Smoked Salmon Fritatta

I'd Eat Cardboard If It Was Coated in Frank's Red Hot

My love affair with condiments started when I was little. I learned early on that I could make meat almost palatable if I drowned it in the savory, tangy goodness that is A1. My other favorite is hot sauce. We met at my Kosher Sleep-Away Camp. It was there that I discovered that if you use enough hot-sauce, you can gently singe your taste buds in such a way that even the mush they called camp food tasted juuuuuuuust fine. My camp friends and I loved this particular condiment so much that we made t-shirts honoring it, and cheers saluting it. (So much for not worshiping any idols...)

And that matzah kugel I told you about yesterday? Bland, doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.  But with a little Frank's? Juuuuuuust fine.

The frittata on the other hand? INCREDIBLE.

Smoked Salmon Frittata

(Adapted from this Barefoot Contessa Recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 3/4 cup low fat milk
• 1/4 cup low fat Greek yogurt
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, such as Montrachet, crumbled
• 4oz smoked salmon, chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped, white and light green parts
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Saute the onion and butter in a 10-inch oven-proof omelet pan over medium-low heat until translucent, about 5-10 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg whites. Add the milk, yogurt, goat cheese, smoked salmon, scallions, dill, salt, and pepper and combine. Pour the mixture over the onions and place the omelet pan in the center of the oven. Bake the frittata for about 50 minutes, until it puffs and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot directly from the pan.



Return your condiment of choice to it's shelf, you won't need it.

Matzah Matzah Everywhere! Recipes for Passover

Passover is my favorite holiday and it always has been. As a kid I'm not sure I knew how lucky I was to be part of my particular Jewish community in Upstate New York.  Some years my parent's hosted Seders, and some years we sat in the dining rooms, kitchens or living rooms of friends. But no matter where we celebrated or how many new faces were at the table that year, it always felt like family. It's only in recent years that I've begun to realize how truly unique and special these experiences were.

As much as I love those memories from my childhood, my Nice Jewish Boy of a husband and I wanted to claim the holiday as our own, and start our own traditions. For the last several years we've hosted Seder in our home in Brooklyn. Each year I buy a new Haggadah on Amazon.com, and I spend weeks putting together a collaborative, thought provoking Seder. Our friends gather around our table, some Jewish, some not, and we work our way through; sharing, laughing, toasting and learning. Most years, we hardly even notice that it's nearly 9:30 by the time we're finally eating dinner.

But this year, the cards were simply not in our favor. First, we discovered that my NJB had agreed to attend a bachelor party in Montreal during the first two nights of Passover (heathens!)  After much waxing and waning about whether or not we could have a Seder on a night that was neither the first nor second night of the holiday, we picked a totally arbitrary date only to realize once the invitations were out, that it was Easter. We picked a third date, but for whatever reason, many of our friends were simply unable to join. And finally, when I ordered the New American Haggadah (edited by Jonathon Safran Foer!) it was delivered weeks behind schedule AND to my parents house upstate instead of to me. So for the first time in four years, we found ourselves Planless for Passover.

In the end, I journeyed to Boston and joined my family-in-laws for a wonderful, whimsical Seder. I had a really super time. But one of the things I love about hosting Seder, is the required creativity the menu demands. So I decided that rather than forgoing this favorite tradition of mine all together, I would simply create a week's worth of Passover recipes.

Sunday night, when I'd returned from Boston we made breakfast for dinner, Pesach style! You know what that means.... MATZAH BREI! (Fear not, fabulous Jews who raised me... I do NOT actually use a recipe to make this, but I thought I'd link to one for all the amazing Goyim in my life). I add a bit of milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon to this basic recipe, and then top with maple syrup. (duh.) (Oh, you use jelly? You're wrong.)

Kosher friends, please avert your eyes for Monday Night's dinner. Fair warning.

Monday night I made a Pesto Roast Chicken with Red Potatoes, Sweet Potato & Ricotta Gnocchi and Roasted Asparagus. The kosher-for-Passover gnocchi was DARN GOOD and shockingly easy. And can you believe I made a chicken? I had to touch it and everything. Needless to say, I couldn't actually bring myself to EAT the local, free range, organic, $12 chicken...

