium-high heat until the water boils. Add the beans, cover and steam for 3 minutes until tender. Set beans aside.

3. Heat olive oil over medium heat in an oven-safe 12-inch nonstick frying pan. Add sausage and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until cooked through and lightly browned. Remove sausage from pan, transfer to a cutting board and chop into smaller pieces.

4. Add scallions and mushrooms to the pan, season with salt, Aleppo pepper, rosemary and thyme, and sauté until the onions are softened and the mushrooms are lightly browned, about 6-8 minutes. Add the cooked green beans and sausage to the pan, stir to combine with the other ingredients and, using a spatula, smooth the ingredients into an even layer in the pan.

5. Stir half the cheese into the beaten eggs, then pour the egg mixture into the pan so that it is evenly distributed around the ingredients in the pan. Keep cooking on the stove without disturbing the ingredients to set the bottom of the egg. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Transfer the pan to the broiler and broil for 4 minutes until the frittata is cooked through, a bit puffy on top and lightly browned. Cut into wedges and serve.

Sausage Breakfast Skillet Hash

Breakfast for us is usually simple: cereal, orange wedges, coffee. I usually make scrambled eggs once a week and there are occasionally more complicated weekend treats like omelets or pancakes.

Being snowed in as we were recently, I decided it was a good opportunity to make a special breakfast. Hence, this breakfast skillet hash, a classic combination of fried potatoes, sausage, eggs, cheese and vegetables. This is homestyle cooking at its simple best.

As a kid, my family would sometimes eat breakfast at The Village Inn, and their breakfast skillets were our favorite things to order. More recently, Chris and I ate delicious hash plates at 24 Diner in Austin, Texas. Whether you call it a skillet or hash--or skillet-hash--it's good stuff.

Since the potatoes are, by volume, the largest ingredient in the dish, it's important to get them right. They need to be firm but cooked through, browned and crispy on the edges. I used The Food Lab's recommended method of par-boiling the potatoes with vinegar, letting them drain awhile and then frying them for quite awhile until crispy. They turned out exactly as I wanted them too. The par-boiling helps cook the potatoes through, since the frying will mostly be about crisping up the edges. The bit of vinegar helps the potatoes keep their shape through all this. While frying them, I first stirred the potatoes to coat them in the oil, then smoothed them into an even layer, which I let cook for 5 minutes without being disturbed to help promote browning.

What you put in this dish besides potatoes is really up to you. Some kind of meat--sausage, bacon or ham--is good, but you could make this vegetarian too. I used Whole Foods mild Italian chicken sausage, since it's one of my favorites, half an onion and a red bell pepper. I topped the skillet with two scrambled eggs (I suggest one egg per person) and a good sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese, which I melted under the oven broiler.

Sausage Breakfast Skillet Hash
Potato technique adapted from a recipe by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for The Food Lab, Serious Eats

Serves 2 really hungry guys or 4 normal portions

1 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes
2 quarts water
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. kosher salt
4-6 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage
1/2 yellow onion, diced
Red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dired oregano
2 to 4 large eggs, lightly beaten (use 1 egg per person)
1 to 2 tsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Add potatoes, water, vinegar and kosher salt to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander and allow them to sit in the colander for at least a couple minutes so as much water drains out as possible.

2. Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a large (12-inch) frying pan over medium heat (note: if using pork sausage, it will render more fat, so I don't think you need this initial 1 tbsp. of oil). Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with wooden spoon, until cooked through. Transfer the sausage to a large bowl.

3. If needed, add another tbsp. of vegetable oil to the pan, increase heat to medium-high, then add the onion and bell pepper. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme and oregano, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened. Return the sausage to the pan and continue cooking the mixture until it gets a little brown around the edges. Remove from the pan and transfer back to the large bowl.

4. Add the remaining 4 tbsp. (i.e. 1/4 cup) vegetable oil to the pan. When hot, add the potatoes and cook until browned and crisp around the edges, about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

5. While the potatoes cook, scramble the eggs: heat 1 to 2 tsp. butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring frequently, until set. Remove from the pan and set aside on a small plate.

6. Preheat oven broiler. Once the potatoes are cooked, turn the heat off under the pan and stir in the cooked sausage, onion and pepper. Add the scrambled eggs on top, then cover the whole thing with shredded cheddar cheese. Place under the oven broiler to melt the cheese, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Serve from the pan.

