Weekend with the Girls

RaChelle asked me for two recipes that I made when they were down earlier this month and I thought I should post them on Foodie Friends....because I am a slacker. I love fritattas a lot - they are easy and fun to make and you can just put almost anything in them. Oh, and both recipes are from Epicurious.

Leek and Asparagus Frittata
Ingredients
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 cup chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)
1 12-ounce bunch thin asparagus, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 cup sliced stemmed shiitake mushrooms
8 large omega-3 eggs
1 cup diced Fontina cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation
Preheat broiler. Melt butter in heavy broilerproof 10-inch-diameter nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and sauté 4 minutes. Add asparagus and shiitake mushrooms, sprinkle lightly with salt, and sauté until tender, about 6 minutes. Whisk eggs, 3/4 cup Fontina cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl. Add egg mixture to skillet; fold gently to combine. Cook until almost set. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Fontina cheese and Parmesan cheese over. Broil until frittata is puffed and cheese begins to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Notes: I hate mushrooms, so I left those out. I also added a bit of smoked salmon to about 2/3 of the fritatta - just dropped them on top - some of our group likes salmon and some don't.

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries (7 1/2 oz)

Special equipment: a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups; 12 foil or paper muffin liners

Preparation
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in a bowl until combined well. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Notes: these are my favorite muffins of all time.

Shaker Chicken and Noodle Soup

My mom and I made a double recipe of this soup over Christmas. We feed 8 people and had leftovers for later. It is quite the comfort soup.

Shaker Chicken and Noodle Soup
From: Carolyn (Mom) Marble Serves: 4

7 cups chicken stock
2 T dry vermouth
2 T butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz medium egg noodles -- we find these in the freezer section
6 T flour
2/3 cups water
1 cup diced cooked chicken

Combine 1 cup stock, vermouth, butter. Bring to boil and reduce to 1/4 cup. Stir in cream. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat remaining stock to boil. Add noodles, cook just until tender. Blend flour with water until smooth. Add to noodles/stock and stir. Boil 1-2 minutes.

Add cream mixture and chicken. Season to taste (my mom prefers white pepper, as the dish is mono-color) and serve.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

I'm trying to cook more and bake less in 2008-- but it doesn't mean I can't share one of my favorite cookie recipes . I have no self-control when it comes to these cookies.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1- 3 oz pkg cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 T grated lemon rind
1 egg
1 T lemon juice
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Blend ingredients. Shape into small balls (approx. 1 in) and place on baking sheet. Flatten with glass dipped in flour. Bake 8-10 mins. Do not overbake. Frosh while warm with glaze.

Glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 3-4 tsp milk until smooth. (You can use less milk and more lemon juice).

Indian Spiced Chickpea and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

At the risk of being the nerdy one who posts twice in a row, here we go. It's soup season (we're ignoring the fact that it was so warm here today that I went running outside. In shorts. And a tank top.), and I recently discovered a real winner. This soup is simple, warm, delicious, and healthy, and (because this is the true test of a great soup) even better the next day. I made it last week and took the last tiny bit to work today--my colleague finally asked for the recipe, since I was mmming and ahhhing so much.

This is straight from Rachael Ray, and it goes along with a pretty good Indian lamb chop dish, but the soup was the real winner. I have done a half batch for the two of us, and it yields just enough for one round of leftovers apiece.

Serves 4 as a first course
Ingredients:
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans chickpeas, drained
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground cardamom
1/2 t turmeric
salt and pepper
2 c chicken of vegetable stock
1 (28-oz) can fire roasted tomatoes*
1 cup plain yogurt
Warm pita, any flavor or variety, toasted

*note about the tomatoes: on the show, Rachael used crushed fire roasted tomatoes, but at my store they only sell diced fire roasted tomatoes (which are actually a new addition to the tomato aisle, thank goodness). I just popped them in the food processor for a couple seconds once I was done with the chickpeas and it comes out splendidly.

1. Heat a medium pot with the extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Grind the chickpeas and onion in food processor. Add to pot and cook 5 minutes to sweeten onion.

3. Season the chickpeas with cumin, cardamom, turmeric, salt and pepper. Stir in stock, then tomatoes.

4. Simmer soup 5-10 minutes to combine flavors. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and warm pita for dipping.

There you go! It's, like, 5 minutes of active cooking (unless you have a crappy food processor that requires babysitting...how old does it make me to want a new food processor for my birthday?). Seriously, just typing this up makes me want to go make a batch. Yum!

On another note, Marbs, we had your chicken couscous recipe again last week, and it was even better the second time!