Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata bites

I made these Black Chickpea and Sweet Potato frittata Bites over the festive period. 

I had some friends coming over for a few hours, so wanted to make some light bites and nibbles for them which included these Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata, which was sliced into bite size pieces.  Its both sweet and savoury.  You can see the studded black chickpeas and orange sweet potato chunks with a flicker of red here and there from a red pepper.  It was nice to nibble. 

As usual, I made way too much of this Black chickpea and sweet potato frittata bites. I wanted to give some to my guests to take home, but they were on their way somewhere else, so I ended up giving it to D to take into work the following day for his lunch at work.  He very much enjoyed it.  

I would like to add this is perhaps one of the easiest recipes to veganize by substituting the eggs for chickpea flour.  In fact, I may do that one day. 

By the way have you noticed that the food on my blog this week has been mostly burnished brown colours?!  

Australian style Savoury Zucchini Slice

The joy of food blogging is you will find some like minded people who share recipes that truly inspire you that you really want to recreate at home.  It is one of the reasons I continue to blog.

This Australian Zucchini Slice recipe comes from Johanna who blogs over at Green Gourmet Giraffe.  Apparently it is one of the most popular recipes in Australia and may have been brought to Australia in the 1950s by an Italian migrant. Whatever its background, Zucchini Slice also happens to be one of Johanna's childhood favourites and its a recipe that I have had bookmarked since 2012 to make.  

Johanna actually has two Australian Zucchini Slice recipe, a vegetarian version made with facon bacon and a vegan version made with chickpea flour and tofu bacon. I did not have any facon bacon either home made or shop bought, though I could have made some over the weekend, but was impatient and the courgette harvest pile from the garden was mounting higher and higher each day. Plus what to make for dinner.

So instead I tried to mimic the smoky facon 'bacon' flavours with liquid smoke and smoked paprika, but the balance was not quite right as these additional flavours did not come through strong, still it made for a tasty side - very tasty in fact as D said it was delicious. Its savoury, light from the courgettes and rich in flavour from the cheese. 

One of my favourite vegetarian food writers Celia Brooks in her World Vegetarian Classics section of Australasia also shares a recipe for Zucchini Slice and writes' its a classic from  Australian Women's Weekly, an institution of great home cooking championed by generations of housewives'. 

Oven Baked Za'atar Tomato and Potato Frittata

Long day at work, so I will share something else that was made in the oven the weekend - Za'atar Tomato and Potato Frittata or Tortilla.   

Sliced, this Frittata is good for a picnic, BBQ or buffet food.

This one is made with potatoes, juicy plum tomatoes and then binded with eggs, doused generously with za'atar and then baked in the oven until set.  Its good either at room temperature or cold. We had some left over and took it into work for lunch. 

Chive digging and 'wild garlic' frittata muffins

Some news on the growing and gardening plot.
These spicy salad seeds are for the 3foot by 3 foot bed. The rainbow radishes I sowed a couple of weeks ago are starting to sprout. I also transplanted some purple top Milan turnip seedlings into this bed.

The lollo rosso lettuce seems to be thriving. I'll be picking some soon.

I separated the chive plant into 6 and lined them along the larger bed which I think measures 6foot by 8foot. On digging, what I thought was rampant chive seedlings taking over the plot, was actually garlic that I had planted.

What a waste - there were about a dozen of these garlic bulbs that I had forgot to harvest.

This is our garden wildlife pond. I inherited the gnome on the right hand side by the little girl who used to live below us. She and her family moved out a couple of months ago, so we now have new neighbours. The water in this wildlife pond needs topping off. If you look close, you'll see some wild stinging nettle growing there. I discovered the joys of eating wild stinging nettles just over three years ago. I can hand on my hand say, its my favourite wild weed.

Unfortunately it won't be enough to make nettle beer. I'll have to go foraging with gloves if I intend to make some.

Here is some of the wild garlic that I managed to lift with its bulbs intact last weekend. Now I don't know if I'll be able to grow some in my garden, especially as wild garlic likes damp soil, but I am going to try. I have planted it next to the above wildlife pond, where the nettles are growing of their own accord. Hey I can only try.

This is my tiny greenhouse where I have left some of the stronger seedlings. D is getting both frustrated and annoyed with me now, as I am planting my seeds and re-potting in the flat, I am dropping tiny amounts of soil here and there. Its not my fault, I don't have a potting shed and theres no shelter in the garden for me to do this, so I have to make do with the space I have and thats indoors. The window sills are beginning to look messy too, but what can I do, I am making the most of what we have. I too am getting frustrated. Regardless, some more seeds have gone into pots.

When I made the 'wild garlic' quiche, I had a load of cooked sliced potatoes left over. Now not one not to waste, I decided to make some 'wild garlic' frittata muffins for the weekend; or should they be called tortilla muffins. Some of which we enjoyed yesterday. They tasted good, but I have to be honest with you, I hadn't greased the muffin pan well, so some of them did not come out in one piece. Anyway, we had some left over so that is what we had for our lunch today.

*I actually added two tablespoons of the wild garlic pesto to the mix. If you can't source wild garlic, just substitute it with minced mint and parsley.
'Wild garlic' frittata muffins

Makes 6 - 8

Ingredients

200g of potatoes, diced

1 medium onion, minced

2 tbsp of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of wild garlic pesto or 2 tablespoons of fresh wild garlic or herbs, minced*

6 medium eggs

40g-60g cheddar, grated

Method

Generously grease a muffin baking tray and set aside.
Cook the potatoes and then drain and set aside. Gently fry the finely diced onion in the olive oil on a medium heat until translucent and soft. Then stir in the potatoes and turn off the heat. When cool, distribute the vegetables evenly into 6 or 8 of the muffin holes. Beat the eggs in a bowl with some a salt and pepper, add the wild garlic pesto, fresh wild garlic or minced herbs. Pour over the egg mixture evenly over each muffin filling. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and then place in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 25 - 30 minutes. They will puff up and turn golden a little. When cool, gently prize out of muffin tin. Eat hot or cold.

