Asparagus Frittata

Memorial Day is the traditional segue to summer. And in the Great Lakes, it’s the start of weekend gatherings–at home, at the cottage, and at the campsite. What’s a quick and easy way to enjoy breakfast together? A simple frittata with seasonal vegetables. And right now, it’s asparagus season.

Most people in Michigan can’t wait for the first asparagus to show up at farmers markets and roadside stands. I’m one of them. As soon as the Holland Farmers Market opened in May, I was there with my basket, loading up on this spring vegetable that can be prepared so many ways. Putting it in a frittata is one of my favorites. In addition to the asparagus, I buy the rest of the ingredients from our local farmers at the Holland Farmers Market: pastured eggs from Grassfields, red onions from Visser Farms, and goat cheese from Country Winds Creamery. (Another reason why I love this recipe? You can cook it over a campfire, too!)

Asparagus Frittata

Serves 4.

3 T. olive oil

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1-inch pieces

8 eggs, beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup Pecorino cheese,  or dollops of goat cheese

Optional: chopped fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, tarragon, or parsley

Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil and vegetables into a large oven-proof skillet. Saute onions with asparagus on medium heat until nearly tender, about three minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove vegetables from pan. (Note: You can also leave the veggies in and pour the eggs right over them but I remove them and do the next steps first so the frittata doesn’t stick to the pan.)

Add salt and pepper to eggs, then stir. (If using herbs, add them now.) Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in skillet on medium-high heat until bubbly. When oil is very hot, pour egg mixture into pan. As edges cook, lift up with a spatula and tilt pan so uncooked egg mixture runs underneath. Continue until eggs are no longer runny. (It will still be slightly soft.)

Preheat broiler on high. Spoon vegetables evenly over egg. Sprinkle cheese or place dollops over entire pan. Put pan in oven under broiler flame and immediately reduce to low. Broil about 3 minutes, checking occasionally. Frittata is done when the edges are brown and the cheese is bubbly (or soft for goat cheese).

Remove from oven and let set about a minute. Cut into eight slices and serve.

Cooking over a campfire? Just place foil on over the pan to cook the top of the frittata.

Spring Lavash Pizza

I call it Spring Lavash Pizza because the recipe was inspired by one main ingredient that’s harvested in the spring: stinging nettles. Which I turned into Stinging Nettles Pesto. (Wow, is that ever good!) My batch yielded about two cups so I froze some of it and then wondered what I would use the rest for.

As it turns out, the local greenhouse tomatoes were ripe at the Holland Farmers Market last Saturday (and I’ve been dying for fresh tomatoes since last November!). So I opted for an easy lavash pizza, which is made with a Bill-friendly lavash (flatbread) base from Sami’s Bakery.

After toasting the bottom of the lavash on a griddle, I smeared the pesto on the lavash, then added sliced tomatoes and kalamata olives.

I sprinkled the pizza with salt and pepper, added some grated Pecorino cheese, drizzled it with olive oil and broiled it for about three minutes on low.

This makes a wonderful light dinner or a small plate to share. And it’s full of superfood antioxidants from the nettles!

Stinging Nettles Pesto

The first time I came across stinging nettles I was in a friend’s back yard and he said to stay away from them or I’ll be very uncomfortable when they sting and burn my skin. Then I heard an herbalist talk about how she forages for them all around Grand Rapids, Michigan. To many people, they’re a weed and a bad memory. Others use nettles for medicinal purposes. Some even consider them a superfood. When I heard the herbalist talk about her passion for cooking nettles, I thought I’d try them sometime.

Photo via Wikipedia

Recently, they were on the spring menu at Salt of the Earth, one of my favorite local restaurants. I had them as a side dish–like sautéed greens–with pork. They tasted a lot like spinach! When my CSA farmer at Mud Lake Farm emailed me that she was offering nettles in our delivery last week, I knew I had to give them a try at home. They were delivered in a plastic bag along with the order of greens Bill and I usually get.

I stuck them in the fridge for a day or two until I found a recipe that sounded good. Ultimately, I settled on a pesto, inspired by two bloggers who had posted their recipes online: Jess Thomson and Michael Ruhlman.

With about 3/4 of a pound of nettles, I wasn’t sure exactly how to vary the quantities in their recipes, but I listed my approximate measurements below. (I hate measuring!) The main differences in the recipes were that I used pine nuts like Jess did, but Pecorino like Michael did (since Bill can eat sheep’s cheese but not pasteurized cow’s cheese.) It was so easy to make.

The key is NOT to touch the nettles until they are cooked. These are the tools I recommend using: rubber gloves, scissors, and tongs.

I put a large pot of salted water on the stove with the flame on high. When it was boiling rapidly, I donned the rubber gloves as a precaution, then used the scissors to cut the bag open. I also used the scissors to trim the woody stems from the nettles. Then I took the tongs and put the nettles into the pot.

