Cast Iron Frittata

So I've made Frittata and posted on here about it before, however that was always done with just a skillet/saucepan. Now I used a cast iron skillet I've had around and I think it improved the flavor at least 10 fold.

Ingredients:
9 Eggs
1 Green Bell Pepper, finely diced
1 Poblano Pepper, finely diced
1 Yellow Onion, finely diced
1/3 stick Butter
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Paprika
Garlic Salt
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Gruyere Cheese
Monterey & Colby Jack Cheese

Alright, so first things first. Get your cast iron skillet ready. This took me quite awhile since I had not used it in a long time and it may have gotten a little rusty. So to clean this don't use soap. It causes headaches. I used Olive Oil and a paper towel to wipe it down until it was fixed. This takes awhile.

Once you have that done, cut up a stick of Butter to where 1/3 of it is in the cast iron skillet, along with some Olive Oil. At this point empty out your oven and turn it to 400 BAKE.

Now gather the rest of your ingredients.

First, dice your Onion up very finely. You can leave it chunky if you prefer that, but I like it finely diced so that's just what I did!

Second, dice up your Green Bell Pepper. I also diced up my Poblano Pepper after this but no picture since it looks pretty much the same just darker.

Turn on the burner your cast iron skillet is on, I set it at MEDIUM. Once it melts most of the Butter into the Olive Oil, dump your diced Onions in and move them around.

At this point I cracked the eggs into a mixing bowl and mixed them up together with a dash of Ground Black Pepper and Sea Salt.

Your Onions should be caramelized quite nicely by now.

Add in your diced Peppers.

Mix together and add a light dusting of Garlic Salt and Paprika.

Once the Peppers start to soften, turn off your burner. Add the Egg mixture to the skillet. Top it with however much cheese you want on top. I went crazy with it.

Into the oven it goes. Make sure to use an oven mitt or something similar since the cast iron skillet will burn you.

It takes about 10-20 minutes to cook properly. I like my eggs a little drier when I make Frittata so I left it in the oven for about 18 minutes. You can tell it is done by the edges of the Frittata mixture pulling away from the sides of the skillet.

Due to my large amount of cheese used, there was a large cheese bubble on top of my Frittata! Once it began to cool it went away, but still interesting to see.

I let it cool for about 5 minutes and then cut into pieces and served. Make sure to use a sharp object like a knife to edge around the Frittata, otherwise it might stick to the outside when you are trying to remove it for consumption. Enjoy.

Sweet Potato Fries

A few of my friends know about my cooking this recipe before, however it's been awhile. This is a recipe I first made back in 2007 or 2008 for my Thanksgiving down here in Texas. I have only made it maybe three times since then and it's about time to put it on here!

Ingredients:
1 Sweet Potato
Olive Oil
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt

My oven was already on at 400 degrees which made beginning this recipe quite easily.

I chopped the Sweet Potato into fry like chunks and put into a mixing bowl. Once in there I added some Olive Oil along with a pinch or two of each spice listed. Then shaken to mix/coat the fries.

Now using a cooking sheet, I drizzled some Olive Oil on.

I then placed the fries on there with some space in between them.

Into the oven they went, where I had my Root Vegetable Salad already cooking. Delicious, no?

After about 15 to 20 minutes they should be done. They look tasty.

Now just plate and serve. Enjoy.

Root Vegetable Salad

This recipe has been bouncing around inside my head for the past couple weeks and I finally found Parsnips so cooking had to happen! It's my first time cooking something like this, so this should be fun!

Ingredients:
5 Parsnips
10 Carrots
7 Red Potatoes
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix
Olive Oil

Turn your oven to 400 degrees BAKE. Make sure it's empty.

Now this recipe I began by finding Parsnips at the grocery store for once! I then gathered everything together.

I went in order Parsnips first, Carrots second, and Potatoes third. By that, I mean I cut them into large pieces as evidenced by the cut up Parsnips in this picture.

I did my best to mix them up and ended up having enough cut to fill two entire glass cooking dishes with the ingredients.

I then poured on a heavy dose of Olive Oil. On top of that I added 2 pinches of Sea Salt, 3 of Ground Black Pepper, and 1 large pinch of Italian Herb Mix. This is per glass dish. Then they went into the oven. Yes, I was cooking these at the same time as I was cooking Sweet Potato Fries.