Sausage, Vegetable and Gruyere Frittata

If your mom is like mine, you should listen to her more often, as she probably has good ideas. Like the recipe for this frittata, the Italian answer to the French omelet. Unlike an omelet, which is cooked quickly with the fillings added last, frittatas are cooked slowly with the eggs added to the already cooked fillings and then broiled to set the eggs.

A few weeks ago, my mom emailed me about a frittata recipe she made. I thought it sounded really good, but I didn't make it right away. Then a couple weeks later she made it again and I thought, yes, I should really make this.

So this time I did. I don't know where she got the recipe, but I made some adjustments, so I feel comfortable calling it my own (with credit to Mom, of course). This is a simple dish that comes together fairly quickly. It's also quite flexible. You could easily omit the sausage to make it vegetarian, substitute a different meat (bacon, ham, chicken, turkey) and use a different combination of vegetables or a different cheese. I went with mild Italian chicken sausage, onion, zucchini, red pepper and rainbow chard with gruyere cheese, but you could use just about any green, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower. Just be mindful of the total quantity. A 12-inch frying pan is ideal for this, and it should be about half-full of cooked ingredients before you add the egg and cheese mixture.

Sausage, Vegetable and Gruyere Frittata

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 to 3/4 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 green zucchini, diced
1 punch chard (may use rainbow or Swiss), leaves removed from stems and cut into 2-inch pieces (stems discarded)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven broiler with rack 4 inches below the broiler.

2. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a 12-inch nonstick oven-safe frying pan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until cooked through. Remove sausage from pan. Add another tbsp. olive oil to the pan and increase heat to medium-high. Add the onion, bell pepper and zucchini and cook until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the chard, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally until the chard wilts, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Return the sausage to the pan and spread the ingredients evenly on the bottom of the pan. Whisk together the eggs and half the cheese in a large bowl. Pour the eggs and cheese over the vegetable-sausage mixture. Continue to cook on the stove to set the bottom of the eggs, about 3 minutes.

4. Transfer pan to the oven and broil until the top is firm, about 3 minutes. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top and broil an additional minute to melt and brown the cheese (watch to make sure it doesn't burn). Remove from oven and cut into wedges for serving.

Mocha Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska is one of my favorite cooking "magic tricks." It's baked ice cream. That doesn't melt. What?!

Despite "molecular gastronomy" being a fairly recent invention, Baked Alaska, is a historic dish. Its origins go back to the 1800s when desserts made of ice cream encased in a cooked layer--sometimes pastry or the meringue that is traditional of Baked Alaska today. Chef Charles Ranhofer of the famed Delmonico's in New York is credited with naming and popularizing the dish in the late 1800s as a way to celebrate the United States' acquisition of Alaska. I've read that the browned meringue is meant to evoke the snowy mountains of the state, while the dessert's frozen center gets to the heart of the state's notorious northern temperatures.

But how does it work? The layer of meringue--an egg foam--insulates the ice cream from the heat of the oven while it cooks, keeping the ice cream from melting. Food scientist Harold McGee explains the science simply in On Food and Cooking: "Egg foams are often used to cover and conceal the heart of a dish. Among the most entertaining of these constructions is the hot, browned meringue enclosing a mass of chilly ice cream: the baked Alaska, which derives from the French omelette surprise. This thermal contrast is made possible by the excellent insulating properties of cellular structures like foams. For the same reason, a cup of cappuccino cools more slowly than a cup of regular coffee."

Hence, it's important to "seal" the ice cream by spreading the meringue all over the cream and sealing it against the cake base.

This particular version is inspired by the Chocolate Baked Alaska served at the Casey Jones restaurant in La Plata, Maryland. It was a Casey Jones I first had Baked Alaska, and I absolutely loved it. The chocolate cake, espresso/chocolate chip ice cream (I used a gelato actually) and meringue are a wonderful combination. I could think of no better way to celebrate our return from Alaska than by making this dish again.

Mocha Baked Alaska
Inspired by Chocolate Baked Alaska, Casey Jones, La Plata, Md.

Single layer of chocolate cake (see recipe below)
Pint of coffee/chocolate chip or plain coffee ice cream or gelato, slightly softened
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. coffee liqueur (such as Kahlúa)
1/3 cup sugar

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut the cake layer into four round pieces. Eat any remaining cake scraps (you know you want to). Place the cake rounds evenly spaced on the lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer until the cake is frozen, at least 2-3 hours.

3. Remove the cakes from the oven. Place a rounded scoop of ice cream (about 3/4 cup) on each cake. Return to the freezer to freeze hard, about 2-3 hours.

