The bigger hit, Frittata

Along with the baked eggs, I served frittata at brunch. It’s an Italian omelet that’s started on the stove and finished in the oven. It is very time and ingredient friendly. The idea of preparing a frittata for the ladies originated the weekend before when I made one with smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill playing up on bagels, lox and cream cheese combination.


Green and Red Frittata

4 fresh eggs, whisked
1 tablespoon homemade basil pesto
1 medium (homegrown) tomato, diced
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1/4 bunch of swiss chard, torn into small pieces
small handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven on broil

Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl. Stir basil pesto, diced tomato, salt, and freshly cracked pepper into the eggs.

Heat olive oil in a 10 inch non stick, oven safe frying pan on medium low heat. (Many non sticks come with rubber handles- I wrap aluminum foil around the handle couple times and it works!) Add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add swiss chard, or any other greens, to the pan and stir until it wilts. Remove the swiss chard and garlic from the pan. Pour the egg mixture into the empty pan. Cook few minutes until the edges are firm and they releases from the pan. Sprinkle parmesan cheese when the edges have set and the top is runny. Remove the pan from the stove and broil in the oven for 5 minutes, or until the top is set. Cut in pizza slice shape and serve hot or warm.

The swiss chard and tomatoes added a pungent and tart flavor while the pesto gave it a unique taste. It’s one of those dishes that is easy to prepare and has a huge wow factor too.

Since the frittata was gone before I could take pictures, here's something else that's as colorful.

Brunch for the Ladies

I hosted a brunch for a group of my friends catered by me. It was my first time "catering" and hopefully one of many learning experiences for the future in food business. I have few ideas on how I want to serve food and in what capacity. One of which includes catering private parties of 4- 12 people. Another is opening a food truck, one woman show, serving slow food fast. That sounds contradictory but its roots are vaguely based on the slow food movement. My take on it includes creating food from locally and seasonally grown ingredients and serving the breakfast and lunch crowd that have limited time. Personal chef for few families is another concept that has crossed my mind. As you can see I have not honed down the concept of my dream business, yet.

For brunch everyone choose from baked eggs and frittata. With that they were served fresh fruit, farm raised pork bacon or sausage and homemade bread. Most chose baked eggs and one picked frittata. I think they all secretly wanted both. I used Mark Bittman’s recipe and video as a guide.

Baked Eggs with Ham, Swiss Chard and Tomatoes

8 tomato slices
Smoked boneless ham steaks, cubed
swiss chard leaves torn from the stalks
8 eggs
salt & pepper
8 ramekins

Lightly brown the cubed ham in a non stick skillet on medium heat; stir occasionally so the ham doesn’t brown too much on one side. Allow time to cool.

The recipe (actually all baked eggs recipes) calls for basic ramekins for baking. And instead, I used small bowls for a fancier presentation. a bad mistake.

In each individual ramekin, layer with a slice of tomato, freshly cracked black pepper, few (be generous) pieces of ham and couple swiss chard leaves. Salt isn’t necessary because ham is salty and will flavor the veggies. Crack two eggs per serving and finish with salt and pepper. The recipe says to bake it for 15 minutes in the oven. I baked mine for 20 minutes. When I served the eggs, couple people said the eggs were still runny, possibly raw. Initially when everyone sat down to eat, they had homemade bread and butter, fruits, bacon and sausage in front of them. When the eggs went back in the oven for 20 more minutes people continued to munch on the pork products and homemade bread and butter. As a general rule of human behavior, I learned if you sit people down to eat, they will be hungry.

The friends thought eggs tasted great even after 40 minutes of baking. I personally think they were overdone; a few looked like they were scrambled while others’ looked like they were hard boiled eggs with a dry yolk. I was disappointed in the outcome and the time disparity.

We speculated that it could be an array of things. Instead of using fancy curved bowls, I ought to stick to ramekins. Because the ramekins are flatter, the eggs would cook evenly. Another mistake was using uncooked swiss chard which released its water while baking and required a longer baking time as opposed to cooked or sautéed. I did not butter the bowls and that’s an important step I must remember. Although it didn’t affect the overall outcome, the butter will definitely keep the eggs from sticking.

The homemade bread and butter got a lot of action while the eggs were in the oven. Liz offered to bring fruit for the brunch, and she also came with homemade, oh so damn good, butter. Read all about it here. Thanks Liz. And the homemade bread was a no knead bread recipe that was easy and delicious, if I must say so myself. If I say it’s easy, it’s easy. I am not a baker by any means but this tasted fantastic for someone that hates measuring.

