Sunday 12 April 2015

Vegetable Frittata thingie

NAME: _Vegetable Frittata thingie
(Sorry, no picture, just imagine a generic frittata type thing %) What made this special was just that the vegetables were still screaming and kicking from being picked washed and prepared... %)

INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
Home grown:
About a pound of new potatoes (fresh that afternoon)
About half a pound of  silver beet leaves
Three carrots complete with greens
A bunch of parsley (around a packed cupful when just torn from the thicker stems)
One brown onion

Home made:
one tablespoon each of lard and dripping
2 tablespoons of fresh ground flour
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Other:
Two stalks celery
Four eggs (not this year, but next year this ingredient will join the "home grown" section above...)
Chicken stock cube (or vegetable stock cube. or home made vegetable powders)
2 tbsp grated parmesan or romano
A few cups of water, divided, see recipe
salt to season

METHOD:
Wash the vegetables well and shake dry, slice the potatoes and carrot roots about 1/2cm (1/4 inch) thick and put in a large frying pan with the lard and the dripping and about a cup of water. Include the thicker parts of the carrot greens stems and parsley stems, chopped roughly, and the leaves and top of one celery stalk also chopped roughly. Tear the silver beet leaves away from the stems and set aside, chop the stems into chunky sticks and add them to the pan.

Salt lightly to draw moisture out of vegetables. Put the lid on the frying pan and bring to a simmer, turning occasionally.

Meanwhile, slice the onion into lengthways wedges about the same thickness as the vegetable slices, Slice the celery stalks about the same, discard the top and leaves of the second stalk. Roughly chop the remainder of the carrot greens and the parsley. Add them to the pan and leave the lid on for another ten minutes, then remove the lid and allow to evaporate until the vegetables are frying, turn a few times until some browning takes place, then take off heat and spoon into a baking dish.

Beat the eggs, half a cup to one cup of water, flour, and crumbled chicken stock cube until all dissolved and pour over the vegetables in the dish, lifting the vegetables to allow the mixture to penetrate. Aim to have a thin film of egg mixture standing, this will absorb and penetrate while baking. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese over. Stand for a few minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to absorb the remaining liquid. Bake in preheated oven 180C - 200C for 30 to 60 minutes, until the topping has a browned colour as you prefer it.

SERVING:
Remove from oven and stand for ten minutes or so, then serve. Also good cold served with a side salad.

NOTES:
Happy to say most of it came from our own garden or endeavours. (Breadcrumbs collected from bread made in house, lard and drippings rendered in house, and I ground the flour using a coffee burr grinder on finest setting, from wheat berries. Next year we're going to have our own eggs again, and I'll have celery growing in the aquaponics so we'll have a supply of that too.)

Adjust the quantities to your preferences, more flour if you like a firmer texture, baked darker brown if you like the more crunchy topping, etc. But carrot greens are a bit of a prerequisite, the fresher the better, which is why I like being able to grow them myself. Store bought carrots either don't have the tops on or if they do, they're several days old and wilted and flavourless.

ENJOY!

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