They should cook for about 45 minutes.

Take them out and use a spatula to serve. I dusted with some Italian Herb Mix. Enjoy.

Maple & Orange Syrup with Oranges

A few days ago I put it out there to my coworkers and friends that I wanted their input on what I should cook up on this blog. Well, I did not get much feedback and I think that was due to me asking for them to either give me an ingredient or something broad so I could still decide the end product. Well, a certain person said I should try throwing a dessert dish together since I have not done that before. Here we go...


Ingredients:
3 md Oranges
4 tsp Butter
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
2 tpsp Orange Liqueur
2 tbsp Orange Juice

Get all of your stuff together.

I started by making sure my oven was empty and then turned the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I then made sure I had Tinfoil cut into squares large enough to form a bowl around the Orange slices in the next step.

I grabbed the Oranges and cut them into slices. I discarded the ends since they did not really help out at all. I then trimmed the peel and white membrane away from the edges of the slices. I placed the slices in the tinfoil and made sure the tinfoil formed a bowl/cup around them.

Here I created the mixture used. I grabbed my glass measuring cup and put in 4 tsp Butter. I placed this in the microwave for about 1 minute to melt the butter completely. To this I added the 2 tbsp of Maple Syrup, Orange Liqueur, and Orange Juice. Then stirred to make sure it all mixed together properly.

I then poured this mixture into the tinfoil bowls/cups where the Orange slices were waiting. About this time your oven should be ready as well. I closed the bowls up using the tinfoil, and placed them on a cooking sheet. Into the oven they went for 10 to 12 minutes.

Take out, be careful since it's very hot! Take out and serve. The recipe I roughly followed also called for them to be served with fresh cream or cheese, however I just served them as is. Enjoy.

Sourdough Pizza Snackers 2.0

So in my way of improving on recipes, I decided some snacks were needed yesterday for I was quite famished. What do all red blooded men like besides steak, sports, booze? PIZZA!
I recalled that the snackers before were prone to a little sogginess if not done perfectly in the Microwave, so I made sure my oven was ready for some use.

Over is ready and eager.

I took out a cooking tin and turned the oven to BROIL at 450 degrees. Then I placed several slices of sourdough bread on the tin.

I grabbed my jar of tomato sauce, and proceeded to spoon out the sauce onto the bread slices and spread it evenly.

Now, I love cheese. Who doesn't other than lactose intolerant people? Well I mixed shredded asiago, quattro fromagio(4 cheese blend), gruyere, and monterey jack on top.

On top of all that, I added a healthy dose of garlic salt and crushed basil.

By this time the oven is ready, it will probably DING!!! at you. Make sure you have your proper oven mits to handle the oven/hot tray after the food is done cooking.

Place the sheet on the middle or top rack and pay careful attention after they've been on for a few minutes so you can pull them out when they are cooked to your specific standards. I think mine took between 5 and 10 minutes to be done. Then just use a spatula to take the snackers off the HOT metal tin and place on a plate to serve.

Sourdough Pizza Snackers

Alright, so in addition to the previous post of Capresi Skewers, I decided that Pizza would be a great snack as well. So I searched through my kitchen and found several things that could make this happen. Ingredients: Sourdough Bread Loaf (pre-sliced) Shredded Cheese Tomato Sauce Spice mix of basil, sage, oregano, & thyme With this you can choose any sauce/cheese you would like, so I went with Asiago shredded cheese and generic heart smart tomato sauce. This recipe is a simple one anyone could do, and it is so tasty! Take a plate, put three slices of the Sourdough Bread on there. Cover the bread slices with Tomato Sauce, but not so much as to touch the edges of it since that can result in one big tasty mess. On top of that I sprinkled the spice mix on, which in turn was covered by the shredded Asiago cheese. At this stage you could choose to put it in the oven or even cook it up on a skillet, however I went with the device known as a Microwave. Yes, I love microwaves. They make some recipes so much easier. I put the plate in there for approximately 3 minutes, or until the cheese melts thoroughly. Then take out, let sit for about a minute so it's not too hot, then enjoy!