Frittata with Caramelized Garlic, Squash & Aleppo

Frittata with Caramelized Garlic, Butternut Squash & Aleppo

One thing I get asked about all the time is how to incorporate spices into your every day foods. I write here a lot about “exotic” spices or ingredients, and the reality is I do cook with them all of the time. It doesn’t have to be a special occasion. It doesn’t even have to be an overtly ethnic dish. I like the foods everyone else does, but I tend to add a little something extra to them.

This frittata with caramelized garlic (like savoury candy!) and butternut squash is the perfect example. Wait, I need to reiterate how ridiculously delicious caramelized garlic is. This recipe is exact, but I encourage you to double the garlic portion and save half for other dishes later in the week – it’s like balsamic-y, glazed, nutty goodness and the cloves are fantastic on a salad, as part of a cheese plate, or worked into a pork or lamb chop sauce.

In any case, back to spices…here I use Aleppo chili flakes for heat. These are my go-to-on-top-of-pizza chili flake and just have a really sweet, mild flavor. Pairing this with a bit of smoked Spanish paprika brings a real richness to the dish; the scent as it’s cooking is maddening (particularly if you are starving like I was when I made this).

I love the idea of working a fall squash into breakfast, and this is a fantastic dish to entertain with for a brunch. I used grana padano cheese here because it’s delicate, and there are so many outspoken flavors here: the caramelized garlic adds that savoury / sweet quality as does the butternut squash, the chilis and paprika a bit of smokiness and heat and the scallions that bright finish. This is definitely one of my Sunday morning fall faves…Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8

Caramelized garlic:

15 – 20 whole garlic cloves

¾ cup milk

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tsps olive oil

2 tsps balsamic vinegar

½ cup water

2 tsps sugar

pinch salt

pinch Aleppo chili flakes

Frittata:

2 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into a ½” dice

olive oil

salt

freshly ground black pepper

10 eggs

½ cup crème fraiche

2 tsps pimentón de la Vera (smoked Spanish paprika)

1 tbsp Aleppo chili flakes

1 cup grana padano cheese, grated*

½ cup mozzarella, shredded

2 tbsps scallions or chives, green parts only, finely chopped

1 ¼ tsp salt

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375° F.

In a small saucepan, add whole garlic cloves and milk. Bring up to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes. Be careful it doesn’t boil over!

Strain and rinse garlic cloves. Wipe out saucepan and place back over medium heat. Add butter and oil. When hot, add garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Add remaining caramelized garlic ingredients and simmer until almost all of the liquid is reduced and the cloves are dry. Swirl the garlic in the pan from time to time during this process to keep from sticking and to make sure the cloves cook evenly. Strain off any excess liquid and set aside.

In an ovenproof skillet, toss together the squash cubes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until squash is fork tender.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients, reserving ¼ cup of the grated cheese. Add to the hot skillet with the squash. Top with the remaining cheese and a sprinkle of salt and place back in the oven. Cook at this temperature for 15 minutes and increase the temperature to 425° F for another 5 minutes. Serve warm.

*You can substitute in Parmigiano Reggiano or any other grated hard cheese you like.

Crab & Callaloo Quiche

So I’ve been flushing out dishes for an event for April. The event is for Heifer International and honors their Pass on the Gift tradition, specifically for their Haiti projects. It’s an incredible organization that promotes sustainable solutions for impoverished families worldwide, and I’m really excited to be involved with them.

I’m designing some Haitian-inspired dishes for the event, and this one comes from a popular West Indian side called callaloo, made from the eponymous greens. The greens are the leaves of the dasheen bush or taro plant and are also used in Pacific Island and Asian cooking. They can be found at West Indian markets but swiss chard, spinach and even collards make a great substitute here.

Callaloo, the side, is thick and stew-like with roots tracing back to West Africa. The greens are flavored with salt pork, shallots or onions, garlic, ginger, habanero pepper and bouillon. The mixture is roughly blended and coconut milk is used to thin it out. Oftentimes, crab is added, and it’s such a rich, distinctive dish. I was eating a spinach and bacon quiche one day, and the callaloo just mentally translated. I had to see what would happen if I changed its form.

My husband went a bit nuts for this, I have to admit. He grew up eating callaloo and couldn’t get over how the flavor of the dish could transplant into a quiche. The greens, the crab, a salty porkiness, garlicky and heat from the chilies – it’s an exciting combination. Oh, and this crust recipe, though involved as most tart shells are, is pretty easy and foolproof as far as crusts go – crunchy, buttery and neutral (could definitely work for sweet applications). It’s my go-to crust. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Crust:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes

1 egg

1 tsp water

Filling:

1 slice thick-cut bacon, cut into small dice

½ habanero pepper, seeded and ribs removed, minced

1 small shallot, cut into a small dice

¼ tsp minced ginger

2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch callaloo, spinach, or swiss chard, roughly chopped, blanched and squeezed of excess water* (equivalent to 1/3rd cup cooked)

¼ lb peekytoe, lump, or jumbo lump crabmeat

1 scallion, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped

1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

1 egg

2 egg yolks

3/4 cups coconut milk

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375° F.

