Sleeping and Eating

Hi. You may have noticed this posting says it was put up around 4 am, and you may be wondering why. Well, currently I'm sitting at my computer, having just finished off a delicious frittata and decided this is it for me in terms of what you mortals like to call "sleep."

While I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night and cook myself a lovely meal, I do often wake up in the middle of the night. This 3 am in particular, though, I was inspired. I haven't had those flashes of recipe that keep me up for long after I should've drifted off, thinking of variations I can make with ingredients I have since Brooklyn and the CSA. But more to the point, the past few weeks-- between the family reunion, my trip to New York (to attend a Food Network event), my brother visiting, and Mother's Day-- I haven't had ingredients to daydream about, just endless days of pork, fried things, and cakes.

During the period of gastronomic excess I allowed myself over the month of May, my lowest point was eating deep fried bacalaito (flour+cod fish+garlic and seasoning, think really greasy savory funnel cake) off a see-through plate, along with a menagerie of other "frituras," literally "fried things." The plate was see-through because of the grease, mind you, like a really good Philly Cheesesteak but with far less substance-- just fried, messy goodness. Did I mention fried?

There was also that cinnamon cake our neighbor gave us during Mother's Day. I ate at least a third of the box. Dry and cinnamony on the outside, coated with powdered sugar, with a moist, creamy sweet interior... But that was only after having proper brekafast: quesitos (a puff pastry stuffed with sweet cream cheese), croquetas (a deep-fried ham and potato fritter), and pan sobao-- a sweet, white bread that's soft and buttery all by itself. Let's not even talk about the pernil-- slow-braised pork leg-- my dad bought on the same day as this magnanimous breakfast...

In other words, its been a rough few weeks. And I'm not even going to tell you about how much I've been drinking... If you know me, then you probably already know. I missed an earthquake that's how much I've been drinking.

So this weekend when the lull finally came, I went and bought... vegetables. With recipes in mind. And herbs! And olive oil! I was as happy as a hipster at a rock show.

The first thing I made was a ratatouille: vegetables cooked in the oven with thyme in a tomato sauce. Yesterday I made a potato leek soup to which I may have added too much butter but I take Julia on her word: "You can never have too much butt-er!" And now, having woken up for the day at 3 am, I took the scraps leftover from the ratatouille and made a vegetable frittata that was quite satisfying.

Slowly I'm getting a handle on my eating habits once again. Someday, I aspire to sleep through the night every night for a whole week. Its gonna be awesome.

For now, here's some recipes.

Ratatouille Frittata

** You can find the recipe I used for the original ratatouille here.

Ingredients:
About a cup of the following vegetables chopped: onion, garlic, zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms...
1 sprig thyme (plus any other herbs you may have lying around, I also added parsley)
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
3-4 Eggs
Grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add all vegetables, salt and pepper, and thyme and any other herbs you may be using. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes until vegetables start releasing juices and they're soft. Beat salt and pepper into eggs, make sure white and yolk are incorporated. Lower the heat on the skillet and pour eggs over vegetables. Allow the eggs to form a crust underneath but still be liquid in the middle, top with cheese, cover, and place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Potato Leek Soup
Julia Child's recipe

Ingredients:

1lb potatoes (about 4-6)
1 bunch of leeks (about 4 large ones, you can also use onions for a more intense soup)
Pinch of dill
1 tbsp butter (I used two but one would've been enough)
Salt and pepper
Water

Peel and chop potatoes. Chop leeks, using white and light green parts only. Toss leeks and potatoes into a deep pot, add generous amounts of salt and pepper, dill, and cover over water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until potatoes are falling apart, about 35-40 minutes. Allow the soup to cool down. Using a food processor or blender, puree into a cream, reheat, incorporating butter. Serve hot. You can also add cooked bacon to this either as a garnish or right before pureeing for a more intense flavor.