The opening of Sizzling Sillets: A message from Emeril

OK, so I’ll admit it — with going out of town for my birthday and looming writing deadlines, my Emeril Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders posts have been lagging. With all of the prep required in most of these dishes and/or lengthy cooking times, it’s been hard to get all my posts in BUT fear not, I found a solution!

Simplify.

For all you busy working moms out there, that want to cook these delicious dishes but maybe don’t have the time necessary to execute the big and fancy versions of Emeril’s dishes, I say don’t give up — simplify. So today, though I cannot give you Emeril’s recipe (you’ll need to order the book — available now at your local bookseller) I can tell you how I used his ingredients (well, most of them) and tweaked his recipe a bit to suit my needs.

Doesn't it look yummy?

I love a good quiche or frittata for dinner with a nice peppery arugula salad so  I had chosen to cook up Emeril’s  Leek and Bacon Quiche in a Potato Crust (on page 93) and purchased all the requisite ingredients early in the day (or rather sent the hubby/personal assistant to the store to gather the ingredients) but then, as always — life happened. Clients called with issues, editors emailed with last minute rush deadlines (a good freelancer never turns down work!) and before I knew it — it was 7pm and I still need to cook dinner. Since my little one has an 8pm bedtime — this posed a problem — but not for long.

Inspired by Emeril ~ The Bacon, Leek Quiche-Frittata

While a quiche is delightfully more fluffy and light and a bit more uptown than a frittata — I get just as much satisfaction from eating a frittata as I do quiche and let’s face it, folks, most of us are a bit more downtown or east of town than uptown. (HA!) So I adapted Mr. Lagasse’s recipe to suit me, by employing a few easy steps:

  • First, quiche takes so long to cook because it is essentially a custard — which means a considerable amount more liquid than a frittata (some frittata’s are made with only egg and no other liquid.) In order to cut the cooking time, I cut the milk, cream and sour cream down to a simple 1/8 cup of cream to 7 eggs.
  • Next, since I would be making this in a deep dish skillet instead of a spring-form pan and would therefore be unable to fully execute the potato crust ~ I cut the amount of potatoes in half from 2 pds to 1 pd.
  • Then, with red potatoes, freshly scrubbed and skin on, I popped them in the processor on grate and in seconds had shredded potatoes suitable for hashbrowns. I did this and hand cut the leek and Thyme leaves, while broiling the bacon in the oven and blending the eggs, cream and salt and pepper in the blender.
  • Next, I heated the skillet with oil and added the potatoes frying them crisp, so that they would stand up to the wetness of the egg during the cooking process and still allow me a semblance of a crust.
  • Pulled the crisp bacon from the oven, added the leeks to a saute pan with butter until soft, while turning the potatoes to ensure crispness on both sides.
  • With the bacon and leeks cool, I added them to the egg mixture, arranged the crisp potatoes to cover the bottom and a bit of the sides of the pan and slowly poured in the mixture to the pan, so as not to disturb the layout of crispy potatoes.
  • After the egg mixture began to set a bit on the bottom (4 to 5 minutes) I popped the whole thing into the oven on broil for 2 to 3 minutes, watching it carefully. As it puffed, but before it turned golden, I topped with 3 oz of grated white cheddar cheese and gave it another minute under the broiler.
  • Removing the golden delight from the oven let it rest for a few minutes and then cut and top with fresh sliced green onions, a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and salsa, if you like. I served it all with greens and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Voila! By 7:30pm we were eating a scrummy and satisfying (even for a 3 yr old) dinner and by 8pm my little one was safely tucked in bed dreaming of the day’s adventures.

Moral of the story ~ Don’t give up on cooking for your family ~ there’s always a way to simplify!

Happy Eating!

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