For the crust, in a food processor, pulse together flour, salt and sugar. Scatter the cold cubes of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in and the texture looks like sandy peas or a coarse meal. In a small bowl, lightly beat together the egg and water. Add in increments, pulsing, until the dough sticks together. There will still be a lot of crumbly bits that haven’t incorporated – that’s okay.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface or a piece of parchment paper. LIGHTLY, knead the dough to make sure everything is incorporated. I literally just press it together a bit. Place into plastic wrap and create a flattened disk. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours (and up to a day).

On a floured work surface or in between pieces of parchment paper (with flour), carefully roll out the dough with a rolling pin until uniform thickness and large enough for a 9 or 9 ½ inch tart shell. Carefully transfer to the greased tart shell and press carefully into the sides. Try not to stretch the dough at all. Trim any excess edges and dock or prick holes all over the surface of the dough with a fork. Wrap shell in plastic wrap and freeze for a minimum of a half hour.

Remove tart shell from freezer and plastic wrap and place on a baking sheet. Fit a piece of parchment paper on the surface of the dough and weight down with dried beans or baking weights. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove baking weights or beans and parchment paper and bake for another 10 minutes to brown. Let cool slightly.

Turn oven temperature down to 350° F.

For the filling, heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and brown. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Turn heat down to medium-low, and add pepper, shallot and ginger. Add a touch of salt to draw out the moisture. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until shallots are translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant. Remove to a bowl and let cool.

Add to the shallot mixture, the browned bacon, blanched callaloo, crab, scallion, thyme and cilantro. Mix thoroughly and season to taste.

In a separate bowl, beat together egg, egg yolks and coconut milk and lightly season.

Spread crab and callaloo mixture evenly over the bottom of the tart shell. Pour egg / coconut milk mixture evenly on top. Bake for 25 minutes. The edges should be firm and the middle slightly jiggly.

*Callaloo should NOT be eaten raw. It contains a toxin, calcium oxalate, that can cause itching and constriction of the throat. Always cook callaloo thoroughly before consuming. To blanch the callaloo or other greens, bring water in a medium-sized pot up to a boil. Add a great deal of salt. Also, prepare an ice bath (a bowl with ice and cold water). Add callaloo to pot. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Strain and plunge into the ice bath to stop cooking. Remember to wring out any excess water from the greens.

Scones with Sorrel Flower Jelly

When someone says “sorrel” these days, what typically springs to mind is the green leafy vegetable, or herb to some, that has trendily showed up on menus in the past few years. Though it might be delicious in jelly form, that is definitely not the sorrel in this recipe…I’m actually referring to the sorrel flower I mentioned in a previous post that’s used to make a popular West Indian drink.

The first time I tried sorrel was with my husband at the Trinidadian-Chinese spot in Brooklyn I wrote about a few months back. It’s a blood-red drink – tart, sweet, floral with an underlying taste of cloves. Unusually delicious. The sorrel flower is actually hibiscus, so it’s not a far stretch from your basic hibiscus tea. And similar to tea, sorrel is made from steeping the flower with sugar and spices. A similar drink is also widely consumed in parts of Africa where it’s known as roselle orbissap rouge in Senegal or even karkadeh in Egypt. Jamaicans use ginger to flavor the sorrel, but you know I had to stay true to the Trinidadians, so I stuck with their tradition of cinnamon and clove.

I actually trekked over to the (deep) BK to a small West Indian market to find dried sorrel petals for this recipe, which was totally unnecessary I found out during my last trip to some of my favorite ethnic grocers in the city. You can typically find the dried form in health food stores and in various ethnic markets.

In any case, a jelly is a mildly unusual but interesting use of sorrel and, it turns out, delicious. How cool is that – to make your own homemade and seasonal jellies and jams. This one, I like to layer with a little mascarpone or Devonshire cream on the scone to balance out the sweetness. The scone is buttery and delectable but plain Jane as far as scones go, a great basic scone recipe to which you can add any variation of ingredients. That was purposeful – I really wanted the flavor of sorrel to shine though. Enjoy.

Ingredients

Yields 6 ½ cups jelly and approximately a dozen scones (depending on size)

Sorrel Jelly:

4 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups dried sorrel flower

1 cinnamon stick

6 whole cloves

6 cups granulated sugar

1 3 oz pouch liquid pectin (I used Certo brand)

Basic Scone:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 stick butter, cold, cut into cubes

2 eggs, cold

½ cup heavy cream, cold

Procedure

For the jelly, bring water to a boil with the cinnamon stick and cloves. Add sorrel and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit overnight. In certain places, sorrel may even be allowed to sit for several days to achieve the desired flavor.