This catered brunch was a test for me to prepare food successfully and on time. I am mostly satisfied with the outcome. The baked eggs were a learning opportunity, while the frittata was a hit –recipe to follow. It reinforced my passion for food and the potential for future endeavors. More importantly, I appreciate my friends that volunteered to be guinea pigs for the experiment and being kind enough to give high marks on the baked eggs even with the mishaps. I hope you continue to sign up for future experiments!

For the blog readers, I want to hear from you- have you successfully made baked eggs? Any tips or suggestions?

Snooze later...

If you find yourself in Denver, you must try one of their top rated breakfast/brunch joints, Snooze. It’s off the beaten path, sort of, and the husband and I discovered, it’s really off the beaten path when you’re walking from 16th street to 22nd in pouring rain. Regardless, we made it, just in time. When we arrived it was about 10:30 am on a Friday, and the place was packed with couple people ahead of us in line. I saw couple open bar seats and asked to be seated there because we wanted to sit down and we were starving.

The feel of the restaurant is fun- serving coffee and hot chocolate in bright yellow mugs, eclectic and retro in their round, metallic tables and chairs. I read on their site they try to be as environmentally conscious as possible; they buy from local vendors, recycle, and use non toxic chemical products. Bonus!

Once seated, the bartender/server was very kind and a great conversationalist. Right off the bat, he asked where we were from and why we were visiting Denver (I bet the knapsacks, tennis shoes, camera hung around our necks and the map of the city gave it away).

For drinks, I ordered a hot chocolate and the husband chose the house brew. The hot chocolate came with cinnamon sprinkled on top (no thank you on whipped cream) and I enjoyed it as I generally do when I am drenched and cold. It was good but nothing to write home about. The husband appreciated the strong coffee.


Onto brunch; we agreed to order two different things to share. I ordered Huevos Rancheros (I have a weakness for good Mexican food- may it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner) and he ordered Florentine’s Eggs. And even with the busy rush, the food arrived promptly. Mine came with three tortillas, black beans, melted cheese, huevos and pico de gallo. The huevos were done my way, over easy; when poked, the yolk run downs the rest of the beans and tortillas. I could taste the garlic and onion flavor in the beans. I added a tad bit of hot sauce for a kick. Other than my disappointment in pre bought tortillas instead of homemade, huevos tasted great.


The Florentine came with poached eggs on a bed of spinach, roasted poblanos and tomatoes with homemade cheese hollandaise and a side of hash browns. Sadly, the husband wasn’t as pleased with his meal as I was. I strongly believe that’s an isolated incident of him looking for a hot and spicy dish (ahhh huevos rancheros comes to mind) and instead he got a simple, mild dish. The cheese hollandaise was a hit for me. I shared my huevos in exchange for the Florentine so it worked out for both of us.

By the time we were done, the line was out the door. 10:30 on a Friday morning was the perfect time for us to grab a bite to eat, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and coffee, read the local paper, westword, and wait for the rain to taper off- all at Snooze. These people have it figured out on serving great food in a reasonable time while also keeping the space green and customer friendly.

Even though we went there weeks after the Democratic National Convention the hype from the convention lingered in the air, and something tells me Snooze, Denver and the United States of America are all happy with the outcome of this presidential race.

as fresh as it gets…

Few months back, a friend suggested I take her place in the local farm’s meat CSA program. She was pregnant and the thought of eating half of a hog or 22 chickens was making her nauseous. understandably.

For those of you that aren’t familiar, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s the idea of sustaining local farms and vendors and supporting environmentally conscious views.

Initially when I first read about CSA’s I came across Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Intrigued by the concept I found Valerie and the Cincinnati Locavore group she created on yahoo which really made me want to join a vegetable CSA. After contacting local farms I quickly realized vegetable CSAs are much more popular than I expected, here in Cincinnati; none of the farms had space in their vegetable program. I left the idea alone until the pregnant friend approached me for the meat CSA. And I thought I would much rather eat chickens that lived a healthy, free range life than chickens that are locked up in their tiny cages for their short lives, slaughtered and then travel 500+ miles to get to my local grocery store. And same for those pigs and sheeps. baaaaaa. After speaking with the husband and a close friend, we all agreed to join.

Our chore at the farm is to feed the chickens, hogs, sheep (we get our meat from these animals), the farm horses and the dogs. We would essentially be these animals’ food and water providers for the times we sign up to feed them. When we started (half way into the program’s cycle) we had first hand experience with the eggs before we even had our share of the meat. For each chore period we work, we get half dozen eggs.


As you can see, the chickens lay colorful eggs.


