Dinner Together: Chard Frittata
There may be no greener chef than Alice Waters, the Berkeley, Calif., creator of Chez Panisse restaurant who is often considered the mother of the sustainable food movement. More important to this blog's readers, she also started the Edible Schoolyard project to get more healthful food into school lunchrooms and curricula.
So for our Green Week, I decided to make the family a chock-full-of-chard frittata from Waters' latest cookbook, The Art of Simple Food.
There are at least two "green" things about this easy dinner: Not only does it have a lot of chard, but it uses the whole bunch -- even the tough, colorful stems, which would often be thrown away. Here, they're cooked gently with onions to become a tender, flavorful addition to the dish. And a frittata is an easy way to use up leftover vegetables, pasta, or meat.
I had a bit of a cooking crisis in the middle of making this. ...
(Photo by me)
I ran into the store on the way home from work for chard, but thought we were covered on eggs. Opened the fridge in the middle of cooking (yeah, I know, I'm supposed to get everything out beforehand) to find only four eggs. I need one of those talking refrigerators that are supposedly going to run our kitchens one day.
I punted by adding 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters and 1/2 cup of half and half to compensate for the missing 2 eggs. Fortunately, the frittata turned out fine, though it didn't look as pretty as I'm sure Waters' original recipe would.
Chard Frittata
Serves 4
1 bunch chard, mustard greens or other greens of your choice
4 tablespoons olive oil (divided use)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
Salt to taste
6 eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the chard or greens and separate the stems. Cut stems into ¼ inch slices. Coarsely chop the leaves. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy pan, over medium heat. Add onion; cook for 5 minutes and add the chard stems. Season with salt. Cook for 4 minutes and add the leaves. Cook until the leaves are tender, adding a splash of water if the pan dries out. Turn out of the pan onto a plate.
Crack eggs into a large bowl. Add salt to taste, 2 teaspoons olive oil, black pepper and cayenne pepper, and garlic. Beat lightly. Gently squeeze the chard with your hands, wringing out most, but not all, of the liquid. Stir the chard into the beaten eggs.
Thoroughly preheat a 10-inch oven proof pan over medium-low heat. Pour in 2 tablespoons olive oil. After a few seconds, pour in the egg mixture. As the eggs set on the bottom, lift the edges to allow the uncooked egg to flow underneath. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes, then put the pan in the oven until the frittata is set on top, about 7 to 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.
--Adapted from "The Art of Simple Food," by Alice Waters
Per serving: 257 calories, 11 grams protein, 21 grams fat, 4 grams saturated fat, 8 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams fiber, 317 milligrams cholesterol, 274 milligrams sodium. Analysis by registered dietitian Jodie Shield.
Comments
Looks tasty to me... but how did your kids like it?
Aha...I knew someone would ask. This was one that neither one would really try, even though they both like eggs. There was something about all of it being mixed up together that they didn't like. So, back to the drawing board.
Posted by: Betsy | May 1, 2008 3:34 PM
Thanks for sharing this recipe - I admire Alice Waters and although I'm sure her influence can be found in many of the current cookbooks I own, I have never actually tried a recipe of hers. And it's hard to come across a recipe for greens that doesn't just saute them in a pan with vinegar, salt and pepper.
I wonder if the kids might be more open to trying it if they picked the greens themselves from Larriland (for example), or were somehow involved with the growing process? Kind of like what Alice Waters does with her program. I'd love to see something like that (recently read Lunch Lessons by Ann Cooper) implemented around the city/county.
Posted by: Annelies | May 3, 2008 5:12 PM