Spinach and Mushroom Breakfast Casserole

This casserole is healthy and filling without being heavy. It can be assembled ahead of time, refrigerated, and baked just before you're ready to eat. This breakfast/brunch dish is very versatile and works well with a variety of vegetables. I usually use a combination of spinach and mushrooms but bell peppers, broccoli and asparagus would all be great additions.

Here's what needs to be done-

Ingredients:

For cooking in a skillet:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 small box mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 5 cups baby spinach, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper

For the custard:

• 5 eggs
• ¼  - ½  cup milk (I use 2%)
• ¼  cup low-fat mozarella cheese
• ½  cup 1% cottage cheese
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a baking dish with some oil.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, over medium heat. Add the garlic and green chillies followed by the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook until all the liquid released evaporates. Next, add spinach and cook, stirring, just until it wilts. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, mozzarella, cottage cheese, salt and pepper until smooth. Spread the vegetable mixture in an even layer in the baking dish. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetable mixture.

Bake at 375 F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the eggs set and the top of the casserole starts to brown.

Pateta par Eeda (Eggs on Potatoes)

Pateta-par-Eeda, which translates to "eggs on potatoes" is a traditional Parsi dish served for breakfast. I first saw this on One Hot Stove many years ago and my version of the original recipe has undergone many changes with time. I like to  make this for brunch over the weekends especially when my grocery shopping for the following week has not yet been done, and all I have with me to make a decent meal are a couple of eggs and potatoes. Sometimes, when my vegetable bin is well-stocked, I like to jazz up the recipe a bit by using spinach, mushrooms and red peppers. Recently I've started adding  quinoa too.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
• A pinch of turmeric
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and finely diced
• 4 eggs
• Salt
• Pepper

 Method:

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies followed by the onions, salt and turmeric powder. Cook till the onions soften. Add the potatoes and cook, mixing everything occasionally, until the potatoes are almost done. Flatten the top, press the potatoes down gently to form a single layer and cook till a crust forms at the bottom. Flip over to let the other side get nice and crispy.

Beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Pour all over the potato mixture. Cover and cook on low heat till the eggs are set.

Run a rubber spatula around the edges to loosen the potato cake from the skillet, and then slide it out onto a plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cottage Cheese and Bell Peppers

 


While looking for a recipe for a vegetarian breakfast casserole, I came across this one on The Kitchn.  The recipe is simple and uncomplicated. Like most casseroles, this one too can be assembled the night before and refrigerated, and baked just before you are ready to eat the next morning. I scaled down the ingredients to make just 3-4 servings and also decreased the baking time a bit. I did not have any shredded cheese, so I used a little bit of the  crumbled feta that  I had. I would definitely go with cheddar or even mozzarella cheese next time; feta  does not do  too well here.

Ingredients:

(3-4 servings)

• 4 cups frozen shredded potatoes  
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 Tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
• A handful of basil leaves, chopped
• 2 cups thinly sliced mixed bell peppers
• 5 eggs
• ½  cup cottage cheese
• ¼ - ½  cup milk 
• 2 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese
• Salt
• Pepper  

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat a baking dish with  a little bit of oil.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, and salt and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and chopped basil and cook till the peppers soften a bit.

Combine the eggs, cottage cheese, milk, feta cheese, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Beat with a fork until smooth. Add the shredded potatoes and the vegetable mixture in the skillet to the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and mix well.

Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

  

Crustless Quiche With Spinach And Mushrooms

This is my second time making a quiche. My very first quiche was one with a potato crust. This time around I decided to go crust-free by following this recipe on Joy The Baker's blog.

Ingredients:

For cooking in a pan:

2 Tbsp oil
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups chopped mushrooms
3 cups chopped spinach
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper

For the custard:
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used 2 %)
2 wedges of The Laughing Cow cheese(I used this one)

Salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish with some oil.

Heat oil in a large skillet, over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, followed by the red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Next, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until all the liquid released evaporates. Add spinach and cook, stirring, just until spinach wilts. Let the mixture cool slightly.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper until smooth. Stir in the cheese. Spread the vegetable mixture in an even layer in the pie dish. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetable mixture.

