Pearl Onion and Haricot Vert Frittatina

Dear Devon,

I read a lot of cookbooks, food blogs, and food sections of various major newspapers. You could say I read a lot of recipes and even more opinions about food. But what happens when you abandon the written word for intuition and casual cooking? The answer is kitchen magic and a darned good meal.

Thomas Keller’s recipe for creamed pearl onions has been swimming around in my head. In the past, I never bothered with pearl onions. The tedium of removing skins from onions smaller than gumballs was enough to make me shelve any thoughts of pearl onions. I must have been in a good mood, because today it didn’t seem like that big a deal.

Waiting for my turn at the grocer, I saw a rectangular box, neatly packed with short, matchstick-thin green beans. I always go to the market with a rough shopping list. There is always room for unusual or seasonal fruits that might catch my eye. In this case, I decided on the spur of the moment that these unimposing legumes would pair nicely with butter braised pearl onions.

My loose dinner plan centered on leftovers with a side dish of braised pearl onions and legumes. However, as the temperature in the apartment was on the chilly side, there was a request for something that required oven cooking. I abandoned my plan and converted my braised veggies into a quick frittata. The addition of four eggs and a splash of milk transformed this aromatic side into a rustic main course.


Measuring just short of an inch thick, I dubbed it a frittatina. Tucked into their egg blanket, the fat pearl onions charmed me. Hard crackers served as our carbohydrate for the meal. The wheat based crackers, crunchy and inflected with the earthy taste of unrefined grain, made a nice contrast to the succulent pearl onions and the creaminess of the eggs.

While I love following a battle-tested recipe, it is always reassuring to know that some of the most satisfying meals do not require the consultation of long texts, complicated techniques, or unusual ingredients.


Pearl Onion and Haricot Vert Frittatina
(serves 2 comfortably)

½ cup pearl onions, roughly 16 onions
about 30 thin haricots verts
4 eggs
¼ cup milk
½ tbsp butter
1 sprig rosemary
shaved parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven.

Bring a large pot of water to bowl. Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Using a sharp knife, remove the ends of the haricots verts. Add pearl onions to boiling water and cook for about two minutes. Add haricots verts to the boiling water and onions. Cook for one minute more. Remove onions and haricots verts and quickly dunk into icy water. Let sit for thirty seconds to one minute. Strain and remove haricots verts to an awaiting bowl. Carefully slip the brown skins off the onions to reveal the opaque white flesh. Set aside in a separate bowl.

In a medium-sized nonstick pan, melt butter. Strip leaves from rosemary and add to melting butter. The entire kitchen will start to smell of nutty butter and fragrant rosemary. When the butter begins to brown, add the skinned pearl onions. Braise over a low flame for approximately 10 minutes, until the onions are nicely browned and slightly golden. Add haricots verts, cooking for an additional two to three minutes, just to give the greens a touch of color.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs with milk and two large pinches of salt. Pour beaten eggs into the skillet of browned onions and haricots verts. Gently cook the eggs for three minutes over a low flame. Place in the oven to continue cooking. Bake for approximately 7 to 10 minutes or until the top is nicely browned and the eggs have just set. Be careful not to overcook, as this will produce a rubbery texture. With a vegetable peeler, shave large ribbons of parmesan cheese directly over the hot frittatina.

Eggs En Cocotte

Dear Devon,

There is little to complain about and much to celebrate in Barcelona. That being said, adjusting to life here has its challenges. Aside from the obvious language barrier, which will soon be conquered, my biggest annoyance is the plumbing. Europeans built incredible, soaring cathedrals in the 12th century- how can the logic of the bathroom escape them? It seems that every bathroom should come equipped not only with a toilet, sink, and shower, but also with a mop. The flimsy plastic curtain doesn't quite reach the lip of the shower floor, which pretty much guarantees that water will splash everywhere. After three nights, I solved the mystery of how to shower without flooding the entire bathroom. Long American-style showers are not an option in our narrow, coffin-like ducha. I won't even get into the funky smells. After all, this is a food blog.

