Herby Bread Frittata {Inspired by the Farmer's Market}

  

The farmer's market is a wealth of inspiration. One week it's the fresh ripe peaches, another week it's fresh corn on the cob, and yet another week it's a batch of spicy dill pickles. I think that's the fun of it. You just never know what's going to call to you.

This weekend I went to my local farmer's market and nothing was speaking to me. Our local market is very nice, but only about 10 small stalls, and I was feeling the whole been there, done that vibe. So, I got in the car and drove to Lexington. Their market is MUCH bigger and I hadn't been there in a few years. 

In a market of at least 40 stalls, with everything imaginable, I focused in on one booth full of the most amazing looking organic produce and THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HERBS I had ever seen! I starting grabbing up bundles of herbs: chives, sage, dill, basil, and thyme. I bought one of each! Inspiration had struck.

On the way home I was thinking of my favorite "base" ingredients that are my "go-to's" for all the things I bought at the market. What lends itself well to herbs, and onions, and peppers? 

Some things are just standby's for me, like: eggs, chicken, potatoes, any type of bread or stuffing, and homemade butters or even pesto. I started creating a menu to use up my bounty.

To start with I turned to Mark Bittman. I really wanted to make a quiche, but a frittata is much healthier. I found that he had a variety of fritatta options in his book: pasta, grains, potato, and bread. I had some wonderful sourdough bread that needing using up, so I went with the bread frittata.

The next task was to chose the herbs. I went with dill, chives, and basil. Lots of them, anywhere from 1/4 - 1/2 cup. I wanted the frittata to sing with herbaceous flavor!

Let me go ahead and say...this frittata was one of my all-time favorites! I AM SO GLAD I WENT WITH THE BREAD FRITATTA! The sourdough cubes held up to the egg but also absorbed the egg much better than potatoes and the texture was heavenly! I will be ALL ABOUT a bread frittata from now on, it is just superior in texture to a potato frittata. Plus, I always really want my potatoes fried crispy and served on the side, and this allows for that. 

The herbs were a perfect combination and I really, really loved the tang of the fresh dill with the eggs. Dill and eggs are just a perfect pairing, every bit as good together as peanut butter and jelly! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this breakfast. I will be trying more bread frittatas in the future with various herbs and veggies and cheeses. I think this is a fabulous base recipe to play around with and highly suggest it!

 

Herby Bread Frittata

Adapted from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

by Mark Bittman

Serves 4-6

1-1/2 cups cubed bread

 salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

5 eggs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup feta cheese*

1/4-1/2 cup fresh herbs*

Notes: You can use any herbs here. I used a combination of chives, dill, and basil. You can also use any type of cheese, but be mindful that it goes with the variety of herbs you're using. I used Parmesan and a sprinkle of feta on top, which pairs lovely with the dill.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Get out a 10" skillet that is ovenproof (I use my cast iron skillet for all frittatas). Put the butter in the skillet over low heat.

Beat the eggs with some salt and pepper in a large bowl, then stir in the bread cubes, the Parmesan, and the herbs. Mix to incorporate evenly. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet, using a spoon or spatula to distribute the ingredients evenly, and cook over low for about 10 minutes. I think the secret is cooking this real low and slow for around 10 minutes. You want the egg mixture to be firm around the sides before placing the frittata in the oven. This is also the point where I sprinkled on little bits of feta cheese! Once it looks like it is cooked around the edges, you can place the frittata into the oven. Note: You are really only placing this frittata in the oven long enough to firm up and cook the middle of the frittata. This should take only a few minutes. Keep checking the frittata so that it does not overcook, and keep in mind that this will continue to cook once removed from the oven. Best to pull it out when it still looks slightly liquidy in the center. Remove and serve hot.

Michael Symon's Spicy Stuffed Peppers and Tour of Lexington Farmer's Market

My first Michael Symon recipe is inspired from a recent trip to the Lexington Farmer's Market.

Homegrown local banana peppers. Kentucky Proud Vito's Sausage, Robust (spicy) version. A little of Mom's homemade Tomato sauce, made with tomatoes grown in the backyard and you're all set!! A perfectly tasty and local appetizer or lunch!

Spicy Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Michael Symon's Live to Cook
Serves 4-8
8 Hungarian hot peppers
1-1/2 pounds Pork Sausage or Italian Sausage
2 cups Yia Yia's Sunday sauce or jarred tomato sauce
8 fresh basil leaves (I left these out as they were already in mom's tomato sauce)

Preheat the oven to 375F. Light coals in a charcoal grill for a medium-hot fire. Butter an 8x11 inch baking dish.

Cut the tops off of the peppers and spoon out any seeds. Divide the sausage into 8 equal portions and spoon it into the peppers to fill them. (I decided to cut my peppers in half horizontally for presentation).

Pour the sauce into the prepared baking dish.

Grill the peppers to char them on the outside, about 2 minutes per side. Remove them from the grill and lay the peppers on top of the sauce. Bake for 10 minutes or until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 150F. Divide among plates, spoon some tomato sauce on top, and garnish each with a basil leaf.

Notes/Results: My husband and I had a version of these while on our trip up to Ohio and we wanted to recreate them at home. We had them as a light lunch after our trip to the Farmer's Market and we really loved them. I chose to grill the peppers inside on my grill pan and it worked well. I also chose to halve the peppers horizontally for presentation. This has been one of our favorite recipes in the past couple of weeks and we will be having them often, especially with the peppers and sausage from the Farmer's Market!

Here is a quick tour of the Lexington Farmer's Market(my favorite place to be on a Saturday morning)!

View from the parking garage.

New Pavillion that was built this past year, complete with ceiling fans. The shade from the pavillion and breeze from the fans is so wonderful on a hot morning.

This year at the Farmer's Market there are a lot of new food vendors and this vendor, Hard Wood Pizza Company, selling wood-fired pizzas is my absolute favorite! My Mom and I go absolutely ga-ga over their pizzas. They feature fresh ingredients sourced directly from the Farmer's Market and the menu changes weekly. We loved their Greek pizza with feta cheese, but we love their Vito's sausage pizza just a little bit more;-)

One of the best pizzas I've ever had. Crispy thin crust, perfectly flavored pizza sauce, lots of cheesy goodness and delicious homemade sausage. We can't get enough of it!

My mom likes this booth, the Cookin' Up Kentucky booth. They have some delicious breakfast and lunch dishes every week. Cookin' Up Kentucky's booth specializes in not only local food but also southern food. You'll find lots of fried green tomatoes at this booth! You can always count on that!

On this particular day, they were serving up burgers with fried green tomatoes and aged cheddar. Sounds like a great idea to me!!

Another new vendor is Le Petit Creperie. They make the crepes to order and the line becomes quite long, but it's worth it. They have both sweet and savory options.

My favorite filling is the Dad's Favorite Swiss Cheese Spread (much like pimento cheese) with tomato and spinach. Absolute cheesy heaven!

I buy a lot of my beef from Triple J, located right in my hometown city, Georgetown, KY. I like that I can talk to the owners and order specialty cuts like bone-in ribeye and tri tip. I like it even better to know where my beef is coming from.

See all those lovely boxes that say Georgia Peaches??? Gotta love those fresh, ripe and juicy peaches that they truck in from Georgia.

The intoxicating smell of peaches strikes you when you're walking through the market. I can never resist them!

San Marzano tomatoes in Kentucky? Can it be so?

I'm submitting this post to Two for Tuesday Blog Hop Carnival, hosted by one of my pals, girlichef.