by Yvonne Maffei | Feb 19, 2015 | Breakfast & Brunch, Egg Dishes
I didn’t intend to add the recipe for this breakfast dish today but since there were a lot of requests for it, I’ll add it below. It’s hearty and super delicious and I have a very similar recipe that yields a larger dish in my cookbook, Summer Ramadan Cooking, which can be purchased here.
I made this one just for myself because I often have eggs at breakfast and if it’s more than just me at the table, I repeat this recipe so that it makes one nicely-rounded egg dish and pours easily onto the plate because the whole dish starts off with butter.
A few notes:
-Fresh herbs make everything better, so try to avoid the dried ones.
-To find the sucuk, or Turkish-style spiced sausage, is a great substitute for chorizo and goes so well with eggs. If you don’t want to actually cook with it, just cut a few pieces up and keep it on the side of the eggs when serving.
-This was part of a Turkish-style breakfast that I was craving, also known as kahvalti. I didn’t go the full course because I didn’t have all the fixings on hand, but if you want to go all out, add fresh cheese like feta, some wonderful Mediterranean olives, fresh jams, make borek (it’s easier than you think), and of course do not forget the tea…
Here’s the recipe- are you hungry yet?
[yumprint-recipe id=’65’] ![Roasted Pepper Frittata]()
by Yvonne Maffei | May 3, 2011 | Breakfast & Brunch, Dinner, Egg Dishes, Italian, Recipes, Sicilian
Talk about a quick dinner- and yes, frittatas make great quick and nutritious dinners. Just take it from the rural Italians who live on such rustic, satisfying food.
I roasted my peppers ahead of time, but you can easily purchase peppers in glass jars from most grocery stores
How to Roast Peppers
Peppers of all kinds can be fire roasted in a variety of ways. You can use bell peppers or small sweet peppers. If you’re adventurous enough, you may even want to fire roast hot peppers.
To roast, clean peppers well then pat dry. You can then either 1) place peppers directly on the flame of a gas stove; 2) or place peppers on a comal or metal pan over an electric or gas stove; 3) in the summer or warm climates, there’s always the luxury of roasting over the hot coals of an outdoor grill.
For all three methods, simple allow one side of each pepper at a time to blacken, but not turn white (over-blackened). Rotate until the entire pepper has blackened. Then, allow the peppers to rest either out on a plate, or preferably in a paper bag. This allows them to sweat, making it easier to peel later on.
Let them rest for about 10-15 minutes, or until the blackened skin is easy to peel. I like to wear gloves so that the black stuff doesn’t get stuck underneath my short nails since it’s so hard to get off. Otherwise, just use a non-serrated, but sharp knife (paring knives work great) to scrape the black part off.
Cut the peppers as usual- dice or julienne- depending on how you choose to use them in a recipe. They’re ready to be eaten ‘raw’, but are basically very well-cooked at this point, and easier to digest since the skin has been so well softened by this process.
Roasted peppers are absolutely delicious on pasta, on pizza, in tuna salads, eggs or just alone with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a pepper salad of their own.
Here’s how I used them most recently…
Roasted Pepper Frittata
Ingredients
5 small colored peppers (mild)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
cheddar or any other type of hard cheese, cut into small pieces
olive oil or butter
Directions
Use jarred roasted peppers or roast your own. Chop them roughly or dice, according to your preferance.
In a medium size bowl, break the eggs. Add the cream and whisk together. Add the parsley, salt and chopped peppers. Mix to combine.
In a heavy-bottom, oven-proof skillet, melt the butter or warm the oil. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and turn the heat to a medium-high. Add the small pieces of cheese to the top.
Cook for about three minutes to allow the eggs to set. Once you start to see the edges brown, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid. Cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the frittata has thickened all throughout and isn’t watery anymore. It should be fully cooked, just not browned on top.
Turn the oven broiler on high and place the entire (oven-proof) pan into the oven under the broiler. Keep it there for three minutes only, which should be sufficient time for it to brown nicely on top.
Remove and allow to cool before cutting and serving.
Goes nicely with a side salad and rustic bread for a light dinner.
![Baked Phyllo Egg Bites: Easy Suhoor]()
by Yvonne Maffei | Aug 19, 2010 | American, Breakfast & Brunch, Egg Dishes, Entertaining, Ramadan, Recipes, Suhoor
What an easy recipe for suhoor (pre-dawn meal before fasting) for your family or for large gatherings such as a qiyam-al-layl (staying up all night for prayer). You can make the phyllo shells the day before and they’ll be just fine to fill them in with the freshly cooked scrambled eggs.
For a savory appetizer using these wonderful, flaky homemade phyllo cups, see my recipe for Baked Phyllo Cups with Mushrooms and Warm Goat Cheese.
Baked Phyllo Shells with Scrambled Eggs
Makes 36 cups
Ingredients for the Baked Phyllo Cups
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme, marjoram, sage and oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
12 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed (½ of a 16 oz. package)
Ingredients for the Scrambled Eggs
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ red onion, minced
4 mini sweet peppers, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
7 small cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 mini sweet peppers, diced
freshly chopped parsley
1-2 tablespoons butter
Directions for the Baked Phyllo Cups
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Melt butter, and set aside.
- Remove and roll out the entire phyllo dough from the 16 oz. package and cut the entire thing in half.
- Place 1 sheet of the phyllo dough on a clean, dry surface; brush the entire surface generously with melted butter. Sprinkle lightly with a modest amount of the freshly cut herbs. Place another sheet of phyllo on top, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with another modest amount of the fresh herbs. Repeat with 2 more sheets of phyllo to total four sheets.
- Cut the stack into twelve 3-inch squares. Gently mold each square into a 3 inch muffin tin cup.
- Bake until the edges are just golden brown about 10 minutes. When done, set aside to cool.
- Repeat step 2 with 4 more sheets of phyllo dough, melted butter, and fresh herbs. Repeat again, for a total of 36 cups.
Directions for the Scrambled Eggs
- In a large sauté pan, warm the olive oil.
- Add the red onions and sweet peppers and sauté for about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, salt and papper and cook until the tomatoes have softened.
- Crack the eggs directly into pan and stir to scramble with the rest of the ingredients until the engtire mixture is blended and scrambled.
- Set aside to cool.
Directions for Filling the Baked Phyllo Cups
- While the baked phyllo cups are still in the muffin tins and cooled, place ½ teaspoon feta cheese in the bottom of each phyllo cup.
- Place 1 teaspoon of the egg mixture on top of the feta cheese.
- Bake until heated through, about 3 minutes.
- Garnish with a small dollop of butter and a bit of fresh, flat leaf parsley for décor and taste.
*Note: if you need to re-heat these for any reason, do so in the oven or a small toaster oven for about 2-3 minutes. Re-heating in the microwave will cause the cups to soften too much and lose their crispiness.