Tuesday night I made us Matzah Ball Soup, because it's not Passover until you're lying immobile on the couch moaning because you've consumed too many cement balls..I mean.. Matzah Balls.

Tonight I'm making Mushroom & Onion Kugel, and a Smoked Salmon Fritatta. If they're good I'll post my altered recipes tomorrow.

All of these new recipes have made for a creative and delicious holiday, but  no matter how good the food is,  it always tastes a little better with friends and family.

Chag Pesach <3

Quinoa Salad with Beets & Avocado

Why I Gained 10+ Pounds the Year I Met My Husband 

I've heard that it's fairly common to gain weight in the early stages of a happy relationship. Something about comfort levels, and not feeling like you have to impress anyone.

But for me, this was not the case.

For the first year of our kick-a$$ courtship, I was working as a hostess at a restaurant in Soho, for which my total lack of  food-service experience was completely ignored as soon as I promised to show up for my shifts in something sexy. (Peace out feminist moral code..they're going to pay me 15 bucks an hour!) The other hostesses were all  leggy, sullen models.

The point of that digression? As incredibly comfortable as I was in my new relationship, I was literally earning my livelihood by attempting to impress anyone.

During work hours I stupidly mimicked the models' non-existent diets, and I logged countless non-work hours at the gym.  But alas, my metabolism was no match for bachelor cooking*.

My darling husband  was very thorough in his wooing efforts, and in those early days I frequently found myself  in his shared-one-bedroom-with-a-temporary-wall apartment,  chatting over a romantically set table, lit by the scented candle he borrowed temporarily from the bathroom.

The meals he prepared were composed of 90% white pasta or NewYork bagels (which are 4x the size of a normal bagel) and  10% green-things-that-might-have-been vegetables-once-upon-a-time-before-they-were-freezer-burnt-to-their-current-unrecognizable-state "sauteed" (yes the quotes are absolutely necessary) in butter and maple flavored syrup*.

These days, as I sit relaxed in our beautiful Brooklyn apartment, happy to be with my guy after long weeks apart at our comfy corporate jobs (where my outfits from the restaurant days would deffffffffffinitely get me sent to HR), and fitting comfortably in my pre-husband pants, I frequently propose a toast -- We clink our perfectly matched, un-chipped glasses together and remark, "we've come a long way baby".


Spicy Tilapia Filets, Quinoa Salad with Beets & Avocado, & Roasted Asparagus

Quinoa Recipe Adapted from my New Favorite Blog

3-4 medium beets, including fresh looking greens
olive oil for cooking
6 scallions, white and light green parts
2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa
2 small avocados, diced
1/4 cup toasted, salted sunflower seeds
 4 Tbsp. tahini
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. agave nectar
6 Tbsp. water, or as needed
hefty pinch of salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. finely chopped chives

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 450'.

Cut the greens from the beets at their stem. Rub a bit of olive oil on the skin of the beets, sprinkle with salt and wrap them all in a foil pack. Set on the middle oven rack and cook for 45-55 minutes until you can easily piece through with a knife. Set them aside to cool.

While the beets roast, clean and dry the greens. Chop off and discard the long red stems. Chop the greens and put them in a large mixing bowl. 

To prepare the dressing, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, vinegar, agave and water. Mix in the garlic, hearty pinch of salt and pepper and drizzle in the olive oil while whisking. Add more water if you prefer it thinner. Mix in the chives. Adjust to your taste and set aside. 

Once the beets are cool enough to touch, you should be able to just push the skin off with your fingers. Use a paring knife to help it along. Dice the peeled beets. Thinly slice the scallions. Add the beets, scallions, quinoa and avocado to the mixing bowl and toss with a generous amount of dressing (note: the salad will turn pink from the beets. If this bothers you, you can toss everything without the diced beets, and sprinkle them on top). Sprinkle in the sunflower seeds, give it one more toss.

Google pictures of college students eating ramen noodle packs and feel superior.

*I should explain that he is exceptionally talented at many many things. (Many, many, MANY things. It's a little annoying actually.) But cooking? Simply not his forte.