Potato Frittata

I found this recipe a few weeks ago, and have been itching for a good morning to try it for brunch. The problem lies in the fact that most mornings I'm not home to make brunch, let alone enjoy it. I leave for work every weekday morning before 7, on Saturdays I've been trying to get to the barn which means I need to leave the house no later than 10:30, and Sundays I'm working at the gym at 9. See what I mean? The only brunches I'll be having for awhile will be at places like The Restaurant or Ball Square Cafe. If I make it myself I'd be having brunch at 4 PM.



For some reason, I decided I had to have breakfast for dinner tonight. Again. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I knew immediately I had to make this particular dish(if for no other reason than I needed to use my potatoes and I needed to clear out some eggs from the fridge). I couldn't wait for this.







This meal is So.Perfect. It has all my favorite ingredients-eggs and potatoes and caramelized onions-and based on recommendations from the original recipe, I added 3 slices of crumbled, cooked bacon on top while it baked. It smells awesome in here. I'm pretty sure I heard the Comcast guy's stomach rumble while he fixed my cable connection-I almost felt bad.

(By the way, did you know that Comcast will come out for repairs on Sundays? It's amazing. No more need to take off a half day to wait for them to show! It has made my day that much better.)




This meal is simple, easy to throw together, and goes well with nearly everything. I'd say try a nice salad but quite honestly I was perfectly happy eating it on its own!


Potato Frittata (recipe from Joy the Baker)
5 Tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8 inch thick (a mandolin is great for this if you have one)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Salt and Pepper
7 large eggs
2 Tbsp diced flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. diced chives
2 Tbsp. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and put in 2 Tablespoons of the canola oil. Add the onions and cook until caramelized, roughly about 8 to 10 minutes. Make certain to not burn the onions and make sure the onions are all roughly a uniform brown color.

Toss the onions with the raw sliced potatoes in a roasting pan (I used a glass pyrex dish, in case you needed a reference!). Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the remaining 3 Tablespoons of oil and toss together in the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, and then set the potatoes aside to cool for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F.

Before the potatoes are done, whisk the eggs, herbs and cream together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. Grease the skillet with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Add the cooked potatoes to the pan, and combine with the egg mixture. Cover the skillet with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. (**I adapted this, because although I do have a cast-iron skillet, I also have a glass-top stove, which means many cast-iron skillets are a no-no. I adapted this by using a pyrex glass pie pan instead, and this worked just fine. Whatever you have will be fine as well-no need to go out and get a cast-iron skillet for this-although I will say that I think everyone should have cast-iron in the kitchen somewhere!)

Enjoy for Sunday dinner, Monday breakfast, or Tuesday lunch. Heck, enjoy it for all three!

Blueberry Boy Bait

I am a huge sucker for fruit. Any type of fruit. I have been known before to buy fruit that's out of season at a ridiculously high markup because I need to have it in my cereal, I have to be baking with it, or I need it to complete my lunch. Sometimes, frozen fruit just won't cut it for me.

Okay, this probably makes me sound crazy. But you need to keep this in mind, with blueberries being pretty much out of season right now. You will still want to make this with fresh, not frozen, blueberries. You could make it with frozen berries, but I just don't think it'll taste the same. But that's just me. With that being said, it would probably be okay with any type of berry-it's a versatile cake. You may even be able to get away with substituting some sort of chocolate, if that's your thing. Hell, it's gearing up to be fall-I bet this would be great with cranberries.

I digress, because I made this recipe awhile ago. I neglected to post it at the time because I wasn't sitting down long enough at my computer to be able to post it-which is a good thing. Between the fact that I got a new job that so far is awesome and have been hanging out with excellent company and having fun adventures, it's good that I haven't been posting. This, I'm sure, leads you to your next question: why am I posting today, in the middle of the afternoon?

Well, it's simple, really. I'm feeling lousy, have been home sick from work the past few days, and just woke up from what seems like a two day nap (no, really, I've actually been sleeping on and off solidly since Monday night) and in an effort to keep from boredom and also try to get myself back on a regular sleep/wake schedule (and hate myself in the process, because I really am aching to go back to sleep right now), I've been looking through old pictures and found ones that were supposed to go with this blog post. Since my appetite is less than stellar at the moment I figured the least I could do was feast with the eyes rather than my stomach, although I do very vividly remember this being outstanding when I made it.

I was told at the time that I made this that the name of this dessert was unnecessary, for I already have the boy, deeming 'bait' unnecessary. Fair enough, but that's what the dish is called, so that's what this post is titled.


This recipe reminds me very much of that buttermilk cake I posted about a few months ago. Very lush cake, with so very much butter.




I'm telling you, Mom would be proud of the butter that went into this.

I wish I could show you pictures of what it looked like after it was cut into, but I can't, because the entire thing just...disappeared. Evaporated into thin air. Crumbs and all.
I guess it's the sign of a good dessert.





It is the kind of dessert that you have to be careful of. Because if you're not careful, the thing will just sneak up on you. No lies, friends. It is amazing. And amazingly addictive. I love this because it's almost as fun to make as it is to eat.

Blueberry Boy Bait (recipe obtained from www.smittenkitchen.com)
2 c. plus 1 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks of softened unsalted butter
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 c. whole milk
1/2 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen (I prefer fresh wherever possible.)

Topping
1/2 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

Mix two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, roughly about two minutes or so. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated together. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated and then beat in half of milk, and continue in that fashion, ending with flour. Combine the blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Gently fold 1/2 c. of blueberries in the batter. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Scatter the remaining blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the cake. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then place on serving platter with the topping side up. If it even makes it out of the pan... :)