October 7 – October 13, 2024

Monday:                  Leftover Coq au Vin with Mashed Potatoes

Tuesday:                  Sausage and Peppers One-Pot Pasta

Wednesday:          Smash Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Gruyere

Thursday:                PFC

Friday:                      Country French Omelet with Avocado Toast

Saturday:                Mushroom and Pepperoni Pizza

Sunday:                   Ultimate Beef Stew enjoyed after the Steelers punished the Raiders for past offenses

More Ina, More Peasants

Ina Garten is, as mentioned in our previous post, everywhere, as inescapable as the Kelce brothers, or the Mannings, or Taylor Swift, or political advertisements.  (There needs to be an extra millennium in Purgatory for anyone connected with those ads.) And she has even been dominating What We Cooked Last Week. 

Ina has a new television program – a conversational format in which she interviews people she finds interesting and then cooks for them and they cook for or with her.  Recently she invited the wonderful Julia Louis-Dreyfus to her Hamptons estate – a home which only an ascetic or a nomad would not envy.  Louis-Dreyfus is the female equivalent of Robin Williams, a person who simply cannot stop being funny.  So you should watch the show, it will make you laugh.

But you should also watch the show because Ina cooked what she called a “French Country Omelet” for Julia and, for those of you who, like SWMBO and I like Sunday brunch and don’t even mind eggs for a weeknight dinner, this recipe is a real keeper.

If you’re worried that this is one of those omelets that need constant attention and, at the conclusion, a sort of slight-of-hand trick of the wrist to make them fold over themselves in the pan and then drop onto to a plate – relax.  This omelet is more like a frittata – I guess the French just don’t have a word for that sublime Italian concoction.  And the French who live in the country, from which this omelet presumably comes, wouldn’t waste their time with any culinary tricks.  They work hard on the farm and don’t need to overtax themselves in the kitchen.  And they’re just too hungry after a long day of sowing and reaping and milking the cows and slopping the pigs to fuss with haute-cuisine.

This dish is simple to cook, delicious to eat and nutritious enough to feed to an NFL linebacker before the big game.  If you have ham or bacon and eggs and potatoes on premises, you can make this simple meal.  Add some nice toasted bread – we had a ripe avocado to smear on our toast – and a glass of good wine, and you have a fine meal for a quick dinner or a leisurely brunch (change the wine to a Bloody Mary, if you’re having Beez over for brunch.)

Country French Omelet

(adapted from Ina Garten)

Timing:                                              30 minutes or so

Ingredients:                                Feeds 2, substantially

Note:  We do not have a 10-inch non-stick omelet pan,but cooked This omelet in a 12-inch non-stick skillet and had to add some eggs to fill the pan, so we added a bit more bacon and a bit more potato as well.

1 tablespoon good olive oil (we used a bit more)

3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces (we used four slices)

1 cup of 1-inch diced unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes (we used maybe another

1/3 cup)

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

5 extra-large eggs (we used 9 large eggs)

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon butter (we used a bit more)

1 tablespoon chopped chives

Prep:

Preheat your oven to 350 F

Slice the bacon, dice the potatoes, crack the eggs into a large bowl and add the milk and beat until mixed.

Chop the chives

Cook:

Heat the oil in your skillet or omelet pan over medium, then add the bacon and cook over medium-low until the bacon is browned but not really crisp.  Ina says this take 3-5 minutes – it took me about 12.

Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate

Place the potatoes in the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until very tender and browned, tossing and turning occasionally.  Remove with that slotted spoon to the plate with the bacon.  Ina says this takes 8-10 minutes.  It took me about 20.

Pour the fat out of the pan, add the butter, lower the heat to low and pour the eggs into the hot pan.  Distribute the bacon, potatoes and chives evenly over the top and place the pan in the oven for 8 minutes until the eggs are set.  (We cooked for a few minutes on top of the stove, until the eggs were just beginning to set and then for another 10-12 in the oven.)

Slide omelet onto a plate, divide and serve.  Good, toasted bread makes this a complete meal.

Now add ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper to the egg mixture, give it another whisk.