Welcome Summer!

  

Frittata gets underway. I like to stage all the ingredients before I turn on the heat. From front to back: onions, mushrooms, Swiss chard, Parmesan, parsley, and eggs whisked in the bowl.

Although it's my least favorite season, temperature wise, I love summer for its long daylight hours, the easy-feeling pace of life, the light clothing we wear, and especially for the fresh produce at our fingertips. 

The garden has begun to give us a harvest. Swiss chard, lettuce, radishes, beets, basil, and tomatoes are calling to be picked. We have an abundance of Swiss chard this year so I offered some to friends. I found that those friends from up north knew what it was but my southern friends were not familiar with it. I grew up eating it because my dad planted it in his garden and I guess eating it is something I took for granted. It is delightful as a side dish, sauteed in olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper. One of my favorite recipes cooks it into a frittata and makes a main dish of it. Steve and I eat this for dinner fairly often. It says that it serves eight, but for us it is more like three or four servings. I like to serve a fresh tomato salad on the side and voila, dinner is done!

Frittata

Serves 8

 5 Tbl. olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 c. mushrooms, sliced

2 c. Swiss chard, washed and trimmed of stems, cut into ribbons

8 eggs

1 c. Parmesan or goat cheese

¼ c. parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

 

Preheat oven to 400°

Heat a large,10-12 inch, non-stick skillet on medium-high heat. Add 2 Tbl olive oil to pan.

Add the onions, spreading them out evenly. Let them brown for about 7 minutes.

Turn the heat down to medium and continue to let the onions caramelize, moving them around to release some moisture, about 8 minutes more.

Then add the mushrooms and sauté together until they have released their moisture and are cooked through, about 5 minutes.

When the mushrooms are nearly done, add the Swiss chard and sauté until barely wilted. Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside.

Clean out the pan and set it back on the heat. Add 3 Tbl olive oil.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a little water. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper.

Add the herbs, cheese, and vegetables to the eggs.

Pour the egg and vegetable mixture into the skillet and then turn the heat down to medium-low. Cook, undisturbed, until the mixture firms up on the bottom, then transfer it to the oven.

Bake until the top is cooked, about 10 minutes.

 

PS.- Question: When I copy and paste text from a Word Document to my blog, it adds spacing between the lines. The same thing happens when I start a new paragraph when composing my posts. Is there any easy way to change line spacing options in blogspot?