mayo the impossible!

      Don't tell me I can't do something! That is the perfect fuel that drives me to do whatever is deemed impossible. When I made my Vietnamese Cauliflower Sandwich Salad, I tried to make my own Roasted Garlic Chipotle Mayo. That was a deee - saster! I really didn't follow the directions. And while I dreamed of using my food processor, the blade was just too high to cream the egg.
"Its impossible! You cannot make homemade mayonnaise!" These words seared my ego. "Yes - I - Can!"
        It was even suggested that there is some type of mayo conspiracy that the egg companies are responsible for that causes relentless dumb dumbs like me to throw away good egg after egg in pursuit of mayo that will never happen.
         I can't believe it. We live in a time of hope! This time I followed a recipe that called for using a hand mixer. I can do that. I didn't really follow the recipe at all. I took a look at the basic ingredients that all mayos seem to call for then kind of just threw everything together. The key though is to slowly drizzle the oil into the egg against the side of the bowl so it gradually gets incorporated. Combined with some patience and steel brained pride and you can have delicious mayonnaise, too!
I used it to make Curried Deviled Eggs!!!

Mayo the Impossible!
2 egg yokes
1 egg white
salt

pepper

1/2 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne

3-4 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
1-2 tsp hot water
1 C. canola oil

With a hand mixer beat the egg yoke until creamy with salt, pepper, mustard, sugar and cayenne. Adding the lemon juice and hot water each tsp at a time. Taste as you go. Add the egg yoke here and beat a little more. Slowly add the oil, drizzling the oil against the side of the bowl. You are done when it looks like mayo, white and fluffy.

Curried Deviled Eggs
2-3 Boiled Eggs, Peeled, Halved and Yokes removed
Mayonnaise
Salt
Pepper
Dried Mustard
Curry Powder
Dash of Vinegar
Paprika

These are the basic ingredients. You need to taste as you go. Start with the egg yokes. Mix with some mayo until you get a creamy consistency. Add spices 1/8 tsp at a time and just a dash of vinegar. Keep tasting and adjusting until you get the right flavor. Fill the egg halves with the egg yoke mayo mix and sprinkle with paprika.

KALE AND LEEK FRITTATA

    The frittata. The kale and leek frittata. So simple, but this one took so long. There are a few steps, one involving cooling the sauteed green before mixing with the eggs, the other remembering there is cheese in a frittata so you don't have to run out and buy some with the oven on waiting for that sweet frittata to start baking. 

    So I sauteed some leeks and garlic in lard. Yes lard, its excellent for sauteeing greens. Then added some peperoncino and the kale. A little salt and pepper, until the kale is soft. Cool the kale. In a bowl beat eggs, cream or milk, pecorino romano cheese, salt and pepper. Add the kale to this. You have to eyeball this. You might be left with some extra kale. Or if you don't have enough it will be an eggy frittata, but thats okay. I start the cooking off on the stove top in Grandma's cast iron pan, then after a few minutes I pop it into a 350 degree preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes until the eggs are firm in the middle but not overly dry. 

    Enjoy with a nice piece of Italian Bread and maybe a fancy salad on the side with some orange wedges. Oh and beer? How did that get into brunch? Oh well, it was nice.

GOING BIG AND GREASY

You know that something delicious is on the table when your stovetop looks like a greasy mess. We had some leftover pork sausage and ground meat from the Ludlow, VT Farmer's Market, plus some supermodel eggs, so I made this greasy hash topped with a sunny side up egg. 
     I chopped up some onions, garlic and potatoes really finely. Mike helped because he hates the texture of onions so he was motivated. Then I sauteed the onions and garlic with peperoncino, broke up the meat and browned it, then added the potatoes and sauteed everything until it was soft. I made sure to scrape up the greasy crispy bits from the bottom of the pan cause it would be a shame not to eat that. Salt and pepper. Then, just a sunny side up egg on top and there you have the "going big an greasy" breakfast.

PASTA WITH FRITTATINI

     As most people know a frittata is an Italian style omelet. Frittatini, (free-tuh-tee-nee), translated as "little frittate," are a little different. Considered a peasant dish, it has all the qualities of a meat dish, but without the meat. They look like chicken nuggets and are basically balls of chicken cutlet batter, without the chicken. And, you stew them in tomato sauce like meatballs. 

