Saffron Tagliatelle with Spiced Butter

This recipe really surprised me. I was not at all sure what it was going to taste like - I mean, come on, cinnamon and pasta? But it was fantastic. And quick - if you use pre-made pasta and just make the sauce, everything comes together in about 15 minutes. I do eventually want to make the pasta from scratch, but that requires buying a pasta machine which will have to wait until I find one. If you have a pasta machine already and feel up to making the pasta, please drop me a note and let me know how it went if you are so inclined?

My dinner guest last night is a very meat-and-potatoes eater and gave this Moroccan-influenced recipe a hearty two thumbs up. For the record. ^_^

As usual, the ingredient list is from the book and the observations and alterations are my own.

Saffron Tagliatelle with Spiced Butter
(p. 260, Plenty)

Serves 4

For the Pasta
2 tsp saffron threads
4 tbsp boiling water
4 medium eggs
4 tbsp olive oil
15 1/2 oz (3 1/2 cups) "00" pasta flour, plus extra for rolling
1 tsp ground turmeric

Spiced Butter
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 tbsp olive oil
8 shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chile flakes
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
black pepper

Garnish
2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
4 tbsp roughly chopped mint
4 tbsp roughly chopped parsley

Yotam's instructions to make the pasta:

"Place the saffron in a small bowl with the boiling water and leave to infuse for at least 10 minutes. Then add the eggs and oil and beat to mix. Place the flour and the turmeric in the bowl of a food processor and add the saffron mix. Blend until a crumbly dough is formed. You may need a little more oil or flour to adjust the dough to the required consistency - neither sticky nor very dry.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, tip out the dough and knead into a ball. Work for a few minutes, adding more flour if you need until it becomes silky and soft. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes, or up to a day.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Keep one well covered. Using a rolling pin, flatten the other piece into a thin rectangle. Set the pasta machine to its widest setting and pass the dough through. Continue rolling the pasta, narrowing the setting by a notch every time, until you get to the lowest setting.

Fold up the pasta sheet twice along its length, sprinkling some flour between the layers. Use a large knife to cut long strips that are 3/4 inch wide. Hang them on the back of a chair to dry for 10 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough."

To make the sauce and finish the dish:

Assemble the ingredients:

A few alterations: I chose to work with the pre-made pasta option, and so had to amend my pasta cooking time to what the packaging said, rather than Yotam's instructions for the fresh pasta. I guessed on the amount required as there wasn't really a weight of dried pasta listed in the recipe and went with 8 of the little bird's nests that were in my package of tagliatelle - in hindsight that probably should have been 10, I think, as there was a generous amount of sauce sitting at the bottom of the bowl when I was done combining everything and I was taught that well-presented pasta should be dressed but not sitting in a wealth of unused sauce. Use your best judgement and preferences to decide how much pasta you want to make. I was out of shallots and so substituted half a small Spanish (white) onion, figuring its mild flavour would work well in the dish. I also chose to substitute the pine nuts for pecans as I had the pecans on hand.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. If you are using pre-made pasta, add a generous pinch of saffron to the water in the pot, and enjoy watching the colour stream off the saffron threads for a moment. It's really cool.

Once the water is boiling, add your pasta and cook - fresh pasta requires 2-3 minutes, and pre-made pasta should be cooked according to the package directions. My pre-made pasta took 8-10 minutes to reach al dente, which was perfectly timed for making the butter, so I put it on and then got to work making the sauce.

To make the spiced butter, place the butter and oil in a frying pan and melt the butter over medium to medium-high heat.

While the butter is melting, chop your herbs for the garnish if you haven't done that already.

Once the butter has melted, add the diced shallots and cook gently for roughly 10 minutes, until the shallots start to soften and the butter starts to brown.

Foamy with a chance of onions...

Browning butter requires some patience and vigilance towards the end, as it's easy to go from browned to burnt and you can't go back once it's burnt. When the foaming starts to subside, start paying closer attention and stir more frequently - things will start to turn a golden colour and smell nutty. That is what you are going for. Once you have achieved that, add the spices, the salt, and some pepper and give everything a thorough stir. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Once the pasta has finished cooking, drain in a colander and then put into a large-ish bowl. Pour the spiced butter over the hot pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts and the herbs and toss again to combine.

Serve out and enjoy.