4. Make the meringue: Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl (if using a hand mixer). Beat on high until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating on high until soft peaks form.Beat in the coffee liqueur, then gradually beat in the sugar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form (the meringue will appear glossy, dip a spoon through it and a peak will form that does not fold back down). Be careful not to overbeat.

5. Remove the cakes from the freezer. Using a spatula, spread the meringue evenly over the ice cream, sealing the meringue against the cake. If desired, use a spoon to make decorative spikes. Put back in the freezer until well frozen, at least 3-4 hours.

6. Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 500 F. Bake desserts until meringue is set and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Single Chocolate Cake Layer
Adapted from Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake, The New Best Recipe by America's Test Kitchen

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the cake pan
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the cake pan
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F with rack in middle position.

2. Grease an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan with butter. Place a round of parchment in the bottom of the pan. Grease the parchment. Flour the cake pan, tapping out the excess flour.

3. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a bowl using a hand mixer) on medium-high speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat another minute.

4. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and espresso powder. Combine the milk and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup.

5. With the mixer running on slow speed, add about half the dry mixture to the butter mixture, then add about half the milk. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and remaining milk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on low speed for another 15 seconds until the batter has an even texture.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 23-30 minutes. Set the cake on a rack to cool for about 10-15 minutes. Run a plastic knife around the edge of the cake, then invert the pan to release the cake onto the cooling rack and cool completely.

Bacon, Brussels Sprouts and Caramelized Onion Frittata

Frittatas are really easy to make. I'm surprised I don't do it more often. It goes something like this: assemble a few key ingredients, like a vegetable or two, a meat and a cheese, then pour egg over them, let set on the bottom, then broil to set on top. And you're done.

Because the actual making of the frittata is so simple, I don't mind putting a little extra effort into getting the ingredients just right. In this case, I roasted Brussels sprouts until they were wonderfully brown, pan-crispsed some really smoky thick bacon slices and caramelized a sweet onion. I even grated a little gruyere, one of my favorite cheeses.

Bacon, Brussels Sprouts and Caramelized Onion Frittata

12 oz. Brussels sprouts, ends cut off and sprouts halved (with cuts made through the stem ends so they hold together)
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt, to taste
8 oz. thick hickory-smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 sweet onion, cut into thin pieces about 1-inch long and 1/4-inch wide
1 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
7 large eggs
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Put cut sprouts in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt, then spread on a baking sheet, flipping any sprouts over so the cut-side is down. Roast for 35 minutes until golden brown in places. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. This step may be done in advance with the roasted sprouts stored in the fridge.

2. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until browned and crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper-towel-lined plate.

3. Heat a large (12-inch) frying pan over medium heat. Add butter. When melted, add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes (add water as necessary to prevent onions from browning too quickly). Stir in the roasted sprouts, bacon and thyme. Use a spatula to spread the ingredients in an even layer in the pan.

4. Preheat oven broiler.

5. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl, seasoned with salt and pepper. Pour eggs evenly around ingredients in the frying pan. Using a spatula, gently lift the ingredients around the edges and in the middle as the egg sets to let the runny eggs run down into the pan (similar to what you'd do with a omelet). When the egg is fairly set on the bottom, sprinkle the gruyere cheese on top, then put the pan in the oven under the broiler. Broil for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and the egg is set on top. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, then cut into wedges and serve.

Spicy Beans And Pepperoni On Toast With Fried Eggs

I came across this dish as part of Food Republic's recent series on recipes for making good use of leftovers. Since I'd just made pizza, it was perfect for using up the rest of a package of sliced pepperoni. 

The recipe comes from Sophia Wright's cookbook Cook on Shoestring: Easy, Inspiring Recipes on a Budget. Wright's recipe is meant to be flexible: while written for toast with fried eggs, it could easily be served over baked potato or, I think, rice would be a good partner. Don't have pepperoni? Use another sausage, pancetta or bacon. She also suggests that with more tomatoes and broth, the spicy bean topping could make a great soup. 

