Dorie's Potato Chip Tortilla

  

One hardly peruses a cookbook expecting to find recipes using potato chips, especially in a French cookbook named Around My French Table, but sometimes life is full of surprises. I think that is why I was precisely drawn to this recipe.

On a recent trip back home from New Orleans we stopped inside a gas station and I bought all manner of Zapp's potato chips in all sorts of fun flavors, such as Voodoo, Spicy Cajun Crawtators, Cajun Dill-Gator-Tators, Hotter 'N Hot Jalapeno, Voodoo Heat, and Creole Onion (pictured below). I realize that sounds like excess, but they were baby bags and we had a 13 hour ride home so naturally I thought it would make the time go by faster if we had a taste test. 

We love heat and anything spicy so, the Hotter 'N Hot Jalapeno were great and also the Voodoo Heat (which was like a spicy bbq flavor) were our favorites. Don't get me wrong, we loved them all and Zapp's may very well be my all-time favorite chip.

I did notice that the half bag of Creole Onion sat lingering in the pantry and so when I saw this recipe I figured it was meant to be!

I believe the secret to a recipe like Potato Chip Tortilla is that you DO NOT want to crush the chips to smithereens. You want to leave some big pieces (even leave some whole or at least bigger chunks). What the potato chip provides in this recipe is lots of texture. When the tortilla comes out of the oven, the chips sticking up out of the tortilla will be hot and crunchy (hence the bigger larger, more whole chips) and the crushed chips in the tortilla will be cooked in. We want all the textures here, so I do feel this is crucial to the recipe.

Also, feel free to add some cheese or whatever you like! Dorie does not call for cheese in her recipe, but I found I wanted to add some.

This is a very fun recipe and I would definitely make it again. I think it would be fun to change up the flavors by using different potato chips and different flavorings.

It would be a wonderful meal with a nice green salad or some fruit on the side. 

And may I point out how easy and economical it is...we all need to be putting recipes like this in our back pocket!

 

Potato Chip Tortilla

Adapted from Around My French Table

by Dorie Greenspan

Serves 4

3-1/2 ounces (half a 7oz bag) potato chips

4 large eggs

1 small onion, finely chopped, or 6 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

1/4 cup minced fresh herbs, such as cilantro, parsley, or basil

2 garlic cloves, split, finely chopped

Pinch of piment d'Espelette or cayenne

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Optional: Use different flavor chips, add cheese (I added about 1/4 cup cheddar), different herbs, veggies, etc. Make it your own!

 Put the potato chips in a bowl, reach in, and crush the chips (or crush them in the bag - be sure not to crush them entirely and leave some pieces bigger).

Put the eggs, onion or scallions, herbs, garlic, and piment d'Espelette or cayenne into another bowl. Season with salt and pepper whisk to combine. Pour the eggs over the chips and stir to blend well.

You'll need a small skillet that can go under the broiler: 9 inches is about as big as it should be. I use a cast iron skillet, but a nonstick skillet is also good (if you're not sure of the handle you can cover it in foil). Position a rack under the broiler so that when you slide the skillet onto it, it will be about 5 inches from the heat source. Turn on the broiler.

Place the skillet over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. When the oil is hot, give the eggs and chips a last stir and pour them into the pan. Use a fork to push the mixture out to the edges of the pan if necessary, then turn the heat down to low. Cook the tortilla for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it is set around the edges and the top is almost done (being set is more important than the timing, so just keep watching the eggs). Remove the pan from the heat and run a spatula around the edges and under the tortilla in case it has stuck to the pan. 

Slide the pan under the broiler and cook until the top of the tortilla is set, about 1 minute. Slide the tortilla onto a serving platter or board, and serve warm or at room temperature.

The Incredible Edible Egg @ IHCC

Half Baked Harvest's Farmhouse Cheddar and Angel Hair Frittata

 

This frittata has a lot in common with the week I had, it's got a lot going on, and none of it is good.

I wanted to make this Instagram-worthy frittata ever since I first set eyes on it in the Half Baked Harvest Cookbook a few years ago. The colors, the flavors, the way the frittata just jumps off the page with all the lovely garnishes on top. I love eggs, so surely I would love this beautiful frittata, right? 

Well, wrong. 

It did seem like it was meant to be. After all, I had leftover pesto from my egg sammies last week, along with leftover yogurt from Ina's lemon cake I made two weeks ago. In fact, I had a lot of the ingredients just waiting to be used up.

I started to question the ingredients as I was putting the frittata together. One and one half cups yogurt mixed into the eggs? Dill in the same recipe as sun-dried tomatoes and basil pesto? Italian flavors like pesto with sliced avocado? Sharp cheddar cheese instead of Italian cheese? I began to realize this was just a hodge podge of flavors that didn't really seem to go together, but I am in a mood this week, so I went ahead with it all.

I made some substitutions. I subbed the last bits of fettuccine instead of angel hair. I didn't have sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, but I did have sun-dried tomato pesto. I didn't have prosciutto, but I did have shaved ham. I had leftover pancetta so I sauteed that up along with the broccoli and roasted red pepper. I felt fine with all those substitutions.

The frittata cooked beautifully and I set about decorating. I drew the line at the avocado (and we still can't get them here). I used cherry tomatoes, shaved ham, sautéed broccoli, basil pesto and a sprinkle of Parmesan. 

I slice the frittata and notice the pasta is a little dark from the cast iron pan. Not a fan of that. I taste the frittata and it's not inedible, but it's not great. I knew anything tomato-based didn't belong in a cast iron pan (but Tieghan uses one in her cookbook I lament to myself). I taste overwhelming flavors of cheese that don't mingle well with pesto and dill that just doesn't belong. I taste an overwhelming amount of tangy yogurt and wish that I had used milk, half and half, or even cream. I am unimpressed and it occurs to me that some of these gorgeous dishes are made solely to be Instagram-worthy only, even down to the cast iron pan which should never be used with tomato.

Did I know better? Yes, I did. I kinda felt like testing the limits and seeing how things unfolded. Do I believe a frittata can be made Instagram-worthy and still be delicious? Of course! I think it best to find a classic frittata recipe with mild flavors and then decorate the top with ingredients that meld well together. This one missed the mark.

I'm a fan of a total failure. If we're not failing, then we're not learning.

 

Farmhouse Cheddar and Angel Hair Frittata

Adapted from Half Baked Harvest Cookbook

by Tieghan Gerard

Serves 8

salt and pepper

1/3 pound angel hair pasta

8 large eggs

1-1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1 bunch broccoli or broccolini, chopped

1 roasted red bell pepper sliced

1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/4 cup basil pesto, store-bought or homemade

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

6 ounces torn prosciuto

1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced

Preheat the oven to 450F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, dill, and red pepper flakes. Stir in half the cheese.

In a large ovenproof skillet (I used cast iron), heat the olive oil over medium. When it shimmers, add the broccoli or broccolini and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the pasta, roasted red pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, and pesto and toss to combine. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the skillet, using a spatula to evenly coat the veggies and the pasta. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the eggs begin to set around the edges, then remove the skillet from the heat.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the eggs are just set.

Top the frittata with the cherry tomatoes, proscuitto (or shaved ham), avocado, broccoli or broccolini, pesto, etc. Have fun with the decorating. Serve immediately!