Drying sunflowers

It was a very short visit to the plot today as I had other distractions. These are sunflowers in my greenhouse drying: for the little birdies you see. There is a reason why the sunflowers are up in the air and face down. In the past the little mices have got to the seeds before me, so this is my way to stop them. So far it seems to be working. Whilst at the plot, I managed to pick some stems of chard for this frittata we had for a late lunch.

Interesting colour don't you think?

We have enough left over to eat cold, perhaps even take over to the allotment tomorrow, when I hope to spend more time there (fingers crossed that it's not raining).

Potato and Chard Frittata
Serves 4 – 6
Ingredients
4 spring onions, sliced
4 – 6 large chard leaves. Stalk finely sliced and leaves shredded
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 large potato, sliced preferably with a mandolin
50g cheddar cheese, grated
6 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Place the chard stalks and potato slices in a frying pan* with the olive oil and cook until the vegetables are cooked through. Stir in the shredded chard, onions, garlic and season well for a few minutes until the chard leaves start to wilt. Pour the beaten eggs along with cheese over the mixture. Cook over low heat for a few minutes; or until the bottom of the mixture begins to set and become golden. Then transfer to the oven and cook for 10 – 12 minutes; or under the grill for about 6 minutes until firm and golden. *My frying pan measured 8 -10 inches inches, but you may want to cook the vegetables in a large pan and then transfer it to a frying pan to make the frittata.

Spicy Broccoli Pasta Frittata

This dish was my attempt to use up some of the harvest in my fridge, in this case it was the broccoli. We had it for lunch and it went down a treat.

This is also my contribution towards Pasta Presto Nights No 126 which is being hosted by mother and daughter pair Giz (Gizmar) and Psychgrad of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, This blog is relatively new to me, but what I have seen I really like, especially the fact it shows 'real food', food you want to eat, not just 'photogenic food'. I always enjoy participating in PPN as it is fondly known, as Ruth of 4Everykitchen is such a wonderful co-host. PPN has a very simple pre-requisite. The dish must have some sort of noodle, it doesn't have to be traditional Italian type pasta, it can be hot, cold, salad, soup, main, dessert, or anything else, but it must have some kind of noodle. I must get this in by the deadline which is today.

Spicy Broccoli Pasta Frittata

Serves 4 generously

Ingredients

150g penne pasta,

100g-200g broccoli, washed and cut into pieces

4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

generous pinch of chilli flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

6 medium eggs, beaten

100g cheddar cheese, grated

Method

First make pasta according to packet instructions, when cooked drain and leave on side to cool.

In a frying pan, add oil with broccoli and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft. Add in the cooked pasta and stir till warmed through. Add chilli flakes, salt and pepper to beaten eggs and pour over the pasta and broccoli mix. Cook slowly until set. Scatter over cheese, and place under grill until golden. Cut in quarters and serve.

Rainy morning Eggy breakfast

It's raining outside. The plan was to go over to the allotment and finish off work we didn't get round to doing yesterday, but it doesn't look too good. We'll give it an hour or so, and the rain may calm down a bit. Otherwise, it may be a house clean-up day.

For now, I decided to make a cooked eggy breakfast: courgette frittata. No yellow courgettes for me this year, but I can't gripe too much as this courgette is one of the longest I've ever grown.

Courgette frittata
Serves 4

Ingredients
225g courgettes, grated or sliced
6 medium eggs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
50-100g cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Beat the eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat the oil in a 7 inch frying pan. Add the garlic and fry over low heat for 1 minute, then add the courgettes and turn in garlicky oil for a couple of minutes. Pour the eggs into the pan and stir briefly, then cook over the medium heat until set underneath and around the edges. Scatter over the grated cheese and continue to cook over a very low heat until the egg is set and only slightly runny in the middle. Because I made these in a blini pan (x4), I finished them off under the grill. But you could, if you wanted to invert a plate over the frying pan, hold both together firm, then turn over so that the frittata is on the plate. Slide the frittata, runny side down, back into the frying pan and continue to cook until set underneath.

Serve warm or cold.

Broad bean, pea, feta and mint frittata

Although this dish was substantial and tasted good, I do think flipping the frittata over was a bit of a mistake as the juices of the feta just drained out. I think if you have a frying pan that is ovenproof, put it in the oven for 10 minutes or failing that under the grill until it browns nicely. You learn.

Broad bean, pea, feta and mint frittata

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
225g mixture of peas and shelled fresh broad beans
6 medium eggs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
85g feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste
About 8 mint leaves, finely shredded
Method
Cook the broad beans and peas in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes until just tender. Beat the eggs in a bowl and season to taste. Heat the oil in a 7 inch frying pan. Then add broad beans. Pour the eggs into the pan and stir briefly, then cook over the medium heat until set underneath and around the edges. Add the mint and crumble the cheese in to the liquid egg and continue to cook over a very low heat until the egg is set and only slightly runny in the middle. Invert a plate over the frying pan and hold both together firm, then turn over so that the frittata is on the plate. Slide the frittata, runny side down, back into the frying pan and continue to cook until set underneath. Serve warm or cold.

This was accompanied with an allotment salad made up of various salad leaves, red onion, radishes, and a grated carrot.