The husband made me a simple omelet from the eggs we’d picked the night before. The recipe includes 3 eggs, diced onions, halved pear tomatoes (grown by a close friend), chopped green onions, green chili pepper (as little or as much as you want based on your heat preference), salt and pepper. Mix everything together. Add oil to a small skillet on medium low heat, then add the egg mixture and cook couple minutes on one side. Neither of us are much fans of flipping our omelets but if you are, go head. I am sure your partner, friend or pet will enjoy watching you splatter everything outside the skillet. The key to a good omelet is to cook low and slow. If cooked on high, the moisture cooks out from the eggs and you end up with dried, rubbery omelet.


This is one of my favorite ways to enjoy the eggs from the farm because it brings out their freshness and light taste. Once you eat farm fresh eggs, you'll never eat store bought eggs.

Notice how yellow the omelet is; that's not an accident. I read that the locked-up-in-cage, corn and yellow-dye eating chickens lay eggs that have pale yellow yolks while the grass fed, free range chickens lay bright orange eggs. I am also tickled about picking eggs one night and eating them for breakfast the next as opposed to eating eggs that have been sitting in the grocery stores for weeks.

Although we all had our doubts and weren’t sure if we would be able to eat the meat from the chickens we fed and bacon from the hogs we watered, so far the freshly laid eggs have worked out quite pleasantly.

And to that I say Thank You for getting pregnant, friend!

It's Breakfast Thyme

Some people adore Saturday/Sunday breakfasts; I am not one of those people. On weekends I prefer to sleep in late, 10- 11am late. (Friday and Saturday are generally late-nighters.) If I have to wake up early, I am useless in the kitchen. My imagination is sluggish around that time so I reach for simple foods, if anything at all. Skipping breakfast is a terrible thing, I know, roll your eyes all you want, I happen to have different priorities than others. If at best, I serve a mean bowl of milk and cereal and for the lucky ones an omelet, toast and coffee. I am much better at creating dishes for lunch and dinner, probably because I have creativity, variety, and versatility on my side.

Saturday was a hectic day. Other culinary students and I volunteered for a pig roast at Makers Mark that day. We met in downtown for American Culinary Federation meeting at 8am (!), drove 4 hours (really it’s supposed to take us 2 1/2 hours but our bus driver got lost) and prepped food for the pig roast for 400+ attendees. We all had a fabulous time, obviously since food and whiskey were involved. We arrived home much later than expected, 3am (!)



The next morning I woke up to a hungry husband and an upset stomach of my own. I remembered one of Ina’s herbed baked eggs recipe. At the time of watching the show I thought if making breakfast food in the morning means breaking couple eggs, adding them to a gratin dish with heated milk or cream and butter with herbs, I can handle it. Thanks Ina for convincing me of the baked eggs' simplicity and lack of need of imagination in the morning. As you can see from the name change, I followed her recipe loosely.

Thyme Baked Eggs

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
6 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk, divided
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the broiler for few minutes and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat.

Crack 6 eggs carefully in a 3 separate bowls, 2 per bowl. In another bowl, combine fresh thyme and parmesan and set aside. Using 1/2 tablespoon of butter, grease the three gratin/flan dishes. Divide 1 tablespoon of milk amongst three dishes and add 1/2 tbsp of butter to each dish. Place the three dishes on a baking sheet and under the broiler for couple minutes, until the liquid is bubbly. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, pour (two) cracked eggs to each dish, add equal parts of the thyme and parmesan mixture to all three, sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Carefully place the baking sheet under the broiler for 4- 6 minutes, until the egg whites set. Do not over broil otherwise the eggs will burn; eggs continue to cook after removing the dishes from the oven.

The eggs will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven. Allow to set before serving.

Toast with Avocado
2 slices of bread
1 avocado, sliced
sea salt

While the eggs are in the oven, cut avocado lengthwise. Rotate two halves to detach from each other. Remove the seed with a knife. Make slits in each half of the avocado for long slices. Scoop out the flesh with a large spoon.

After the eggs are done, toast wheat bread in the broiler for 30 seconds.

Spread sliced avocado on toasted bread, sprinkle with sea salt and serve with baked eggs.



Changes to the recipe. I used milk to make my baked eggs because I did not have cream on hand. Although it tasted good, I plan to make it again with cream. I am sure with the 40% fat in cream, it’ll give the eggs a rich taste. Let me know if you try it with cream before I do. And next time I’ll also add garlic because everything is much better with it.

Because Thyme was the predominant flavor in this dish, I am submitting my recipe for Thyme Baked Eggs to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Jai and Bee over at jugalbandi.

And on a much serious note, Thyme is slowly but surely gaining momentum in my favorite herb list; however Cilantro isn’t going to give in easily so it’ll be a tough fight.