I found that the pasta was spicy enough that I appreciated the cucumber and red pepper I had served as a side as a palate cleanser between bites. If you are cooking this for people who don't like spice, I'd omit the chile flakes and maybe dial the cayenne down to 1/2 tsp. I don't think I'd eliminate the cayenne completely though.

Unexpected, but tasty!

Green Pancakes with Lime Butter

I've been enjoying watching the world turn green again after the long, snowy winter we had. The big tree out my window is well into leaf now, bringing back all the little birds with their unfamiliar sounds. Sometimes I feel like I live in a tree house when I look out my windows as my place is tiny and up off the ground. It's a cheerful illusion to entertain. The other green that I am enjoying this spring is sprouting in various pots on my windowsill, a variety of herbs including a lemon cilantro I was gifted. I had forgotten how much fun it is to watch things germinate and flourish. I am even attempting to grow green onions and so far so good. I had thought that moving into such a small place would mean I would have to give up the little dream of a kitchen garden that I keep hauling around with me - after all, I hadn't made it happen in a huge house, nor in the smaller condo... but somehow this tiny flat has some  time and room for it. It's always interesting to me how priorities change from place to place and through time even though it's always my life and ostensibly I am in charge of it, marshalling my resources and minutes wherever...

I spent yesterday reading and walking. I got to catch up with a peer from my cohort that I hadn't seen in a few months, which was really great. And then I made dinner for friends, recognizing that I am starting to really live here, that I am not feeling like a transplant anymore. It was a really satisfying realization. Almost as satisfying as the meal. ^_~

This recipe is easily my favourite from Plenty so far. There is something incredibly fresh about it, it's so simple, and the pancakes taste good hot or cold (I had the leftovers direct from the fridge for breakfast this morning; reminds me of a less greasy green onion cake). I am going to try making some and freezing them in an attempt to see if they'll reheat adequately in the microwave so I can have them whenever I'd like without having to heat the flat by frying on the stovetop. I am also tempted to try using the leftover butter in a batch of muffins, perhaps with some finely chopped basil... Yotam suggests serving it with baked sweet potato. I recommend using a non-stick pan to make the pancakes, as my stainless pan gave me some trouble at the beginning, although that may have been due to my lack of metal flipper (a spatula just won't cut it here) and my relative inexperience with stainless pans. Thankfully, one of my dinner guests had the correct implement and lived close enough to dash off and bring it back which made everything easier. Looks like I'll be adding a few new tools to my kitchen fairly quickly so I can keep making these... very worth all investments. ^_^

As usual, all ingredients are as listed in the book and the written description includes my observations and an alterations.

Green Pancakes with Lime Butter
(p. 150, Plenty)

Serves 3-4
(I found it made 19, ~3-4" pancakes)

Lime Butter
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
grated zest of 1 lime
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chile flakes

Pancakes
1/2 lb (about 8 cups) spinach, washed
3/4 cup self-rising flour*
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2/3 cup milk
6 medium green onions, finely sliced
2 fresh green chiles, thinly sliced
1 egg white
olive oil for frying

To start: If you need to make your own self-rising flour, mix together 1 cup flour, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. Because I didn't want to waste 1/4 cup of the mixed flour, I ended up using a total of 3/4 cup flour, 1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder, and a generous 1/2 tsp salt for the pancakes in this recipe, which worked well. Also, 8 cups of spinach is the equivalent of 1, 170 g bag of spinach - like the small, pre-washed, ready-to-eat bags or containers you'd find in the salad section of your grocer.

To make the lime butter, assemble your ingredients:

Put the butter in a medium bowl and cream it with a wooden spoon until it's very soft. Mine was still a little frozen and as a result was still a little lumpy, but it still worked out.

Stir the rest of the ingredients into the butter until well combined. I didn't have white pepper, so I used black pepper.

Yotam suggests spooning the mixed butter out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, forming it into a sausage shape and wrapping it in that form for chilling so you can cut coins of butter off it later. This makes for a lovely presentation. I am trying to get away from using excess plastic wrap in the kitchen, so I opted for scraping my butter into a reusable container instead. Perhaps it's less pretty, but it's also a bit less plastic and a bit more protected from the chaos that is my fridge. Chill the butter until firm.

To make the pancakes, assemble the ingredients:

In a large pan, wilt the spinach with a splash of water. When it's fully collapsed and bright green, drain it in a colander and let it cool enough to handle. When you can handle it, squeeze it firmly to remove as much moisture as possible. When it's as wrung out as you can get it, chop it roughly and set it aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, whole egg, melted butter, salt, cumin, and milk and whisk until smooth. Add the green onions, chiles, and spinach and stir, distributing the greens evenly into the batter.

