Back to Life

The weather in Seattle has been confusing this year, always defying expectations, acting like March in June and vice versa. The arc of my life has been similarly defiant recently. Along with the planned turmoil of moving to a new apartment in the same week that my internship ended, there was added upheaval when a job I had been counting on fell through. Then a couple of days later we had to say goodbye to Hannah, our feline companion of 18 years, just when we finally got her that balcony she'd been asking for that overlooks several lovely trees filled with chattering birds.

The upside of all this -- the end of the internship, joblessness, no cat underfoot -- is that I now have time to get back to blogging about food, cooking and nutrition. I happen to have made a lovely meal this very evening that I want to share, a meal that fits perfectly with the uncertain weather (they're calling it Junuary) because it’s full of lively spring flavors but has some of the richness of comfort food.

Have you ever made a frittata? It’s like a quiche without the crust, and it cooks on the stovetop like an omelet, only there’s no potentially messy flipping or turning. The recipe I used requires finishing the frittata under the broiler to brown the top, but this isn’t really necessary. I checked with Morning Food, a beautiful cookbook by Margaret Fox (an ex-employer of my husband’s) and her recipe calls for putting a tight lid on the pan to make sure the frittata cooks through – no oven time involved.

To make this recipe a little easier, I didn’t brown the potatoes separately – I added them to the onions after about five minutes, and browned them a little bit together. I also stirred the grated cheddar cheese into the egg mixture before adding it to the pan, thus saving another step.

For some brighter flavor and crunch to complement the frittata, I made this Napa cabbage slaw. It was darn good, but next time I’ll make it a little ahead of time to let the flavors marry. I’m also thinking about grating fresh horseradish into it, or adding garlic to make it a little friskier. Another option would be to add some finely minced jalapeno.

The best thing about this meal? Leftovers! Meeting the weather (and life) halfway – that’s how I’m going to get through this challenging period with my positive attitude intact.