Squash Blossom Frittata

I know what you’re thinking. Squash Blossoms?

Well it’s certainly not something I would have normally picked up. At least not before I met my husband, who, I discovered quickly, was a very adventurous eater. He’s someone who looks a menu and goes, “That looks weird. I’ve never heard of it. I want to try it!” After seven years of marriage, this habit is now pretty normal to me, and honestly his food curiosities end up being delicious nine times out of ten so I roll with it!

But I still haven’t answered your question. Yes. Squash Blossoms. They’re exactly what they sound like. If you’ve ever grown squash or pumpkins, you’ve probably seen these. We do not grow pumpkins or squash because I have a brown thumb, but we DO have a Farmers Market nearby that operates every Saturday.

What with the COVID pandemic and all, it had been almost two years since we ventured out to the Farmers Market, and we were so happy to finally go. So was our dog! He was tuckered out after that excursion.

When we arrive at the Market, we usually scope the place out to see what is being offered, then go back and buy what we want. On Saturday, we picked up some squash blossoms, some white beech and lions mane mushrooms, as well as onions, green beans, and beets, all fresh from the farm. We also found some amazing pastries - a pistachio chocolate croissant, and an oregano, olive, and goat cheese pastry that I unfortunately cannot remember the particular French name of.

That’s the beauty of a local Farmers Market. You not only get the opportunity to support local small businesses and farmers, but you also get access to unique and tasty items that might not be available at your grocery store.

But I digress.

As soon as we saw those squash blossoms, we knew we were going to make frittata.

Making a Squash Blossom Frittata

---

A frittata is an egg dish cooked slowly over low heat, first on the stove and then finished in the oven. It is a wonderful dish because it is so versatile! It can be made with just about anything! The egg is used as a base but you can add mushrooms, peppers, ham, sausage, spinach, tomatoes, artichokes, arugula, zucchini - the possibilities are endless! You can also use many types of cheese - we’ve done cheddar, feta, and gruyere and I’ve seen recipes with mozzarella and parmesan too.

For our frittata, we started by cutting up about 4 or 5 strips of bacon into small bits and crisping them up in a cast iron skillet.

While that was cooking, I cracked nine eggs into a bowl and beat them with a whisk.

♫ “

Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it; Get yourself an egg and beat it” ♫ Yes I am a Weird Al fan. You’re welcome.

After beating the eggs, I added 4 tablespoons of milk and whisked that in. I personally use Lactaid brand milk and can’t taste any difference from the regular kind.

We trimmed the greens off the onions and rinsed them, then separated the white beech mushrooms, which have a subtle, slightly sweet flavor. I’m not usually one for raw mushrooms, but these were pretty good!

After the bacon was done, we set it aside to drain on a paper-towel covered plate and then wiped out a little of the grease.

After adding maybe 2 tablespoons of butter, and sautéed the mushrooms and onion greens in the same cast iron pan that the bacon had cooked in.

After we let those cook for a few minutes, we added about 3 cloves of minced garlic and sautéed that for a minute.

Time to introduce the star of the show! We removed the stamens from the middle of the squash blossoms, then gently and briefly submerged them in a bowl of water to get rid of any dirt. We let them dry out on a tea towel.

Time to put everything together! We cut up some deli sliced swiss cheese into strips (we unfortunately didn’t have any gruyere, which would have been preferable in this case with its nutty flavor), and added the bacon back into the pan.

We added the egg mixture, gave it a stir to incorporate the other ingredients, then carefully laid the squash blossoms in the pan. We cooked it on the stovetop until the bottom was set but the top was still liquidy.

We finished the frittata in a 400 degree F oven for about 10 minutes and it came out beautiful and scrumptious!

Don’t be afraid to be adventurous and take chances with food! I was always historically a very safe eater, and I didn’t know what I was missing out on for a long time. I’ve been 99% happy with all the food adventures I’ve taken, so I hope my experiences will inspire you to take the culinary road less traveled!

“Tough Muffins!”

Look at these muffins. Look how golden and beautiful they are.

Look at that crunchy streusel topping. They look like everything you could want in a muffin, right? Don’t they look absolutely delicious?

Well, they WEREN’T.

They were most certainly not what I wanted in a muffin. They came out dry, and besides the streusel topping, they were honestly pretty bland. So what went wrong?

Let’s start with what I was trying to do.

I was trying to create some muffins by “Frankensteining” two recipes together. One, the “Sweet Dreams Muffins” recipe from the Gooseberry Patch: The Country Friends’ Collection: Muffins cookbook, called for sour cream. The other, which was the “Bakery Style Blueberry Streusel Muffins” by LittleSweetBaker.com, called for blueberries.