After boiling for three minutes to remove the chemical that makes them sting, I put them in an ice bath, as Michael suggests on his blog. This cools them quickly so you can keep moving with your recipe.

Then I put them in a colander, cut off more of the thicker stems, and chopped them coarsely.

Then came the fun part. All of the following ingredients went into a food processor along with the nettles:

5 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

Juice from half a lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1/3 cup Pecorino cheese, grated

1/2 tsp. salt

Ground black pepper to taste

I processed the mixture for a couple of minutes until well blended. And what I got was pesto. Just like basil pesto or spinach pesto, with lots of antioxidants. My recipe yielded about two cups…..plenty to freeze for later! Watch what I use the pesto for in my next blog post.

Chez Marcita Presents: Raw Milk Butter

Can you imagine the doors that were opened when Bill and I learned that he could eat butter made from raw milk? For years, he’s had an allergy to cow-dairy products. But a friend of ours learned that pasteurization is what causes the allergic reaction for many people, including her son. So when we had the opportunity to try raw milk, and found out Bill’s system could handle it, it meant more options on the menu. Ice cream! Butter! Buttermilk! Now we’re making butter with the raw milk we get from our local cow share program. Watch this video on how to make butter from raw milk. It’s simple and easy, and a decadent treat to have on hand.

From My Mother’s Recipe Box: Bible Cake

I like what Auntie Bowman wrote on the back of this recipe card to my mother: “Have fun figuring this out some stormy day.” Perhaps it’s a good exercise for family gatherings over Easter weekend, too (storm or no storm!). If you look closely, my mother wrote the answer for each ingredient riddle in red pencil, but there are a few I can’t even read on the original version. If you own a Bible, it’s time to get it out and solve the riddles from My Mother’s Recipe Box!

Chez Marcita Presents: St. Paddy’s Lamb Stew

I’m not Irish, but I love lamb. What could be better for St. Patrick’s Day than lamb stew? Join Bill and me in the kitchen as we create this wheat-free, dairy-free, corn-free one-pot meal. Find the recipe on page 40 of my cookbook, Nothing to Sneeze At: Main Dishes for People with Allergies.

Chez Marcita Presents: Bill’s Fab Meatloaf

I already posted Bill’s meatloaf recipe a few years ago on Life Is Fare, but now you can see the chef in action as he prepares this cozy comfort food. It’s wheat-free, corn-free, and dairy-free, and made with grassfed beef and pastured pork. Happy food heaven!

Winter Tomato Soup by Martha Rose Shulman

Photo via The New York Times

One of my favorite writers for The New York Times is Martha Rose Shulman, who always seems to come up with something yummy in her column Recipes for Health. Check out this week’s recipe called Winter Tomato Soup with Bulgur, a simple, Mediterranean vegetarian soup that’s quick to make. Martha tells us that you can make this a day ahead and reheat.

And I suggest—if you have a wheat allergy—try substituting quinoa for bulgur. I would add it at the same point in which the bulgur would go in, and then cook the soup for about 12 minutes, which is about how long it takes to cook quinoa.

If you try it with the quinoa, let me know how it turns out!

Winter Tomato Soup with Bulgur

Serves 4 to 6

1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes in juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional if desired for drizzling

2 medium onions, preferably red onions, finely chopped

Salt to taste

2 to 4 garlic cloves, to taste, minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup coarse (#3) bulgur

5 cups water (more to taste)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

2 ounces feta, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

Pulse the tomatoes to a coarse puree in a food processor. Heat the olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat and add the onion and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is very soft but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly, about 10 minutes. Add the bulgur, water, and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 to 45 minutes, until the bulgur is soft and the soup thick and fragrant. Add pepper to taste and adjust salt.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with mint and feta. Drizzle on a little olive oil if desired. Serve hot.

Chez Marcita Presents: Coq au Vin

I’m not sure who started the big-meal-on-Sunday tradition but it works well for Bill and me. It’s the one day we generally don’t go anywhere so we have plenty of time to cook in the kitchen together. I love making a one-pot meal in the oven those days, especially in the wintertime.

This demo on Coq au Vin is from our cooking videos series. It’s a variation on the recipe in my cookbook Nothing to Sneeze At, which is a variation on Julia Child’s recipe for Coq au Vin. No wheat, no corn, no dairy. I’ll show you how to make this easy chicken-in-a-pot-with wine. And I’ll even show you how to cut up a chicken!

From My Mother’s Recipe Box: Sweets for the Sweet

Looking for something new to make for Valentine’s Day this year? I found two recipes in My Mother’s Recipe Box that look easy, fun, and delicious. The first, called Yum Yum Gems, is from my great-aunt Lily. These are actually cupcakes that you could eat with or without icing. The second is called Torte Dessert, which you make in a jelly roll pan. Enjoy the sweetness of Valentine’s Day!