Week 1, Recipes 1 & 2, 2010: Ham and Fontina Frittata & Potatoes and Green Chiles

Since I brought multiple cookbooks with me and got a new one for Christmas from Rashan, I decided to use them to make breakfast.

Ham & Fontina Frittata (Rachael Ray recipe)

• 1 pound ham steak, from packaged meats case of market
• 1 tablespoon (1 turn around the pan) olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 12 extra large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk or half-and-half
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups (8 to 10 ounces) Danish Fontina cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Trim any connective tissue and all fat off ham steak. Mince the meat into very small bits and set aside.

Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet with oven safe handle over moderate heat. Add oil and 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet and coat sides and bottom of pan evenly with melted butter and oil mixture. Add ham bits to the pan and saute 3 minutes to brown them a bit and render some of the moisture in the meat.

Whisk together eggs and milk or half-and-half. Break off tiny pieces of remaining 1 tablespoon butter and drop them into beaten eggs. Season eggs with a little salt and pepper and whisk again to combine. Pour eggs into skillet over ham. Stir eggs gently to evenly distribute bits of ham throughout the eggs.

As eggs set, lift up bottom skin that has formed and allow uncooked eggs to settle. Keep doing this as eggs brown until the eggs begin to set. Transfer the pan to the oven, and allow the frittata to cook 10 minutes, or until golden on top. Add a generous layer of shredded fontina to the frittata and leave in oven another 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and begins to bubble and brown. Serve frittata wedges directly from the skillet with a pie server.

Results: I used Christmas ham and Colby cheese I had leftover to make this.   I also used 1/2 of the eggs and eyeballed the milk since there were just two of us eating.  DELISH!  Loved it!  And it was even good lukewarm!  Glad to have leftovers to eat another day! 

Potatoes and Green Chiles (Papas con Rajas, Rick Bayless recipe)

Ingredients

2 small (about 6 ounces total) boiling potatoes like the red-skinned ones, halved
1 1/2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
3 medium, fresh chiles poblanos, roasted and peeled
Salt, about 1/2 teaspoon
3/4 cup (about 3 ounces) crumbled Mexican queso fresco or other fresh cheese like mild domestic goat or farmer's cheese.

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1.   The potatoes.   Simmer the potatoes in salted water to cover until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool under running water, peel and cut into 1/4-inch dice.

2.    Fry the mixture.   Heat the lard or oil in a heavy medium-size skillet over medium. Add the onion and potato, and fry, stirring regularly to ensure that nothing sticks to the pan, until the mixture is nicely browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
While the potatoes are browning, seed the chiles and slice them into 1/8-inch strips. Stir them into the potato mixture, season with salt, remove from the fire and stir in the cheese. Scrape into a small dish and cool before using.


Results: I made this without the cheese because we had it in the frittata.  I also used a mix of butter and olive oil to fry the potatoes.  I make potatoes similar to this-- the boil then fry method is AWESOME.  I got it from my friend Morgan's mom.  Best breakfast potatoes I'd ever had.  Since I used raw jalapeno, I just stirred it in with the potatoes and onions in the skillet.  I also used 5 or 6 potatoes because I knew we'd like this one... and we did!  Yum!!