The Gooseberry Patch recipe was something my Mom made growing up. I remember them being light and fluffy and just the right amount of sweetness, and I think sometimes she would put a streusel topping on them (although I honestly can’t remember if it was a different recipe altogether with the streusel topping). I wanted the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors of this recipe, but I didn’t want to use sour cream. And for some reason I wasn’t in the mood for blueberries, so I wanted to skip the blueberry part of the LittleSweetBaker recipe.

So I made the LittleSweetBaker recipe, sans blueberries, and added the nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon from the Gooseberry Patch recipe, and whipped up a traditional brown sugar / flour / cinnamon / cold butter streusel to top them with. The problem was, the removal of the sour cream and blueberries deprived my muffins of some much-needed moisture and acidity, which typically brings out flavor.

Needless to say, I was super disappointed. I’d been thinking about muffins all week long, and looking forward to making them. And they came out of the oven so pretty and the photos came out so beautifully and…they were just not good. And to top it all off, my kitchen was a big mess - which always happens when I’m cooking (and especially when I’m baking).

See? Mess. And that’s only one counter.

Side note. When you’re watching the Food Network or any other cooking show and see Giada De Laurentiis, or Rachel Ray, or Bobby Flay or anybody cooking in a spotless kitchen, just keep in mind that they have people to clean up for them. You (probably) don’t. I definitely don’t. What I’m saying is that it’s okay to make a mess in the kitchen. It means it’s being used.

Okay. Moving on.

So after such a disappointing recipe why did I take the time to make this post?

BECAUSE IT’S OKAY TO MAKE MISTAKES.

It’s what cooking is about. As long as you don’t burn the house down, mistakes are okay! It’s all about learning. In this instance, I learned that I needed some sour cream, or blueberries, give moisture and flavor to my muffins. So I’m not going to try mixing these two recipes again. It’s also possible that I overcooked the muffins. The streusel topping was a little too crunchy. It’s also possible that I overmixed the batter, which is a big no no when making this sweet breakfast treat.

Did I make a mistake? Yes. But did I learn something? Yes, so I don’t have to beat myself up about it. This experiment gave me several things to pay attention to next time, and I had an experience to share with all of you!

So the next time you mess up a recipe, just say “Tough Muffins!”, wash those pots and pans, and make a note for next time.

Making Pasta e Fagioli

“When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool”….that's what this is!

The Quest

3/2/21

I’ve been trying to be really consistent at meal planning this year, and have been doing a pretty good job so far. I go shopping once for the week, planning on what to make for at least 5 dinners in a row.

I was doing my usual Sunday routine of going through my zillion Pinterest boards and trying to figure out what I wanted to make, when I found myself perusing my “Chilis, Soups, and Salads” board and found a recipe that I have not made yet!

This one comes from damndelicious.net and is the copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli soup. So I have all my ingredients all set, and I’m scheduled to make it tomorrow.

The Journey

3/3/21

I was talking to my Mom this morning and she was reminiscing about how much my Dad hated beans, and thus hated this soup. He’d go in for a delicious bite of pasta and there’d be a bean sneakily hiding inside it.

So if you’re like my Dad, this soup might not be for you. But I personally thought it turned out delicious!

I started off by getting everything measured out, prepped, and cut up. This is referred to as “Mise en place,” a fancy French phrase meaning “putting in place” or “everything in its place.”

I find this method especially useful when making a recipe for the first time. Then I’m not stressing out, scrambling around and trying to get everything done at the same time. Everything is done ahead of schedule, so I just have to toss it in or what have you when I reach that step.

As you can see, cans are open, veggies chopped, herbs measured, beans rinsed and drained, and chicken broth ready to go.

Next up, I got my faithful little red Dutch oven heated up and added the sausage.

The recipe called for hot italian sausage, but I wasn’t sure how spicy that would be. So I got the mild kind, and added maybe a 1/4 t of red pepper flakes.

Next I added the veggies to the same pot that I had browned the sausage in, and cooked until tender (about 8-10 minutes).

The pasta is cooking in the background, but besides that and the beans, everything else is in the pot. The veggies, the sausage, the tomatoes and herbs.

The Verdict

The prep took a little longer than I thought, but that’s pretty commonplace for something I’ve never made before.

The only deviations I made from the original recipe as far as ingredients go were adding about 2 T of parmesan cheese, and (up to) 2 T of Sherry Vinegar, to bring out the flavors of the soup. I did this in the last step, when everything was already in the pot, right before it was dished out.

My husband and I both loved it, and the recipe easily made 6 servings. When my band gets back together for practice after it’s safe to do so, I definitely plan on making this for them. I’m sure they’ll love it.

All in all, I would say this recipe was a success and I will absolutely be making it again. A perfect soup for a cold night (or anytime)! Thanks again to damndelicious.net for a great recipe!

If you make this recipe, drop me a line or send me a photo at info@cookingtothepoint.com and let me know how it went! Or, tag me @cook2thepoint and use the hashtag #cookingtothepoint!

Happy eating!