We have already had a slight laundry mishap. I don't blame our small, but adequate, washing machine. It was a case of operator error. Unfortunately, what began life as faintly rose colored t-shirt has blossomed into a still desirable, if unintentional, purple one. I'm not sure which was the culprit: The dark blue shirt, the detergent, or the water temperature (a scorching 40 degrees C or 104 degrees F for the unschooled). The difference between 40 degrees C and 40 degrees F is pink to purple.


The apartment is equipped with a washing machine, but no dryer. Using a clothesline four floors up in a narrow light shaft is a tricky operation. As of now, no articles of clothing have been lost to the neighbors' cantilevered radiator hood... but I'll let you know if my favorite shirt ends up there.

Your big question for me is: How is the food? My reply: I don't really know yet. So far, I can only tell you about the markets. Covered markets dot the landscape of Barcelona. In three days, I've been to four, two of them twice. Dining out is always nice, but what's the need when the markets are stocked with amazing produce? I bought fresh eggs from a lady who only sells eggs. I made an easy scramble with pasta, beans, and tomatoes, and fried them for ham sandwiches. These are eggs like I've never tasted before. The yolks are practically orange, when cooked they have the richness of butter and an almost cream-like consistency. I already regret when American eggs will once again be the norm.

Before leaving New York, I became obsessed with baked eggs. I first tried out this recipe for an intimate brunch hosted on our roof deck. I loved them so much that I made it three more times that week. The elegance of the dish obscures the relaxed ease of the recipe. All you have to do is crack an egg into a ceramic ramekin filled with a splash of hot cream and top it with cheese and dill. It's hard to imagine how something so simple can taste so incredible. The egg white firms up in the oven, while the yolk remains gooey and buttery. Dill and eggs are a natural combination, and when mixed with freshly grated Fontina cheese, they bring out its grassy undertones. Puncture the bright yellow yolk with a large shard of buttered grilled toast for maximum enjoyment.

Spanish eggs will pump up this already amazing dish another notch. I'm dying to try it out. But first, I have to find an apartment with an oven.

Eggs en Cocotte
(serves 2)

2 eggs
2 tsp cream
1 tsp butter
1 tsp dill
1 tbsp shredded fontina cheese
2 wedges of tomato

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange two ramekins on a baking sheet. Add 1 tsp of cream and 1/2 tsp of butter to each ramekin. Bake in the oven on the top shelf until cream-butter mixture is bubbly, about 5 minutes.

While the ramekins are in the oven, prepare your ingredients. Cut one tomato in 1/8's, finely chop dill, and shred fontina cheese. Remove the baking tray with bubbling hot cream-butter mixture from the oven. Crack one egg into each ramekin. The egg should start sizzling as it hits the hot cream. Place one tomato wedge into each dish. Be careful not to hit the yolk. Sprinkle with a small pinch of salt. Top each dish with 1/2 tsp of dill and 1/2 tbsp of shredded cheese. Pop in the oven and cook until the whites have set: 5-7 minutes for a runny yolk, 10 -12 minutes for a hard yolk.

Serve with large shards of buttered toast.

P.S. These photos were taken pre-Barcelona. As of now, nothing extraordinary has emerged from my kitchen here.

The Momofuku Slow-Poached Egg with Miso Butter

Dear Michelle,

Jeff got me the Momofuku cookbook for Christmas. Or, rather, Jeff got us the Momofuku cookbook for Christmas; he knew what would happen if he got me that book. We've been to one of the three in the family of restaurants only once, and it was transcendent experience, made even better by the company of good friends and my first taste of nigori sake. It was enough to convince me that I wanted to own that cookbook when I heard it was coming out.

So far, we have made pork belly ssam twice, sour cream ice cream once, and the scallion ginger sauce several times; all very very good, and all things we will make again. And, of course, there is the slow-poached egg. As you read on, at some point you will wonder, "Is it really worth taking the time to do this?" Stay with me. It is.