Bake at 375 F for 35 to 40 minutes, until the quiche is slightly puffed and golden brown on top.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Baked Eggs And Vegetables In Bread Cups

Like one of my previous recipes, this one too is inspired by something that caught my eye on the Pepperidge Farm website. I used the basic idea from there but made my own changes to the recipe.

Ingredients:
(For 9 bread cups)
9 bread slices, crusts trimmed
5 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
Salt
Pepper
5 Tbsp shredded cheddar cheese

Other ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
½ tsp red pepper flakes
Salt
2 cups of mixed vegetables, finely chopped (I used what I had- onions, asparagus, potatoes, radishes)


Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a muffin tin.

Take a slice of bread and brush one side of it with a little bit of the beaten egg-milk mixture. Place the slice (brushed side down) in the muffin cup and press down gently. Repeat with the other slices.

Meanwhile, melt some butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and onions followed by the asparagus, potatoes and radishes. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Mix well and set aside.

Once the vegetables have cooled a bit, add to the eggs. Add salt, pepper, cheddar cheese and mix well. Distribute the vegetable-egg mixture between the cups of the muffin tin (I had enough mixture for 9 cups). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the eggs are done.

I like how the bread, eggs, vegetables and cheese come together to make this a very simple and elegant meal. This is a nice variation on the traditional eggs-on–toast routine and would be great for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner.

Vegetable And Egg Noodles

Ingredients:

2 packs of instant noodles and tastemaker (I used Maggi)
3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped up
4-5 shallots, sliced
½ tsp red chilli flakes
8-10 baby carrots, chopped into small pieces
½ capsicum, finely chopped
1 tsp sabji masala
2 eggs
Salt


Method:
Cook the noodles in some salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Drain after reserving ½ cup water.

In a pan, add garlic followed by shallots, red chilli flakes, carrots, capsicum, and sabji masala, in quick succession. Cook till the vegetables soften.

Make a well in the center of the pan and add the beaten eggs. Allow it to cook well before mixing it with the other vegetables cooking in the pan.

Add the drained noodles (use the reserved water if required) and mix everything together till the noodles are coated with the vegetable-egg mixture. Serve hot.

Mushroom And Spinach Quiche With Potato Crust

I recently watched an episode of Cook Yourself Thin where a quiche was made using a potato crust. It seemed like a great idea and one that I couldn’t wait to try out.

A crust made up of shredded potatoes is definitely a healthy alternative to the usual fat-laden pastry crusts I’ve seen used in most quiche recipes. I followed the recipe very closely and did not make too many changes. I had a crisper full of vegetables in the refrigerator, and so I used a little bit of everything for this quiche.
Here’s what I did…

Ingredients:
For the crust:
3 potatoes peeled and grated (I used Russet)
2 tsp oil
Salt
Pepper

For cooking in a pan:
2 Tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
½ onion, diced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
¼- ½ tsp dried thyme (optional)
4 cups sliced mushrooms,
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped asparagus
2 cups baby spinach

For the custard:
3 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
Salt
Pepper
3 Tbsp freshly grated Gouda cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish/plate (I used glass) with some oil. Squeeze all the excess water out of the grated potatoes. Toss grated potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper. Press into an even layer in pie dish, up the sides like a crust. Bake until golden brown at the edges and dry, about 20-22 minutes. Then broil for 2 minutes or so. Watch the crust carefully here so that it does not burn. Let cool.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in a large skillet, over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their liquid and most of the liquid evaporates. Stir in the chopped asparagus and red bell pepper pieces. Cook till the vegetables soften. Add spinach and cook, stirring, just until spinach wilts, let cool slightly.

Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Spread the vegetable mixture in an even layer in the pie dish. I used all but one cup of the cooked vegetable mixture here since I thought it would be a little too much for the quiche. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the vegetable mixture. Carefully pour in egg mixture.