Whisk the egg white into soft peaks and fold it into the batter. This will help give it some lift. 

When the batter is ready, pour a small amount of olive oil into a heavy bottomed frying pan and place on medium-high heat (I found it better to err toward the medium side of things). For each pancake, ladle a bit of batter into the pan and press down on the solids gently. You're aiming for a cake roughly ~3 inches in diameter and 3/8 inch thick. 

Pancakes are ready to flip when lots of bubbles are appearing all over the wet surface of the cake and the edges look firm, roughly 2 minutes. When the cakes are ready, flip them over and give them another 2 minutes on the other side or until you get a good golden-green colour. 

Add more oil to the pan between batches if required and continue frying until all of the batter has been cooked off. Transfer finished cakes to a plate lined with paper towel and keep warm until serving. 

To serve, pile up three warm cakes per person and serve with some of the flavoured butter melted on top of it. 

SO GOOD.

Delicious Imperfect Mushroom Ragout

The title should read "Mushroom Ragout with Poached Duck Egg", but as I never made it as far as the duck egg, that feels a little disingenuous. I was mucking around in the kitchen playing with this recipe roughly a week ago, very informal and off-the-cuff. As a result, it isn't as by-the-book as many of the other recipes I've made from Plenty, and unfortunately I've realized that I wasn't being patient enough with my camera as the photos aren't as good as I'd like them to be, either. I am going to post this anyway, as a record of sort-of getting through this recipe and apologize for it being less put together than I'd prefer. I thought about not posting it at all, but realized that this is often how things go for me in the kitchen - things morph and shift and are imperfect yet delicious. Why not share that? I am pretty sure every home cook has been there...

The recipe reminded me of the bread salad that I made a few months ago and as I had a plethora of mushrooms for a change I decided to give it a shot. I had intended to substitute chicken eggs for the poached duck eggs once I got that far into the recipe and ended up opting out of the egg component and contenting myself with just the mushroom and bread ragout. Which was not in any way a compromise - it's quite delicious on its own. Given that I am also not a big fan of soft yolks, I figured the omission wouldn't bother my palate - but if you love the soft yolks, go to town!

This recipe takes some time, so be sure to read through it and make sure you understand what is required. I was a bit lax in this when I was making it and that made the experience a bit less awesome than it could have been. Teach me to try a fairly complex new recipe when I am not in the mood to be detail-oriented! The results are worth the effort though - a really great flavour and a fun set of textures. 

As usual, the ingredients are from the book, and the written instructions incorporate my substitutions and alterations.

Mushroom Ragout (with poached duck egg)

(p. 50, Plenty)

Serves 4

1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms

2 1/2 cups water

1 1/4 lbs mixed fresh mushrooms (wild or cultivated)

3/4 ld sourdough bread, crusts removed

6 1/2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 medium onion, sliced

1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced

3 celery stalks, sliced

1/2 cup white wine

3 thyme sprigs

salt

4 duck eggs

vinegar for poaching

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp chopped parsley

black pepper

truffle oil (or olive oil, if you prefer)

A few alterations to start: I omitted the celery as I didn't have any at the time, but included a bit of celery salt in the broth. I also omitted the sour cream, although I think it would be a great addition. If I make it again, I'll be sure to have some sour cream on hand. I highly recommend the truffle oil for this dish - it makes it smell fantastic and adds a lovely depth of flavour. 

Preheat the oven to 400F. Then, measure out the dried porcini:

Soak the porcini in 1 cup of the water for 30 minutes (I find they reconstitute better if the water is warm). Brush the fresh mushrooms to clean them and then cut them up into quarters, slices, or large chunks. What you are after is texture, so feel free to mix it up. Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes. I chose to leave my crusts on and I don't feel that negatively impacted the final presentation.

Toss the bread cubes with 2 tablespoons of the oil, the garlic, and the salt. I chose to dice my garlic, rather than crush it. Spread the bread out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until brown, roughly 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside to let the croutons cool down. 

Next, pour 1 tablespoon of oil into a medium-sized heavy pan and heat it well over medium-high heat. 

When the oil is hot, add some of the chopped mushrooms to the pan, being careful not to crowd it (or the mushrooms will steam rather than brown) and leave them for 1 to 2 minutes or until they get golden on the side in contact with the pan. 