For anyone who likes eggs, and by that I mean likes eggs enough that you like the white set just so and the yolk just runny enough, you know how difficult achieving this consistently can be. I've been making sunny-side up eggs for years, and I still mess them up sometimes, and EVERY time I do this I feel like my breakfast has been ruined. Almost worse than a set yolk is a not-quite-cooked-enough white. So, what if I told you that, for about an hour's worth of on-again off-again attention, you could have perfect eggs for a whole week?

These eggs are so perfect because they are cooked in what is essentially a sous-vide method. True, there is no vacuum packing, and no wondering if it is really ok to cook your food in plastic, but the principle is there; submerge something self-contained in hot, circulating water set to a particular temperature that perfectly cooks what is inside, and what you end up with will be neither over-, nor under-cooked. For a little color and flavor, you then sear quickly and serve.

The result is an egg that has a creamy yolk and a white that is just on the right side of done, gelled on the line between opaque and translucent. The mouth-feel of the egg is luscious, and is hands down the best prepared egg I have ever had.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to lightly fry the egg in pork fat, and slide it down onto a piece of good bread smeared with miso butter (miso is fermented soybean paste, available in asian markets, and probably most grocery stores). Miso butter, like this, seems to be an invention of Chang's, and a very good one. It's a salty-umami flavor sucker punch that hits right on the back of your tongue, like really good bacon does. And, like bacon, it is perfect with an egg.


I haven't even gotten to the best part about this egg ( I know, give it a rest, right?), which is that you can make a bunch, chill them, and put them in the fridge for later use. Breakfast? Easier and quicker than frying a raw egg! Lunch? Soba noodles with some sort of vegetable, mixed with miso butter and an egg on top! Variations? pile steamed greens on your toast, or, like I did this morning, wrap two of these little guys in some salami (yeah, that's right, salami. But not the kind you're thinking, unless you are lucky enough to get it from the same butcher I do. I could devote a whole post to this stuff. Or, if I was inclined to do such things, write a poem), and nestle the whole mess down onto miso-buttered toast. Heaven! (Mom, if you're reading this, I promise I had an orange afterwards)

Before I start the how-to, let me recommend again the Momofuku cookbook. If the above wasn't enough to convince you, please trust me that it's worth the $40. That's not even enough to pay for dinner at one of Chang's restaurants. The recipes are very accessible, and range from complicated to easy. I feel like I could someday make the pig's head torchons, but for now I'll stick with the pork buns. Plus the writing is good, and the photos well done. Jeff notes that this is not a cookbook for the beginning cook; I'm not sure I agree, but that's only conditional on the enthusiasm of said cook. I do know that you will be seeing a lot on here that is directly from/ inspired by this cookbook.


Slow-Poached Egg from Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan, pg 52

Notes: I've used a smaller pot for these, but this last time used my Le Creuset dutch oven. Go bigger. The more water, the less volatile the temperature, the less you need to hover and can do more interesting things. Have cold water handy, and if you just have a smaller pot, ice cubes. Use a candy thermometer. They are more accurate than meat thermometers, not too expensive, and more useful than you'd think. Especially if you make these eggs as often as I do. Get REALLY good eggs; what you end up with will reflect what you start out with. The best eggs, by far, are home or small-farm raised eggs. If the yolk is yellow instead of orange, you need to find better eggs. You discard a part of the white that doesn't firm; this is about 1/4-1/3 of it. Therefore, you might want two eggs where before you'd eat one.


Fit 1 large pot with steamer basket or just something to keep the eggs suspended in water. Fill enough to cover eggs plus some (but not full; you want room to add cold water later for temp. control), and set on stove. Secure candy thermometer so that tip is suspended in water; you will leave it here. Heat over medium low to 140-145 degrees F. Add eggs. When temperature comes back to 140-145F, start timer for 40-45 minutes. I usually do 45, because I like them a little more done. Check water regularly; keeping it in this temperature range is key. If the temp is creeping up to 145, add a little cold water/ice to bring it back down. Keep the heat as low as possible, and add cold water in small increments. With the large pot, I checked about every 10 minutes, but start off with 5 till you can gauge how quickly the temperature changes. When timer goes off, chill in ice bath. Refrigerate or use.


