Episode #107 - Wake and Bake! Sunday Morning Breakfast: Spinach Frittata, Berries Fruit Salad, Marble Cake.
welcome back to our little cooking show.
Deb has been flying around for the past few days...
Therefore I decided to shoot a solo episode.
First of all I did not want to leave you without something new before the weekend,
and second, I wanted to dedicate an episode to all the men out there that care about treating their girls (yes, I know, or their partners in general).
Sunday morning has always
been a tradition in my family when I was growing up,
and a rule as well!
My mom always worked her ass off all week around,
during the day teaching in junior-high, and then me,
my brother, the house...her husband.
My father was a young surgeon...I remember the phone
ringing in the middle of the night...I remember
vacations with my father, but not the days of the
week....
I was about 6...remember waking up, walking to the
kitchen with my younger brother...he was about 2.
My mom would leave in the fridge a blender full with
my brother's breakfast. Do not ask me what was in
it...some fruit, I remember a big cookie...It kind of
sounds gross, sorry...
I had to process the food, heat it up a bit...no
microwave those days...stove top baby...and serve the
first breakfast.
Me, personally...loved a gigantic cup of milk with
Nesquik and Rice Crispies.
The rule was...BE QUIET!!!
No playing allowed, no running...only breakfast and
some TV. And wait for my parents to wake up. Mainly
mom, as my father was already probably at the
hospital or racing his Ducati on the Mugello track,
just a few miles from our house.
One day I just decided to bake a cake by myself....
I do not remember if it came out good or not, but I remember clearly opening the door of my parent's bedroom and stepping into the dark with a cake in my hands....
Warm, intact, powder sugar topped. Needless to say, it became an institution.
For me it was just great
to be allowed alone in the kitchen, with my brother
licking all the spoons, mixing up ingredients and
coming up with all of my insane variations: marble
cake, vanilla sliced in half with Nutella, toppings
of every kind...but never overdone. I was the king of
the kitchen, nobody around but little Fabio and me,
playing Ratatouille.
I do not remember when it happened, but one day I
decided to price my cakes...I wrote the cost of the
cake on a piece of paper, I placed it on top of it
with a toothpick, and walked into my parents room.
That became my weekly allowance.
NOW,
When Sunday morning comes...it's like any other day,
with the difference that there is no school.
My bed gets assaulted by my kids...and since it's
Sunday, they might decide to wake up a bit earlier,
you know what I mean.
Hugs, kisses, diapers...then I'm off to the stove for
coffee and milk.
In days like Sunday Dora the Explorer has many things
to do: cross rivers, climb trees, help tons of people
and animals...
That gives me time to work on a breakfast that is not
the weekly "fly out the door" crispy bar.
A good Sunday breakfast menu would be: Spinach
Frittata, Berries Fruit Salad, a great cake...to be
enjoyed with the second round of coffee. Kids will
happily eat eggs with vegetables and all the fruit
you might want/need to shove into their faces, before
they actually get to enjoy a fabulous organic cake.
FRITTATA
Ingredients:
8 Brown grade AA eggs
2 Tbsp of fresh grated parmesan
1 Tbsp of butter
1/4 Cup of whole milk
Salt and Pepper
Brake the eggs in a bowl.
Add the Parmesan, the Milk, Salt and Pepper.
Mix well all the ingredients…using a fork is the
best…use your wrist!
In a large non stick pan, melt the butter on a low
flame….melt it, do not bring it to a boil…
When the butter is melted and well spread into the
pan, and your eggs are properly mixed, …it’s time to
check the fridge…are there any left overs you would
like to add to your frittata? If so, add them
directly into the bowl, mix it up well and cook.
If you intend to saute' some vegetables from scratch,
before you actually make your frittata (like I did in
this episode), make sure you take them off the stove
and mix them with the eggs before you put them back
into the pan.
Pour the eggs into the pan, and cover with a lid.
On a medium low flame (more on the low side to
prevent burning the bottom), your frittata should be
ready in about ten minutes. When ready, take the lid
off and let it rest for a few minutes, then gently
slide the frittata on a serving plate…do not cut in
the pan, unless you are using a wood knife, you will
destroy the non stick layer.
BERRIES FRUIT
SALAD
Ingredients:
I do not do weight on this...I go to
the store and I get their regular berries plastic
little boxes.
To serve 4, and
possibly have some left overs I buy four boxes, one
for each berry.
Three Oranges and a Lemon...more or less, and some
Pinoli Nuts if you like them, some fresh Mint is a
great final touch.
Wash the berries, squash your citrus, add the Pinoli
and the Mint, shake well and put it in the fridge
CAKE
Ingredients:
1 box of Dr Oetker Organic Vanilla
Cake (requires: 2/3 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of vegetable
oil and 3 eggs)
1 egg, I add it to the mix for extra fluff!
1 bar of 85% fine Chocolate
2 Ounces of Walnuts...about...
Butter your pan and preheat the oven. Get the Blender
together.
Follow all the instruction in the box and prepare the
base for the cake.
In the microwave melt your bar of chocolate, adding
some milk (2 Tbsp) will help a lot.
Pour 2/3 of the cake mix into the pan, then add the
melted chocolate to what's left and use your blender
again.
Now pour your 1/3 of chocolate cake milk into the
pan...I like doing a circle, but you can pour it the
way you want.
Get the walnuts and push them into the mix, and
sprinkle them on top. It's ready for the oven.
Because of the extra egg, and sometime some extra
milk, I tend to bake my cake 10 minutes longer, to
get the nice crispy top.
Wanna do better than this?
OPEN A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE!
Buon Appetito,
have a good week end!
Debi and Gabriele