Once lightly browned, turn them over and let them cook for another moment or two. Then remove them from the pan and put them in a bowl, and repeat the process with the remaining mushrooms, processing in as many batches as required to brown them all. Add an additional tablespoon of oil to the pan with each new batch of mushrooms. 

Once all of the mushrooms have been browned and set aside to cool, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and saute the carrot, celery, and onion on medium heat for about 5 minutes, softening them a bit without browning. Add the wine and let it bubble away for a moment. 

Lift the porcini out of the soaking liquid and squeeze out the excess liquid. Set the porcini aside for now. Add the soaking liquid to the pan carefully, taking care to leave any grit from the porcini in the bottom of the bowl to be discarded. 

Add the thyme, the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water, and a little salt, and then simmer gently for ~20 minutes, or until you are left with ~1 cup of liquid in the pan. 

Strain this stock and discard the vegetables; return the stock to the pan and set it aside. 

If you are wanting to include the poached eggs, here are Yotam's instructions:

"To poach the eggs, fill a shallow saucepan with enough water for a whole egg to cook in. Add a splash of vinegar and bring to a rapid boil. Carefully break and egg into a small cup and gently pour it into the boiling water. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and set it aside. After 6 minutes the egg should be poached to perfection. Lift it out of the pan and into a bowl of warm water. Once all of the eggs are done, dry them on paper towels."

While you are poaching the final egg, re-heat the stock and add all the mushrooms, the porcini, the sour cream, most of the chopped herbs (reserve a little bit for garnish) and then add salt and pepper to taste. As soon as the mushrooms are hot, place some of the croutons in the bottom of a bowl and top with the mushrooms. Add an egg, if including, the remaining herbs, a drizzle of the truffle oil, and some more black pepper. Then enjoy. 

Asparagus Mimosa

I was so excited to see the fresh asparagus show up at the Farmer's Market last week. I am an absolute nut about asparagus and will eat it pretty much every chance I get: steamed, grilled, pureed into soups, added to stir-frys, even shaved with a vegetable peeler and used as a substitute for pasta. Farm fresh asparagus is a huge treat given how short the growing season is this far north and how labour intensive hand-picking asparagus can be. When I can get it this fresh I don't particularly want to obscure or minimize its flavour, which leads to simple preparations like this Asparagus Mimosa from Plenty.

I highly recommend this recipe - it's really quick to throw together (fifteen minutes or less), and has a surprisingly complex flavour for how few ingredients comprise the list. If you have a chance, salt-packed capers tend to have a superior flavour, although you may want to soak them for a few minutes in cold water to reduce their punch. If you have the more common brine-packed capers, that is not a disadvantage here - the brine droplets seemed to mix a bit with the drizzle of olive oil and the flavour combination was lovely. I also recommend using the best quality eggs you can come across, as their flavour is very prominent in this dish. Really, I advocate eating the best quality everything you can afford, because flavour is kinda the point. ^_~

Asparagus Mimosa 
(p. 182, Plenty)

Serves 4 as a starter
(Serves 2 as a light lunch if you add a little something else)

2 eggs
2 bunches of medium thickness asparagus
2 tbsp good-quality olive oil
2 tsp small capers, drained
1 tsp Maldon sea salt (or other large flake sea salt if you can't find Maldon)
fresh ground black pepper

Assemble your ingredients:

Put a small pot of water on to boil. When it is boiling, gently lower your eggs into it and simmer for 9 minutes.

While your eggs are cooking, snap the ends off your asparagus (I ended up doing this while waiting for the water to boil):

You can cook the asparagus submerged in a separate pot of boiling water for 3-4 minutes or until tender, or, if you dislike doing dishes as much as I do, you can set the spears (thick end down) into the same pot of boiling water as currently houses your eggs. I can't remember where I learned this trick but it's my favourite way to cook asparagus now - the thick ends get all the tenderizing heat, and the delicate tips steam-cook without getting limp and soggy. I threw my asparagus in after the eggs had cooked for 3 minutes as they were rather thick stalks and that worked out quite well.

Once your eggs are cooked, remove them from the pot and place them in a bowl of cold water to cool down.

Once your asparagus has finished cooking, remove it from the pot and arrange it on a plate. Let it cool just a bit until it's warm but not hot. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the spears, then grate the egg over them with the large holes of a box grater. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and capers over the grated egg and enjoy.

