Smoked salmon and sweet potato frittatas

Don't you just love the idea of those websites where you can search a list of ingredients in your fridge/cupboard and it gives you a recipe suggestion! Ingenious! 

The inspiration for this recipe came when I had smoked salmon to use it up so I searched for smoked salmon recipes on google and I came across "mini frittatas with smoked salmon and herbed creme fraiche" on salmon recipes.net, eh yummmm! So then I had a look in the kitchen for potatoes and creme fraiche...I found sweet potatoes and sour cream...that'll do pig, that'll do;-)

Sweet potato frittata with smoked salmon and herbed sour cream 

Ingredients(serves 2)
15ml spoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely sliced

3 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

Quarter of a red pepper

Quarter of a green pepper
Half a 285g jar of artichoke antipasto, drained
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium size eggs, beaten
125g pack smoked salmon

75g sour cream

15ml spoon freshly chopped dill/dried dill

Gently heat the oil in a 20cm frying pan. Cook the onions for 1 minute, then add the peppers and cook for another minute.

Add the potatoes and cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle over the artichoke and mix in gently. Now season the beaten eggs and gently pour over the base. 

Allow the frittata to cook gently for a further 7 minutes until almost set, finishing off the frittata under the grill until golden brown.

When cool to the touch slice into wedges and pile the smoked salmon on top. Mix the sour cream with the dill. This can be served on top of the salmon or on the side.

ENJOY!

Sweet, sweet potato, roasted chilli & feta muffins

More Savoury Muffins...

This recipe came from a book I bought in work from the Book Club of Ireland. The book is called Home Made Baking and is a UK publication. It's one of those cookbooks I had to get at the time but I haven't cooked anything from it since I got it(we are talking years!). I have many cookbooks like that :-(

But the recipe was easy to follow and was tasty so I will have to use that book again:-)

Sweet Potato, Roasted chilli and Feta muffins
Ingredients(makes 12)
1 medium orange-fleshed sweet potato
1 fresh hot red chilli
300g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, crushed
Half teaspoon cumin powder or 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225mls low fat milk

Tulip wraps

3 tablespoons olive oil
75g feta cheese


use a 12-hole muffin tray. 
Again I used tulip wraps for presentation purposes. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius/400 degrees fahrenheit/Gas mark 6

Bake the sweet potato for 30-45mins having stabbed it with a fork several times and placed it on a baking sheet. I made the mistake of peeling the sweet potato before I baked it. However once it is cooled you can scoop out the flesh, mash it and set aside. 

I have always wanted to get a blowtorch for cooking but thought creme brulee would be the only reason to use one, so couldn't justify it. For this recipe I could have done with one to blacken the chilli. Instead I brushed it with a little oil and put it under the grill until it was scorched. Then put the chilli in a sandwich/freezer bag until cool enough to handle. It can be easily peeled now. Slit the chilli open lengthways and remove the stem, seeds and membranes. Finely chop the chilli flesh and set aside.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the garlic, cumin and basil. In a separate jug, beat the eggs, milk, olive oil and cooled mashed sweet potato together. 

Add the egg mixture and the chopped chilli to the dry ingredients. Now crumble the feta in and briefly mix until just combined. 

Crumble the feta in

Yes, I know, it looks like a bowl of vomit.

Spoon the batter into the muffin wraps, dividing evenly. Bake for 20-25mins or until well risen and golden.

Cool in the tin for 10mins, then turn out onto a wire rack. 

These muffins had a much more subtle flavour than the spinach and cheese muffins 

Spinach & cheese muffins

Hmmm, muffins...

So maybe the word "muffins" sounds like I'm cheating at Lent, but sure I have to live on something!! Actually I offered to bake these for a retirement party in work. I knew there would be lots of goodies at the party so I thought I would make something tasty so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out!

I got this recipe in the The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. It's a very pretty book with lots of yummy looking cupcakes/muffins/pies/ brownies/cakes and cookies. Thanks to Áine who gave me the book as a Kris Kringle present this Christmas.
I adapted the recipe based on whatever cheese was in the fridge at the time. I used half mature Wexford cheddar cheese, half parmesan in the first batch and then just mature Wexford cheddar cheese in the second batch. Using the parmesan meant the mixture was quite dry but they were tasty muffins. If you don't like a strong cheese flavour, mild cheddar would be fine to use.

Spinach and cheese muffins
Ingredients(makes 12)
30g butter
half a small red onion, finely chopped
360g plain flour
2 and a half teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
250g mature cheddar cheese or 
125g mature cheddar cheese and 125g parmesan, grated
220mls low fat milk
1 egg
65g spinach leaves, cut in strips or 130g baby spinach leaves


use a 12-hole muffin tray
I got some tulip muffin wraps in Kitchen Complements(Chatham Row, Dublin) for presentation purposes, the muffins expand alot so you will need big muffin cases. Bake in preheated oven (170 degrees celsius /325 degrees fahrenheit/Gas mark 3.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat,. Fry the onion until cooked and set aside.

Put the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper and cheese in a large bowl .

Mix the milk and egg together in another bowl, then slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat with a handheld electric whisk* until all the ingredients are mixed well.

*A word of warning, the mixture can be very dry, so be careful when using the handheld electric whisk because I was afraid mine was going to explode under the pressure. It's possible that another egg could be added to make the mixture easier to blend.

Stir in the onion and spinach with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed. Spoon the mixture into the papercases until half full* and bake for 30-35mins, or until deep golden and sponge bounces back when touched.

*the cookbook said two-thirds full but I found these to be quite filling to eat so I felt half full was plenty.

The second batch without the
parmesan as you can see was wetter.

Leave the muffins to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack.

YUM!*

* - If I do say so myself ;-)

40 days and 40 nights of savoury stuff

Spring has sprung.

It's Lent. I know it's a bit strange to start a food blog during Lent but I have given up eating chocolate, crisps, sweets, biscuits, desserts and cakes. I have such a sweet-tooth, I'm actually dreaming at night that I break Lent by tucking into a big lump of chocolate. Weird! 

Think it's time I discovered the joys of eating savoury foods.