Sunday Frittata with Frizzled Leeks

Sunday Frittata with Frizzled Leeks
Sunday Frittata with Frizzled Leeks
I began making frittatas regularly when our family transitioned from the pancakes-or-waffles-every-weekend phase into more "grown-up" breakfasts. As in much of my cooking, I believe I first learned to make a frittata from Julia Child, in one of her books or her television shows. You can whip up a frittata for any meal: for a weekend breakfast, or with a green salad for lunch, or supper. The frizzled leeks are inspired by a dish served at Union Square Cafe in its early years. It was the first time I saw the word "frizzled." "Fun word," I thought, and asked Danny Meyer where it came from. "My grandmother. Louise Meyer used to serve mashed potatoes with fried onions on top," he said. "When we opened Union Square Cafe in 1985, we substituted rutabaga for the potatoes, and leeks for the onions. That became our 'Mashed Turnips with Frizzled Leeks.' To avoid using the word 'fried,' I landed upon 'frizzled.' After that, frizzled leeks found their way onto everything from mashed potatoes to scallops, an omelet, red snapper, and just about everything except for ice cream." If you don't have leeks, then thinly sliced onions, pan-roasted asparagus tips, crisped bacon all work fine. Concerning culinary substitution, I think of the Russian proverb that my grandpa Jan would trot out about many things in life: "If no fish, then lobster will do." Apparently, lobster prices under the czar were less steep than they are in present-day America, but I took his point. As I noted earlier, Parmesan cheese has a lot of umami, which contributes to the high FPC of this recipe, especially when I top the finished frittata with some cherry tomatoes charred at high heat and pepped up with crushed red-pepper flakes.
  • Preparing Time: -
  • Total Time: -
  • Served Person: Serves 4
Egg Breakfast Brunch Broil Sauté Parmesan Leek Sugar Conscious Vegetarian Pescatarian Wheat/Gluten-Free Peanut Free Tree Nut Free Soy Free No Sugar Added Kosher
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • coarse salt to taste
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 leeks, halved, cut lengthwise into strips no wider than a strand of spaghetti, and very well rinsed to remove all grit
  • 8 to 10 eggs, lightly whisked
  • Carbohydrate 8 g(3%)
  • Cholesterol 370 mg(123%)
  • Fat 23 g(36%)
  • Fiber 0 g(1%)
  • Protein 18 g(37%)
  • Saturated Fat 7 g(34%)
  • Sodium 333 mg(14%)
  • Calories 315

Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. In an ovenproof skillet, sauté the leeks in 2 tablespoons olive oil over very low heat (just the hint of a sizzling sound) for about 10 to 15 minutes until crispy and golden brown. 3. Remove from skillet and set aside. 4. In the same ovenproof skillet, add remaining olive oil and heat for 30 seconds. Pour in whisked eggs. 5. Adjust heat to low (just above simmer), and let the eggs begin to set, undisturbed for a minute. 6. Remove skillet from stove, and place in the top third of the oven. 7. After 3 or 4 minutes, check to see how cooked the eggs are. They should still be slightly runny in the middle. 8. Taking a small handful at a time, distribute the leeks over the eggs and continue to cook. 9. After 2 more minutes, turn the oven to broil setting. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the entire surface of the eggs. 10. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes. The frittata will puff up, and the edges should be golden brown. 11. Season with black pepper and salt. 12. Cut into pielike wedges, and serve. Excerpted from Culinary Intelligence by Peter Kaminsky, © 2012 Peter Kaminsky. Excerpted by permission of Vintage, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. PETER KAMINSKY wrote "Underground Gourmet" for New York magazine for four years, and his "Outdoors" column appeared in the New York Times for twenty years. He is a longtime contributor to Food & Wine and the former managing editor or National Lampoon. His books include Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine, The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass, The Elements of Taste (with Gray Kunz), Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way (with Francis Mallmann), Letters to a Young Chef (with Daniel Boulud), Celebrate! (with Sheila Lukins), and John Madden's Ultimate Tailgating. He is the creator and executive producer of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on PBS.

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