Saffron Spice Gelato (+ Plain Base Recipe)

Last night I made Chard and Saffron Omelettes for dinner, and finished things off with Saffron Spice Gelato for dessert. I felt quite proud of myself, having made such a great meal. It's rare that I get moments of self-directed pride, and even more unusual that I talk about them, because no one really wants to be seen as egotistical. But last night was a good night and it rang with the kind of things I really want in this life I am rebuilding - food from scratch, good company, and good conversation. Goals to continually strive for.

In other happenings, I finally broke down and went into the local stationery store, Paper Umbrella. I walk by it all the time on my way to yoga, but I know the siren song of paper products too well, and my budget is tight enough that I really shouldn't tempt myself. So for the better part of a year I've oogled the windows whenever I've gone by and quietly been grateful that it's been closed. Well, going in when it is open is by far more delightful, and decidedly more expensive ^_^. I won't make a habit of it, but it was nice to treat myself to a few things, including a magazine I'd never seen before called Anthology with which I am a little in love. Focused primarily on art and design with a heavy dose of excellent recipes, this just might be the replacement for Fine Cooking's magazine I've been looking for. I am dedicated to traditional print media (sounds like throwing a gauntlet in such a technology driven society) and I know a few people who read this are as well, so thought I'd put it forward for others to check out if they are so inclined.

Now on to the actual purpose of this post - gelato...

I found The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto  three or four years ago while browsing Chapters during a summer visit. I collect cookbooks in a haphazard kind of way, and was immediately attracted to this bright turquoise volume. Despite not owning an ice cream maker at the time, I purchased it and read it through with a lot of enthusiasm. Then I discovered that Kitchenaid made an ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer and decided that I was going to make some of the recipes that had intrigued me. For the most part I made sorbettos, as I have issues off and on with dairy. I found the process to be fairly simple and enjoyable, and the flavours to be far superior to store bought sorbet.  A few days ago I made my first gelato proper, and again found the process to be fairly simple and enjoyable, and the flavour to be delightful. Gelato takes longer than sorbetto due to the extra step of creating the custard base, but the results are well worth it. And despite using whole milk and cream in the custard, I had no issues with the gelato at all. A friend said this might be due to the fact that the dairy ingredients get heated up which changes the milk, converting it into something less confrontational for those with dairy sensitivities. I'll have to read up on it to find out if that was what happened or if something else may be the reason. Either way, I am not complaining.

Saffron Spice Gelato
(p. 106, Ciao Bella)

Makes ~1 quart (~3 cups, roughly 6 servings)

Plain Base

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar

Gather your ingredients:

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the milk and the cream. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn't form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170F.

 It's important when you are using a thermometer to gauge the temperature that you do not rest it on the bottom of the pan, otherwise it will be telling you the temperature of the pot and not the temperature of the contents of the pot. Most come with a clip you can use to suspend the thermometer appropriately.

As your milk and cream heat, you can start whisking the eggs with the sugar. In a medium, heat proof bowl (the heat proof is important for a step that will come along in a bit), whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar, until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. I added my sugar in four portions - it was fun to see just how much lighter the egg yolks got with each addition, although I am not sure it photographed well. The mixture certainly got thicker and kind of reminded me of those Peeps marshmallow chicks.

Once the milk on the stove has come up to temperature, temper the egg yolk mixture by adding a little bit of the hot milk to it and whisking it in. You want to do this with almost a continuous whisking motion so that the milk incorporates but doesn't sit still long enough to cook the egg yolk. I added about half the hot milk to the egg mixture and whisked it into a smooth custard before adding the remainder of the hot milk and stirring it all together. Once both components have been fully combined, return the custard to the stove and place over low heat.

Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to prevent a skin from forming, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and it reaches 185F. Do not allow it to boil.

Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and let it cool to room temperature, stirring every 5 minutes or so.

To speed the cooling process, you can either set the bowl containing the custard into an ice bath (into a larger pan filled with ice) and stir until cooled; alternatively, I set my bowl into a few inches of cold water in the sink and stirred away, and it worked like a charm.

Once the custard is completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Saffron Spice Gelato

Plain Base
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 cup honey
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup roasted pistachios, frozen

A few alterations: I didn't have almond extract, so I substituted hazelnut extract instead. I also omitted the pistachios as I didn't have any on hand, although I think they would be delicious.

Assemble the ingredients:

I initially thought the 1/8th teaspoon measure for the spices wouldn't be enough, but it was. I wouldn't increase those, although I might double the saffron in a future attempt, just to see what happens.