Bake until golden brown and set in the center, about 30-35 minutes. Let cool, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Potato And Onion Frittata

Flipping through the pages of Everyday Food: Great Food Fast on a weekend morning trying to decide what to make, I came across this recipe. I only had potatoes and onions; so this was perfect for me. But this is one recipe where you can be really creative and use whatever ingredients you want depending on what's in season or what you have on hand. I tweaked the original recipe a bit to suit my taste.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped up
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 potato, peeled, thinly sliced and chopped
½ cup of scallions (I only had the green parts so that’s what I used)
A small sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
4 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper

Method:
In a medium nonstick broiler-proof skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and rosemary followed by the onions, salt and pepper. Cook till the onions soften. Add the potato pieces and cook, mixing everything occasionally, until the potatoes are done.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture into the cooked vegetables (spread it as evenly as possible first) in the skillet. Cook on low heat until the frittata is almost set but the top is still slightly runny. Then place the skillet under the broiler; broil until the frittata is set and the top is lightly golden.

Run a rubber spatula around the edges to loosen the frittata from the skillet, and then slide it out onto a plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Parmesan Popovers

There are some shows on the Food Network that I watch regularly. Every now and then I see a recipe which makes me want to rush into the kitchen and try it out immediately. This was one such recipe that looked really good. I modified the original a bit by adding a couple of other ingredients.
Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

(For approximately 6 -7 medium popovers)
2 eggs
¾ cup all-purpose flour
6-7 basil leaves, chopped
1 cup milk (I used 2 %)
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, crushed and made into a paste like this.
1 tsp red chilli flakes
Salt & pepper to taste
Oil to grease the muffin pan

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin. (A popover pan is said to produce the best results.)

Throw all the ingredients together in the blender and process until just blended, 30-45 seconds. The batter will be thin.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups filling each cup three-fourths full.

Bake for about 30 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Do not peek into the oven for the first 30 minutes! I also let the popovers sit in the oven for another 10-15 minutes after turning off the heat for the tops to get well browned and crusty, and also for the insides to dry out a bit.

Serve right away; they start to deflate almost immediately.

The popovers had a nice and crisp exterior with a slightly hollow, soft interior. These were perfect along with soup.

This post has some very useful tips on how to make the perfect popovers.

On a different note, I just realized that I’ve now been blogging for a year. I’m really surprised since I always thought that nothing could hold my interest for long!

Roti John

I was looking for something simple to make for Sia’s Street Food edition of the Monthly Blog Patrol, and was browsing through some of my favorite blogs when I came across a recipe for Roti John on Nupur's blog. Roti John, I found out, is a popular and much-loved dish sold by hawkers on the streets of Singapore. It is basically a toasted French loaf spread with pan grilled eggs and minced meat, and served with a chilli- ketchup sauce. It sounded a lot like my version of French toast, minus the minced meat.

I followed Nupur's recipe. She uses soy granules as a substitute for the minced meat that the original version calls for.

For 2 servings
Ingredients:
A baguette or a French loaf (I used what I had- 4 thick pieces of Texas garlic toast)
2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
4 green chillies, finely chopped
3 Tbsp rehydrated soy granules (I used Nutrela's granular TVP)
¼ cup of finely chopped onions
Salt to taste
Oil for pan frying

Method:
In a bowl, beat the eggs along with milk and add the soy granules, chillies, onions and salt. Mix well.

Heat the oil in a pan. Slather a generous amount of the egg mixture onto one side of the bread. Pan fry each side till brown and slightly crisp. Repeat for every slice. Serve hot.
We had this with some Maggi hot and sweet sauce.

I had some of the egg mixture left over at the end which I used to make something else. I'll save that for another post.

This also goes to-
Madhuram for Your Recipe Rocks
Zlamushka for Tried and Tasted

Bombay Toast (French Toast, Indian style)

Cooking for one is extremely boring and is not always easy to do. Not that I feel any different even when H is around sometimes!

I made French toast for brunch today. This is a great way to use up stale bread. It is very easy and takes all of 10 minutes to prepare. This is so simple that it doesn't really need a recipe, but I know that this would be really useful to my sis who is looking to add to her growing collection of simple and quick recipes.