     Frittatini are a speciality of my Nonna's and as I prepared them it smelled exactly like her kitchen. Its such an easy dish to make, especially when the only protein you have in the fridge are eggs. First you start with a basic tomato sauce. I make many versions of tomato sauce based on what I have on hand and how much much effort I want to put in so I will consider this "chunky, low effort, half-fresh sauce". While the sauce is cooking down, you start to make the frittatini batter, fry them, then add them to the sauce. They soaks up all the delicious flavor of the tomato sauce. 

     Traditionally, like with meatballs, you would eat your pasta with sauce first, then the frittatini would be the second course with a salad. But here in the great USA we take our meatballs and our frittatini with our pasta, and our second course is our second helping.

First, the sauce. An excellent tomato sauce takes time. It calls for fresh tomatoes, a food mill to take out the tomato seeds and skin, and it calls for fresh basil. Today, my basil was rotten, I only had 2 fresh tomatoes and I was too lazy to take out the food mill with its many parts to clean. This did not stop me from making a very good sauce. I used a can of sauce to supplement my tomatoes and a frozen basil cube from Trader Joe's (Nonna would be offended by this). Its not the same as fresh basil and it leaves bits throughout the sauce that bother me aesthetically because it looks like canned sauce with all the unnecessary seasoning, but it gets the flavor in there. And, if you don't have any basil at all, you can still make a good sauce.

TOMATO SAUCE (chunky, low-effort, half-fresh)

2 fresh tomatoes (if you have them)

1 - 8oz can of tomato sauce (or chopped tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes)

1/4 onion chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic chopped

olive oil

salt

pepper

pinch of sugar

1 basil cube or a few fresh basil leaves (optional)

Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes. If you have fresh tomatoes, add them and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Once the tomatoes begin to release some of their juices, add the can of tomato sauce with a little bit of water. If you add whole peeled tomatoes, break them up with your wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for 20-30 min., stirring occasionally. While the sauce is cooking down, prepare the frittatini.

FRITTATINI

3 eggs

2 heaping TBSP of grated cheese

4 heaping TBSP of unseasoned bread crumbs

2 TBSP milk (soy works fine, too)

1-2 cloves of garlic chopped

1 TBSP chopped parsley

Salt

Pepper

Beat your eggs with milk, then add the rest of 

the ingredients gradually. You want to focus on

the consistency of the batter more than the 

exact measurements here. You want the 

frittatini batter to be firm but moist. Once the 

oil is ready, scoop the batter with a large spoon 

to make chicken nugget size pillows in the oil. 

The shape does not have to be perfect. Fry until 

golden on each side then add to the tomato sauce. 

By this point the sauce should be done and you can 

turn it off and let the frittatini stew in there while 

you boil your pasta.

Serve the frittatini with pasta and tomato sauce and garnish with grated cheese.

Dosas in Amagansett

My work often takes me to the Hamptons, NY and when I am there I stay in Amagansett, a great town halfway between East Hampton and Montauk. I always find myself there on Wednesday mornings, when every shop in the town is closed, except the Hampton Chutney Company, where for breakfast we eat dosas with warm chai tea.

A dosa is basically a gigantic Indian sour dough crepe, made with rice, so its gluten free.

When the question of portion control rears its unwelcome head at my meal, I always look at my plate and think, okay all that has to fit in my stomach. What is the rule? Your stomach is the size of about a fistful of food. But stretchy? At easily a foot long, dosas are rule breakers, and when we opt not to share one to get it closer to that fistful, we justify it with, "but are really light." 

The warm crispy dosas are filled with anything from traditional spicy potato masala to calamata olives, tomatoes, onions, arugula and goat cheese. There are 14 dosa combos on the menu and each are served a choice of the following fresh chutneys: cilantro, curry, mango, tomato, peanut or pumpkin. Cilantro, my favorite, so fresh and mildly sweet is also sold in a to-go tub so I can take it home and put it on everything from rice to apples. 

Pictured above: Mike, Yui, Miguel and the "Charlies" enjoying some Breakfast Dosas, filled with scrambled eggs, spinach, roasted tomato, jack cheese and avocado.

If you're not out east, there are two in locations NY. Go to Hampton Chutney Company for more info.

Thanks, Miguel for letting me borrow your amazing Canon 5D to take these photos!