Spicy Beans and Pepperoni on Toast with Fried Eggs

Adapted from a Food Republic recipe from Cook on Shoestring by Sophie Wright

Serves 2

2 3/4 oz. sliced pepperoni, cut in half
2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
15-oz. can navy beans, drained and rinsed
15-oz. can diced tomatoes
Seasoned salt (or plain salt) and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of sugar
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 eggs
Pinch of ground cumin
2 slices of bread
Butter, to spread on the toast
Coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1. Heat a medium nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the pepperoni and cook for a few minutes until it starts to render fat. Add the garlic and chili pepper flakes and cook for about a minute until the garlic is fragrant. Add the beans, season with seasoned salt and pepper and stir to combine, then add the tomatoes and sugar. Cook at a simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a medium nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, break the eggs one-at-a-time into the pan. Break the yolks if desired or leave them whole. Season with salt, pepper and cumin. After a couple minutes, flip the eggs over and cook another minute or so to desired doneness.

3. Toast the bread (nice easy step).

4. To serve: Butter the toast and put on a plate, top with half the pepperoni-bean mixture and place a fried egg on top. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Salade Niçoise Printemps (Spring Niçoise Salad)

Niçoise salad is one of those dishes given to endless variation. Central to the dish is canned fish--anchovies, tuna or both--with lettuce, tomatoes, hard-cooked eggs, olives and vinaigrette. Fresh green beans, potatoes and red pepper are also common, but certainly cooks have taken it in different directions from there.

For this salad, I wanted to take advantage of seasonal, late spring vegetables I picked up at the farmers market, including asparagus, new potatoes and a juicy beefsteak tomato. I also swapped out the lettuce for some baby arugula.

Salade Niçoise Printemps (Spring Niçoise Salad)

Makes 3 servings


8-10 small new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
8-10 stalks of asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 2-inch pieces
3 large eggs
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups baby arugula
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1/2 cup black olives (Niçoise are the obvious choice, but others are fine)
1 tomato, cored and chopped
7-8 oz. tuna packed in olive oil (I used three 2.5 oz packets of yellowfin tuna packed in extra virgin olive oil)

1. Bring a medium saucepan half-filled with water to boil. Add potatoes. After 2-3 minutes, add asparagus and cook for about 5 minutes (you may cook them separately and add additional cooking time for the potatoes if they are larger than about an inch thick). Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Put the eggs in a large (4 qt.) saucepan and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Heat on stove over medium-high heat until the water boils. Immediately remove pan from heat, cover and let sit 10 minutes. Fill a bowl with ice water. Remove eggs from hot water and put in ice water. After 5 minutes, remove from ice water, crack gently against hard surface and peel eggs (use the ice water to rinse off any shell bits). Cut cooked eggs in half.

3. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, shallot, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper to make the dressing.

4. Combine the arugula, bell pepper, olives, tomato, tuna, potatoes and asparagus in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing and serve with a couple halves of hard-cooked eggs.

Asparagus with Mustard Dressing, Bacon and Eggs

Breakfast on the farm means eggs, although the ingredient in this dish from the farmers market is the asparagus, which is drizzled with a shallot-mustard vinaigrette and paired with bacon, hard-cooked eggs and toast. I was inspired by the recent New York Times' recipe for Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette, to which I made a few tweaks.

For the hard-cooked eggs, I tried the America's Test Kitchen technique. They claimed their method prevented that unappetizing gray-green layer from forming between the cooked yolk and white. Turns out, they were right. No green in sight and the eggs were perfectly cooked. I'll have to remember this when I decide to try my hand at deviled eggs.

For the dressing, I pretty much followed the recipe but added some honey for a little sweetness. The resulting dish was a satisfying savory meal to begin the day.

Asparagus with Mustard Dressing, Bacon and Eggs
Adapted from The New York Times' Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette

1/2 small shallot, finely minced
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. honey
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 large eggs
4 thick bacon strips
1 lb. asparagus, tough root ends trimmed off
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
2 pieces whole grain bread, toasted

1. To make vinaigrette, whisk together shallots, vinegar, mustard, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside while cooking the rest, which will soften the shallots a bit.

2. To hard-cook the eggs, place the eggs in a medium sauce pan and cover with cold water until there is an inch of water above the eggs. Place pan on stove and heat over medium-high heat until the water boils. Immediately remove pan from heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Then place eggs in ice water for 5 minutes (this makes them easier to peel). Carefully crack eggs all over, roll gently on a hard surface, and then use your hands to remove the shell, starting at the less-pointy end. Rinse the peeled eggs by dipping them in the bowl with the ice water. Slice into fourths.

3. Cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain and set aside.

4. To cook the asparagus, fill a large saucepan about halfway, salt the water and bring to a boil. Cook asparagus for about 3-4 minutes. Remove asparagus from water once cooked.

5. Serve eggs, bacon and asparagus over toast topped with a few spoonfuls of vinaigrette.