Ingredients:
3 slices bread (it helps if you are using stale, refrigerated bread)
2 eggs
½ cup milk
2 green chillies, finely chopped
A handful of chopped spring onions/scallions
¼ small onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp semolina/rava/sooji
2 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

Method:
Break the eggs into a wide, shallow bowl. Add milk, salt, pepper, chopped onions, scallions and semolina and beat well with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large non-stick frying pan, over medium heat, melt the butter.

Dip both sides of each bread slice into the egg-milk mixture till the bread soaks it all up.

Place on the hot buttered pan. Spoon a little bit of the egg mixture including the onions, scallions, green chillies, and spread over each slice. (I do this 'cos I find it does not coat the bread slices while the bread is soaking up everything else.)

Cook until both sides are browned and the eggs have cooked through.

Serve hot with some tomato ketchup. Ketchup just makes everything taste so much better!

I sometimes make a sweet version of this by adding some sugar and vanilla essence to the egg mixture and omitting the green chillies. However, I prefer my breakfast/brunch a little spicy and savory- Indian ishtyle!

This one's for you, little sis! Just to get you started in the kitchen. ;-)

Other eggscellent recipes on this blog:
Egg Muffins
Egg Curry
Potato and Egg Salad

Egg Muffins

I made these egg muffins a couple of days back on a weekend when I was looking to make something that was a little different from our usual breakfast fare. I also wanted something that would be simple to prepare, quick and filling.

I came across this recipe on Lisa’s blog and decided to try making eggs her way. I made a few changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients:
5 large eggs
½ cup milk (I used 2%)
½ cup scallions, chopped (both green and white parts)
½ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
3-4 green chillies, chopped finely
1 cup shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Butter to grease the muffin tray
3 tsp cornmeal to coat the insides of the muffin tray

This recipe yields 8 medium sized egg muffins.




Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a medium sized muffin tray with a little bit of butter.

Spoon a little cornmeal into each greased cup, just enough to cover the bottom.

In a large bowl beat the eggs well, add the milk and stir in the remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Pour the egg mixture into each muffin cup and fill each one almost to the top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes (check after 20 minutes) or until the muffins begin to puff up and become slightly firm to the touch.

Serve hot and wash it down with this smoothie.

The Eggs Factor

CLICK is a theme-based monthly food photography event started by Jai and Bee of Jugalbandi. The theme for October 2007 is the incredibly versatile and popular Egg.



Here are some of the shots that I clicked for the event…

...before deciding to pick this one as my entry.







This is how the eggs were used the next day...in a simple and delicious egg curry. The yolk was used to make an omelette.

Egg Curry

Ingredients:

5 hard-boiled eggs

5 medium onions, chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped in large pieces

2 Tbsp tomato paste

3 tsp ginger-garlic paste

5-6 green chillies, chopped finely

1 ½ tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Salt to taste



For seasoning

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds



Method:

Heat oil in a pan & add the cumin seeds. Next, add the ginger-garlic paste followed by the green chillies and chopped onions. Sauté till the onions turn transparent.



Add the chopped tomatoes and cover and cook till the tomatoes are done and turn mushy.



Allow this to cool for a bit & then blend the onion-tomato mixture well to get a smooth paste/sauce.



Return the mixture to the pan and allow it to simmer. Add the tomato paste (this gives it a nice red color which is not possible with tomatoes alone) and the spices and cover and cook for another 5 minutes making sure to stir in between. (Add water if you desire a thinner consistency.)





Make small slits in the hard-boiled eggs and drop into the gravy. Cover and cook for another 5- 7 minutes to allow all the flavors to blend in.



Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.



Serve hot with rotis or rice.

Potato and Egg Salad

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, boiled & cubed

3 medium eggs, boiled & chopped(I discarded the yolks)

3/4 of a red onion, finely chopped

1 celery stick, chopped in small pieces

3 Tbsp. light mayonnaise

1-2 Tbsp. sweet relish

Salt & pepper to taste.

Method:

Combine the potatoes, eggs, onions & celery in a bowl. Add the mayo to this and mix well but be gentle! ( be careful that the boiled potato cubes don't start to crumble... I learned this the hard way! Just a little tip.... after boiling the potatoes & cooling, let them sit in the refrigerator for a little while before using.)

Add salt & pepper to taste.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.