Strain sorrel mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add sugar, stir to dissolve, and bring back up to a boil. Add liquid pectin and boil for 1 minute . Be very careful at this point – it easily boils over. Remove from the heat and immediately pour into sterilized jars. Jars, prior to being filled, should be heated in a pot in simmering water and kept hot until filled with the jelly.

Although the sugar helps preserve the jelly, processing the jars in a boiling water bath after filling with jelly will help seal the jars for longer preservation. Place jars back into the water pot and make sure that the water covers the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Boil for 5 minutes, remove, and cool. Unopened, the jellies will be good for about 1 year. Once opened, the shelf life is about 3 weeks.

For the scones, preheat the oven to 375? F. Combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a stand mixer. Add diced, cold butter and mix on low until the texture resembles sandy peas. It’s important that the ingredients stay cold as this creates a flakier texture for the resulting scone. Combine eggs and cold, heavy cream and pour into the mixer bowl slowly with the mixer on low. Be careful not to overmix – you just want the dough to come together. Overmixing will also result in a tougher, less flakier scone.

Roll out dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin until about ½ “ thick and cut out with whatever cutter shape/size you like. I say approximately a dozen scones because it varies with how you choose to size your scones. You can also brush with an egg wash at this point if you like to make the tops deeper brown and shiny. Bake for about 15-18 minutes until the scones are uniformly golden brown. Cool on a rack for another 20 minutes or so.

Serve scones warm with a bit of the jelly and some cream.

Quick Bread with Bacon, Medjool Dates & Nigella Seeds

I was reading this article in the New York Times on what the French call a cake salé, and it inspired me to create my own exotic version. A cake salé is close to what we call a quick bread or a quick loaf in America (think zucchini bread, cornbread, or even muffins).

The main ingredients of any quick bread are flour, baking powder (and/or soda), fat, eggs, and liquid; the flavor is really up to the imagination. It’s chemically leavened, so it’s much faster to make than traditional bread, which requires a whole process leavening with yeast. This loaf is incredibly easy to make and really versatile. I’ve been serving it warm for breakfast, but it would also make a delicious lunch paired with a simple salad.

I mentioned to a girlfriend the inclusion of dates in this bread, and I got a wrinkled nose reaction. She believed dates to be the shriveled up nonsense that’s in trail mix. At that point, she hadn’t tried Medjool dates, which are amazing – plump, sweet, and creamy with thick, soft flesh and a taste closer to caramel and honey than to fruit. (She’s now addicted). They are also incredibly nutrient dense, high in fiber and an excellent source of potassium. They are eaten throughout the Middle East, to break a fast or served with a thick, Arabic coffee at the beginning of a meal.

For this recipe, I couldn’t get the idea of bacon out of my mind. I’m such a fan of sweet and savoury – it’s a richness of flavor that can’t be matched – and bacon tastes fantastic with a hint of sweetness. With the caramelized leeks, the honey of the dates, and the slightly bitter, thyme-like bite of the nigella seeds, the flavor of the bread is really well-rounded – great as a stand alone but also wonderful as an accompaniment to a larger meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 1 8½” x 4¼” x 2¾” loaf pan

4 slices bacon, chopped

3 tbsps butter

1 leek, white and light green only, thinly sliced

1 ½ tsps nigella seeds

salt

3 dates, skinned and pitted*

¼ cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 ¼ cups flour

1 ½ tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Add bacon and cook until just starting to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl to cool.

Heat another, clean skillet on low. Add butter. When foam subsides, add leeks and stir to coat completely with the fat. Add nigella seeds and a few pinches of salt to draw out the moisture. Cook on low, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes until the leeks are well caramelized. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to bowl with the bacon.

Combine dates, oil, eggs, and milk in a blender or food processor. Blend for 30 seconds on low or pulse until dates are finely chopped. This helps to distribute the dates in the batter. The goal isn’t to have them pureed, just chopped a bit more finely, so they don’t clump in one place in the batter. Add this liquid to bacon and leeks, and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and whisk so that all of the ingredients are well combined. Fold in the liquid to the dry ingredients using a spatula. Do not overmix. You just want everything to come together. It should be a wet, sticky, clumpy dough – like muffin batter.

Pour batter into a greased 8 ½ “x 4 ½” loaf pan. Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

* To remove the skin from the dates, simply heat water to a boil. Pour over dates and let sit for 1 minute. Carefully remove from the water, and peel off skin – it should slide off easily.

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Frittata with Caramelized Garlic, Butternut Squash & Aleppo

Crab & Callaloo Quiche

Scones with Sorrel Flower Jelly

Quick Bread with Bacon, Medjool Dates & Nigella Seeds