Chicken and Mushroom Frittata

A friend of mine, who is also a writer (and she knows who she is), was telling me that cooking is a way for her to clear her head and be thoughtful about what she is going to write.

For me, it seems that the food is the driving end of the bargain.

My life is filled with stories surrounding the food. Food seems to be the center of so much and is the cornerstone of many of my memories, especially distant ones from people no longer with me.

My mother was a meticulous cook with over 2,000 cookbooks in her personal library (more than the Betty Crocker library in Minnesota with a full time librarian, she liked to brag). She would spend time actually reading the books, from cover to cover and seemed to know just what book to grab to cook whatever struck her fancy. This was all before Google and the Food Network. Julia Child was her inspiration and we watched the show on PBS religiously. My mother experimented with Coq Au Vin, pate, trussing chickens and poaching fish--things that were not common fare on most of my contemporaries dinner tables. At a time when Campbell's Soup was the mainstays for most, my mother was making granola and whole wheat bread that made me wince when I found it in my lunch box. How I longed for the soft and squishy Wonderbread my school mates found for lunch.

There weren't a lot of repeat meals in our house. And no experiments... everything needed to follow a neat map of a proven recipe. I don't ever remember something that was a flop or inedible. Unlike at my house where I take 4 things and figure out how to put them together. I think the next food network star should go from kitchen to kitchen at 5pm and have dinner from what is there ready on the table by 6. Welcome to my life. I suppose if I spent the time to plan, that wouldn't be the way I look at things but then I wouldn't have that chef school market basket challenge to keep my brain cells alive, each and every day.


So for lunch today, I did a favorite go-to meal, a fritta. You can take just about anything and pour eggs over it, add a bit of cheese and broil it. Cut in slices with salsa, what more could someone need? (And we have some for tomorrow as well!)

Chicken and Mushroom Fritta

mixture of mushrooms, chopped coarsly (about 1.5 or 2 cups)
1T butter
1/2 small spanish onion sliced thin
3/4 cup cooked chicken, in small chunks
1/2 c mozerella cheese, shredded
1/4 c cheddar cheese, shredded
1 c broccoli florettes, broken or chopped into small pieces
5 eggs w 1T cold water beaten until a nice sunny yellow
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the mushrooms and onions with the butter until the liquid is gone and there is a bit of brown on the mushrooms. Sprinkle in the broccoli and the chicken, cover to steam for about 2 minutes to give the broccoli a head start and warm the chicken.
Sprinkle the cheeses evenly over and pour the eggs over the top covering everything. Cook over low to medium heat until almost set. Place pan in the oven under the broiler and cook until puffed and golden brown on the top.

Remove from oven, let sit for a few minutes and then cut into slices and top with salsa if desired

Nora's Irish Soda Bread

Dry Ingredients

*3½ Cups flour
*4 Teaspoons baking powder
*1/3 Cup sugar
*1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
*8 oz. Raisins, softened (soak in hot water, drain)
*1/2 Teaspoon salt
*1 Tablespoon caraway seeds


Wet Ingredients

*2 Eggs beaten
*1 Cup sour cream
*1/2 Cup buttermilk
*3 Tablespoons melted butter



Combine wet and dry ingredients, knead together, put in a greased and floured 9" pie pan.

Bake 55-60 minutes at 350°


AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This will make one big loaf or two modest sized loaves.

Mushroom Ravioli

Filling Ingredients
1/2 sweet onion diced fine
2 cloves garlic grated
1/4 cup butter
2T olive oil
1 cup button mushrooms
1 cup oyster mushrooms
1 cup shitake mushroom
1 cup baby bella mushrooms
(or 4 cups of the varieties and mix you prefer)
sprinkling of kosher salt


1 c ricotta cheese (part skim is okay)
1/4 c Parmesan cheese grated not really fine
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese grated
1 egg, beaten
fresh ground pepper
fresh grated nutmeg
1T fresh cilantro

round dumpling skins made with eggs (the yellow ones)

Butter/sage sauce
4T butter
5 sage leaves, rolled and sliced thin
1 garlic clove chopped fine

Chop the mushrooms so the pieces are about the size of peas. Dice the onion to the same size. Melt butter and olive oil, add onions and garlic. Add mushrooms and cook until the liquid is released. Sprinkle with salt, set mushroom mixture aside to cool.

Mix ricotta, other cheeses and beaten egg together. Add pepper, nutmeg and cilantro.
Mix in cooled mushroom mixture and mix until blended.

Place one dumpling wrapper on the counter and using water, make a ring along the outside edge with your finger. Put about 1T filling in the center and cover with a second dumpling skin. Press the edges to seal and make sure to remove the extra air from between the layers. Place these on a cookie sheet with saran wrap to separate the layers. Chill for an hour before cooking.

Using a high sided saute pan (deep enough water and lots of surface area) bring salted water to a boil. Gently slip in 6-8 dumpings into the boiling water making sure they don't stick together or stick to the bottom. Cook 4-5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon (drain well) and place on serving plate or individual plates. Cook the next batch.

While the pasta is boiling, make the butter sage sauce. Melt the butter, add garlic and sage. After the butter comes to a boil, remove from heat. Spoon over cooked ravioli as you plate them. Serve with a nice chopped salad.

Easy Rice Pudding

1 box vanilla pudding mix (not instant)
1 egg
2 cups plus 2T cold milk
3/4 cup left over rice

mix milk, egg and pudding mix together until well blended. Add rice and break up into individual grains as you stir it. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a complete boil. It will thicken more as it cools. Pour into serving dishes or just spoon into your mouth.

Best Drop Biscuits

- makes 12 biscuits -

Ingredients
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

Procedure
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°F. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.

2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Scalloped potatoes and ham

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2.5 cups milk
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
1 sweat onion like Vidalia, thinly sliced
6 large russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 lb chunked left-over ham
2 cups grated monterray jack cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a baking dish. In a saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium high heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat and whisk in milk. Return pan to heat and bring to a simmer while stirring. When sauce has thickened remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg and set aside. In a skillet, cook onions in melted butter until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Spread 1/3 of the white sauce in bottom of baking dish and top with half of the potatoes. Spread out half of the onions, ham, cheese And another third of the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Continue layering ingredients, ending with the remaining cheese on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden and bubbly and a knife inserts into the potatoes easily.

the best chicken fried rice

1 cup cooked chicken cut into small cubes or shreds (use leftover roasted chicken or precooked chicken like from Costco.
4 cups cooked rice (either cook early in day or leftover from the day before)
1/2 c shredded carrots
3 green onions sliced thin (use green ends)
1/2 sweet onion coarsley diced
1 c cabbage coarsley chopped
4 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
4 T olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 eggs beaten

heat 1 T oil in a wok or large frying pan, saute the onion and the cabbage. Add the shredded carrots and green onions and saute for a minute or two. Add 1 T soy sauce, and set veggies aside. Add frozen peas to the bowl to start the defrosting.

heat another T of oil and add the chicken and 1 clove of garlic, minced fine. saute until warmed and a little crispy, add 1 T soy sauce. Remove into bowl with veggies.

Heat 1 tsp oil, add beaten egg and cook until set. Flip, cook reverse. Remove from heat, roll and slice into strips, add to bowl with other stuff.

Add 2 T oil, swirl around the pan and add the rice, make sure to break it up with a spoon. Add 2 T soy sauce and drizzle 1T sesame oil over. Keep mixing and stirring until heated through. Add the bowl full of other stuff and toss to mix.

Serve immediately...yum, yum