Late Night Baked Frittata

 

During one of those late-night mother and son conversations yesterday about how nice the frittata was at the Kendal People's Cafe / PopUp Repair Workshop at the Castle Street Centre in Kendal, the son grinned and said, "frittatas are easy" and promptly vanished into the kitchen to make one.

He normally makes them in a cast iron frying pan on the stove, but this time he wanted to try a baked in the oven version to see how it worked.

Mother was drafted in to help: chopping onion and long red pepper into small pieces ready for a quick softening fry in the pan, and to crack eggs into the bowl without dropping the shell in as well (she failed!)

Son tackled the potatoes - nice fresh redskins that were just washed and sliced thinly, no need to peel them.

The end result was very tasty and proved that, yes, you can make frittata in the oven! Here's how...

Ingredients

800g of potatoes, washed and thinly sliced
9 eggs
1 large onion, finely chopped
½ long red pepper, finely chopped
approx 10cm of Aldi spicy chorizo or equivalent
Olive oil to fry the onion, pepper and chorizo in to start with
A couple of dashes of Cholula Chipotle sauce
Salt and pepper (optional)

Method

Firstly, put the olive oil into a frying pan and shallow fry the onion, pepper and chorizo for around 3 minutes or so, adding the cholula sauce and making sure everything is hot through.

Crack the eggs into a jug or bowl and lightly mix with a fork to break up the yolks.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sliced potatoes and the contents of the frying pan, pour mixture into a large baking dish (ours is approx 28cm x 17cm). Level it down, then pour the eggs over the mixture. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on the top (only a little!).

Bake in oven on Gas Mark 4 for 100 minutes (1hr 20mins).  Remove from oven and lightly sprinkle a small amount of black pepper over the surface, cut into portions and serve hot.

Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side dish.

Dairy-free Pastry-free Quiche - Easy Picture Recipe

One of the problems I have is pastry. I like it, it doesn't like me! Pastry tends to give me heartburn and acid reflux, so the hunt has been on for a substitute for pastry in some of our favourites dishes, quiche being one of them.

Whilst in Tesco recently I spotted a sign for a recipe for Elena's Cheeky Tortilla Quiche and thought it was worth a try... however, her recipe uses cheese and milk, both of which are no-no's for the dairy intolerant son of the family, so I went to experiment in the kitchen, and after three attempts, this was the result:

Dairy-free Pastry-free Quiche

INGREDIENTS:

1 plain tortilla wrap

4 medium eggs

sweetened soya milk - see below for quantity needed (we use Tesco sweetened soya milk)

2 large mushrooms sliced

1/2 small onion sliced into rings

4 sliced rings from a small green bell pepper 

100g sliced chorizo sausage (we use Aldi Spanish Spicy Chorizo Ring)

pinch ground nutmeg

1 green OXO cube

Equipment needed:

Quiche tray or flan dish 21.5cm / 8.5" diameter and 2.5cm / 1" deep internally

Frying pan or skillet

Measuring jug (at least 1/2 litre capacity)

Baking parchment

We used a ceramic quiche tray for baking, we tried the earlier version with a glass quiche tray and it didn't work as well as the ceramic one did, due to the way ceramic absorbs and holds the heat we think.  We have not tried this with a metal quiche tray.

Step 1...

Brush the base of the quiche tray with a very small amount of oil to help prevent the lining paper from moving once ingredients go into it.  Cut a circle of baking parchment as a tray liner making sure it stands a good inch above the rim of the tray to prevent accidental leakage into your oven.

Step 2... 

Place the tortilla flat inside the tray, curving it to fit the tray as below (the yellow marks are the oil showing through the parchment).

Step 3... 

Arrange the onion rings on the tortilla.

Step 4...

Arrange the mushroom slices on the onion rings.

Step 5...

Add the pepper rings even round the tray on top of the mushrooms and onion.

Step 6...

Put the chorizo slices into a dry frying pan or skillet (no oil needed) and heat it until the oil in the sausage leaks into the pan and the sausage is slightly browned underneath, turn over each slice and let it brown on the other side. It only takes 2-3 mins each side to do this.  

Step 7...

Whilst the chorizo is browning, crack the eggs into the measuring jug and mix gently with a fork to break up the yolk.  Add the crumbled OXO cube and a small pinch of nutmeg, then top up the egg mixture with the soya milk to around 450ml, mix soya milk into egg with fork and leave to stand for a few minutes.

Step 8...

Remove browned chorizo in frying pan / skillet from heat. It should look like this:

Step 9...

Arrange chorizo slices around the quiche tray between the pepper slices.

Step 10...

Carefully pour egg / soya milk mixture into the tortilla case making sure not to disturb the layout of your filling.

Step 11...

Bake on top shelf of oven for 50-60 minutes on Gas mark 6 / 200 °C / 400°F.  Test with a skewer or knife point to make sure filling is cooked (tip: if it comes out wet it needs longer!)

Step 12...

Slice and eat!  We found it is really nice hot from the oven but if you leave it to cool and eat cold later it is just as good, the texture is nice and dense without being chewy. 

Notes:

The original Tesco recipes calls for 4 tortillas which in our quiche tray would have left no room for the filling! The single tortilla works very well and the parchment provides the leakage protection that the original recipe uses the other tortillas for. 

If you use a different size quiche tray you will need to adjust the quantities slightly to make sure your tray is filled properly. 

Vegan & Non-Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownies (V)

It's been a while since we added a new recipe, but that doesn't mean we've been idle. Oh no, we have been busy testing out new ideas, and have finally succeeded with a chocolate orange brownie recipe that we really like.

The bonus with this recipe is that there are two versions: one for those who are fine with dairy & eggs, and one which is fine for vegans and people with dairy and egg intolerances and allergies.

The secret to the fab taste is a new-to-us product called Sweet Freedom ® Choc Shot with Orange Spice which we found in our local Tesco. It comes in three flavours: Chocolate, Chocolate with Orange Spice, and Chocolate with Coconut. We went with the Orange Spice version! Some of the great things about Sweet Freedom ® Choc Shot with Orange Spice are that it has no chemical processing, no additives, no preservatives, no GMO’s, no gluten, no dairy, no soya, no eggs, no nuts and no refined sugar. It is also Vegan (Registered with the Vegan Society) and is made in the UK.

For both versions we used a half and half mixture of plain flour and rye flour, which gives a different texture to the brownies than just using all plain flour.

Alex's Chocolate Orange Brownies

Traditional Recipe

4oz soft brown sugar

225g butter or hard margarine

60g cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract in oil

4 eggs

112g plain flour

113g rye flour

½  tsp baking powder

½  tsp salt

2 tbsp Sweet Freedom ® Choc Shot with Orange Spice

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl in the order in the recipe. Once thoroughly mixed tip the mixture into a lined baking tin approx 20cm x 30cm (8" x 12"). Bake in oven at Gas Mark 4 / 180C for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 

Eat warm with custard, or cold with whipped cream or ice cream for a delicious pudding, or enjoy it just on its own!

Alex's Chocolate Orange Brownies

Vegan Version

4oz soft brown sugar

225g soya spread

60g cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract in oil

270g apple sauce (we use ALDI own brand)

112g plain flour

113g rye flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp Sweet Freedom ® Choc Shot with Orange

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl in the order in the recipe. The apple sauce replaces the eggs in the traditional recipe at the rate of 1/4 cup apple sauce = 1 medium egg.  Once thoroughly mixed tip the mixture into a lined baking tin approx 20cm x 30cm (8" x 12"). Bake in oven at Gas Mark 4 / 180C for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.