In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium-low heat until small bubbles start forming around the edge. This doesn't take long - I got distracted during my first attempt and came back too late to find the milk had overcooked onto the bottom of my pot. Which looks like this:

Looks like the moon craters!

Not the goal. On my second attempt, I paid better attention and got it right. Once the milk is warm enough, remove it from the heat and crumble the saffron into it.

Set it aside for ~20 minutes to infuse. You'll end up with creamy yellow milk:

Pour the infused milk through a fine-meshed strainer into a clean bowl, pressing on the solids to extract all of the liquid. Discard the saffron, and refrigerate the infused milk for ~30 minutes, or until cold.

In a blender or food processor, combine half the cold plain base with the chilled saffron-infused milk, honey, nut extract, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and black pepper until smooth.

The lump is the creamed honey I was using, with the spices on it.

Whisk into the remaining base, and then pour the mixture into the container of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.

Add the pistachios, if using, 5 minutes before the churning is completed. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving. Then lick out the churning bowl. You know you want to.

Yum!

I am thinking of making a fresh mint gelato next, and then a rosemary and olive oil one after that. So much fun!

Chard and Saffron Omelettes

I am going to be very upfront: this recipe is one of the best recipes I have made so far from Plenty. There was absolutely nothing to dislike and a lot to love. I will be making this over and over and over again. Amazing.

As usual, the ingredients are from the book and the written description includes my observations and alterations.

Chard and Saffron Omelettes
(p. 142, Plenty)

Serves 4
(Really, serves 2 if you make no side dishes to accompany)

1/2 lb (1 medium) waxy potato, peeled and cut into 3/8-inch dice
1 cup of water
pinch of saffron threads
3/4 lb Swiss chard (stalks and leaves), shredded
salt and pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
5 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup chopped herbs (tarragon, dill, parsley)
vegetable oil
1/2 cup creme fraiche, cold

Assemble the ingredients:

A few alterations, to begin: I didn't have a waxy potato, so I substituted a sweet potato. And I'd do it again - it was awesome. I also substituted Greek yogurt for the creme fraiche, and used 4 egg whites plus two whole eggs so I could use up the egg whites that were left over from making gelato the other day. I also ended up subbing out the clove of garlic for a few shakes of the President's Choice Roasted Garlic seasoning on a whim, and that was also a tasty decision. For the herbs in the omelettes, I used parsley, dill, and mint, as they were what I had on hand. I also used olive oil rather than vegetable oil for frying the omelettes.

To start, put the diced potato, water, and saffron in a large pan and bring to a boil.

If you look close enough, the saffron threads look like tiny, scarlet tadpoles...

Simmer for 4 minutes, and then add the chard and some salt and pepper. Shredded chard is surprisingly pretty:  

Continue cooking, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the potato is soft. Drain out any excess liquid that is left in the pan (I didn't have any), and remove from heat. Add the lemon juice and garlic, stir to combine and leave to cool. Apparently, I forgot to take a picture of this part all finished. My bad. I strongly advise against omitting the lemon juice - it really makes things pop in a way I hadn't expected.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and herbs with some salt and pepper. I recommend that you chop your omelette-herbs quite finely. I went after mine with the kitchen shears and they were still in fairly large pieces, which made for some lumpy (but still delicious) omelettes.

Oil a 9-inch frying pan (~1 tsp for a non-stick pan, a bit more for a regular pan), and let it get hot. When it is hot, pour one quarter of the egg mixture into the pan and make one thin, round omelette. I found covering the pan and letting it steam a bit helped cook the top of the omelette without the hassle of flipping it over (if required - a thin enough omelette shouldn't need flipping). Transfer the cooked omelette to a plate lined with paper towels and repeat until you have four omelettes and all of the egg and herb mixture has been cooked. I found this stage a bit tricky to navigate between my regular pans and course-chopped herbs, and was apparently too distracted to take a picture.

To serve, Yotam suggests covering half of each omelette with the creme fraiche. Taste the chard mixture and adjust the seasoning if required, and then spread it over the creme fraiche. Fold each omelette in half and then into half again, making a fan shape, and then serve. Or, if you are like me and get oddly shaped, fairly thick omelettes, you can pile the chard and potato mixture on top of the omelette, crown it with creme fraiche and devour. Either option is delicious, and both look pretty good.

These can be made ahead and held in the fridge until required; simply heat in an oven at 325F for 5 to 8 minutes or until hot, and then serve.

SO GOOD.