While eggs are cooking, make miso butter. I like about half butter to half miso; Chang uses 1/2 c miso with 5T butter. I find that to be a little too salty for my taste, especially considering the amount that I use. However, in 1-1 quantity, the miso butter will become hard when refrigerated. Play around with it and see what suits you. Different brands will also taste different. This was my first foray into cooking with miso, so I regret that I cannot specify a preferred brand.


To make: mix softened butter with white miso until creamy. Make extra. Spread on toast, to be ready for the egg. (See 2nd photo in main body of writing for finished miso butter)

Heat a frying pan till hot, then add a small amount of fat of your choice. While pan heats, crack egg into a bowl, and discard thin white (I crack the eggs into my hand and the loose white falls away).



When fat shimmers, add egg(s). Fry till just colored on each side; you are adding flavor and just barely firming the egg, not trying to cook it through. Eat immediately. Do the same if egg comes out of the fridge; give it a touch longer to warm through. Chang uses the eggs, not fried, in soup as well, and recommends warming them under very hot tap water for a minute.

Four Onion Frittata

Dear Devon,

Did you know that within the Allium genus, there are over 600 types of onions? Not all of them are edible or easily found. In fact, only a handful are cultivated (chives, scallions, garlic, shallots, onions, and leeks). The tasty five onion pizza at Porchetta inspired me to think about onions. The pizza isn't exactly made with five onions, but rather five types of onions. I loved this idea and borrowed it for my frittata.


Saturdays are my days for eggy breakfasts. I love soft scrambled eggs with whole grain toast. But with the taste of five onion pizza still on my mind, I tested my own multiple onion variation. My big concern was too much onion flavor, so I chose softer, sweeter onions: sweet yellow onion, leeks, shallots and scallions. This is breakfast after all. Goat cheese seemed an obvious choice. It pairs nicely with leeks and eggs- plus what is brunch without goat cheese?

I used a cast iron pan because I wanted that lovely brown, crisp edge. The size of the pan was perfect. The pan was deep enough to hold all the yummy onions and eggs but also allowed the frittata to puff slightly. The pan needed to be oven proof. I love the feeling of cooking with cast iron. It evokes a rustic, pioneer-like feeling. I felt this was fitting for this dish.


Fresh from the oven, the frittata was beautifully puffed and speckled with varying shades of green and hints of purple. It had formed a wonderful golden crust and the goat cheese was slightly burned. It looked amazing. The recipe called for eight eggs. I worried that with this many eggs, the frittata would turn out rubbery if over-cooked or too dense. Luckily, eight was the perfect number. The texture was fluffy and light, yet without losing that hearty quality of eggs and onions. I ate it piping hot with a piece of toast and some jam. Later, in the afternoon, it made a wonderful cold snack. In Italy, they make sandwiches out of fritattas and two pieces of sliced bread. It might be time for a picnic!


Four Onion Frittata

1 leek (A. ampeloprasum), chopped
1 1/2 shallots (A. oschaninii), sliced
1/2 yellow onion (A. cepa), diced
2 scallions (A. ascalonicum), sliced
8 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3 oz goat cheese
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare leeks by removing the root and trimming the leaves along the stalk where they turn a darker shade of green. Halve the leek along the stalk. Rotate 45 degrees and halve again. Run under some cold water to wash out all the sand. Leeks are grown in sand and can carry a lot of dirt in their leaves. Roughly chop, along with scallions, shallots and white onion.

Over medium flame, melt butter and gently saute onions in a large cast iron pan. It will seem like a lot of onion, but it cooks down. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in salt. When the onions are translucent, add the beaten eggs. Cook gently over medium low flame. The mixture will gradually firm up and the edges will get a bit crusty. Dot with lumps of goat cheese. Place the frittata in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the eggs are set. Set frittata under the broiler to get some nice brown color and some crunchiness. I won't give an estimate for broiler time. I've noticed that broilers vary vastly. Some broilers will absolutely char your food in 30 seconds (my mother's super high powered oven does that) while in others, the broiler can be on for five minutes with no effect.