Crisper Frittata

So, you got your CSA box a few days ago and have a pile of interesting vegetables in your crisper and none of them are getting any younger...so what do you do? Crisper frittata! That is, if you have an extra dozen eggs around and a big pile of cheese. Because, my friends, cheese is what we are about these days.

However, if you are dairy free, then absolutely no worries. Just leave off the cheese and enjoy the eggs without! This recipe is absolutely delicious without any dairy at all. It is entirely possible to add a few more tablespoons of your chosen non-dairy creamy goodness to the eggs if you choose to go cheese-less. (See below for suggestions - our own choice for this when we were dairy-free was coconut milk or coconut milk kefir, but we recently had some absolutely amazing savory cashew cream as part of a beautiful scramble at Harlow in Portland and I'd be really curious as to how that might work.) Another option for topping is to sprinkle toasted sesame seeds or even za'atar on top to serve, of course, depending on what flavorings you've chosen.

Other thoughts: While I indicate in the recipe to use oregano, it is also terrific with about 3-4 chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or tarragon. If you are not an herb fan, feel free to cut back to 1/4 teaspoon or to leave it out entirely.  The flavor combination is quite improvisational, so make it yours!

Lastly, this frittata does well with yesterday's vegetable dish instead of a new sauté.

Crisper Frittata 
(otherwise known as a crustless quiche with lots and lots of veggies)
This is about 2 meals for a family of 3.

• 12 eggs
• 8-12 oz jack and/or cheddar cheese, shredded (adding mozzerella is good here, too)
• 3 tablespoons organic whole milk yogurt OR the unsweetened creamy goodness of your choice: coconut milk, nut yogurt, cashew cream, etc
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• about 1 tablespoon of butter or similar fat (tallow, drippings, grapeseed oil, lard) for frying
• optional: more butter, cubed into small pieces 
• One medium to large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano OR a sprig of fresh leaves, chopped

A combination of chopped veggies that equals

• ...about 2 heads of greens, de-ribbed and chopped.
• ...2-3 heads of broccoli, chopped (about what you'd find in a grocery store bound up in a rubber band).
• ...1 lb mushrooms either sliced or chopped with a few well-washed sliced leeks instead of onion.
• ...4 chopped summer squash (cut these up first, then mix them up with about a teaspoon of sea salt and let them sit for about 15 minutes, then rinse well before cooking).
• ...or some tasty combination that just about fills a large fry pan, whatever is in season: peppers, zucchini and tomatoes in the summer, roots or cabbage in the winter...it's all good!

Here we go:

Preheat the oven to 350F. 

Gently sauté the onions (or leeks) in the fat in a large, oven-safe frying pan or iron skillet about 12 minutes or until soft.

While the onions are cooking, whisk the eggs with the salt, herbs and the yogurt. Add about 3/4 of the cheese, reserving enough to cover the top. Set aside.

Add your veggies to the pan in order of hardness - the hardest first, the softest last. Cook until the vegetables are soft, but hold their shapes.

Pour the egg/cheese mixture on top and fold into the veggies. Spread the last of the cheese and/or cubed butter or fat to the top. Let cook on the burner a few minutes, then put the whole pan, uncovered, into the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.

Slice and serve with avocado slices, a green salad or a cup of soup.

Mushroom Leek Quiche (GAPS-friendly)

As promised!

This recipe was based on Julia Child's version of Flamiche - Quiche Aux Poireaux. It is SO rich that one small slice is enough to fill me completely up and zaps any sugar craving for about two days. I increased her original recipe again by a half (give or take a little here and there) to fill a deep-dish 9" pan. I also cooked it a bit longer and at a lower temperature for the sake of the coconut flour in the crust. Also, I chopped the mushrooms to make it more child-friendly, but I needn't have bothered since she didn't like it anyway. Next one I'll slice them.

Also, the coconut flour crust browns way too easily. Ours got very brown, even though I covered it with foil half-way. Here is a possible solution that I have not tried, but might work - end the crust at the level of the pie, possibly adding the pie crust edge with 12 minutes to spare on the baking. Let me know if that works.

Mushroom Leek Quiche

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients

Pie crust:

• 1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup ghee or butter, melted
• pinch salt

Beat the eggs. Slowly pour in the ghee while stirring so as not to cook the eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients, finishing it with your hands when it's too thick for a spoon. See here for more information on how to roll out a coconut flour crust. 

Before making the filling, spread a thin layer of cheese at the bottom of the pie crust.

Filling:

• about 3 1/2 cups sliced, cleaned white of leek 
• about 1 cup chopped or sliced mushrooms
• 1/2-3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 4 Tb butter or ghee
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups coconut cream or milk
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2-3/4 cup grated goat jack cheese (Swiss would be nice, but we can only do goat's or sheep's milk, so it wasn't an option for us)
• 1 Tb ghee, cut into pea-sized dots

After slicing the leeks, submerge in a bowl of cold water to clean out the dirt that collects between the layers.  Boil them over moderately high heat with water, salt and ghee until the liquid is partly evaporated.  Add the mushrooms. Cook until the liquid is almost evaporated, then turn the heat down to simmer, cover the pan and stew gently for 20-30 minutes until very tender and aromatic.

Beat eggs, coconut cream and seasonings in a big mixing bowl to blend. Slowly add the mushrooms and leeks bit by bit so as not to cook the eggs. (Julia suggests at this point that you taste to check the seasoning.) Pour into the pie shell and distribute the rest of the cheese and ghee over the top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until puffed. (Ours didn't brown, presumably because of the lower temperature. In our case, a knife came out wet but more or less clean at the end.)

Actual Pizza!

Okay, so the pictures aren't so perfect. They're a bit blurry, but I just had to post them to show how happy we all were with the pizza crust I baked tonight! In order to make it completely GAPS-friendly, just leave off the leavening, or try baking soda.

Here's a link to the recipe I tried.

One minor thing is that the batter needs to have a consistency like toothpaste and it took nearly 3/4 cup of coconut flour to make it so, instead of 1/2. I'd make it according to the recipe, though, then add until it's the right consistency. I used goat monterey jack cheese and fermented "ketchup" as sauce. It would be super-tasty with some sauteed onions, or greens, or mushrooms and olives. Tonight we trapped pieces of one of my veggie/beef burgers under the cheese.

In the oven, before flipping.

I tried to get a shot of the whole pie, and failed! 

Enjoying their pizza and cream of rutabaga soup.

We ate it all...