May 27th - Eggs

Egg night at Cafe Davis got so crazy that it derailed my blogging for the weekend. Cafe Davis 2010 is now officially over, but I need to catch up on my blogging so that the last weekend doesn't drift off into memory unrecorded.

I was a little reluctant about egg night. I like eggs, but it seemed like an entire meal centered around eggs would be overwhelming. The menu was caviar creme fraiche canape; romaine salad with back and hard-boiled eggs; tomato pasta frittata; and roasted asparagus. I'll start with the canape...

I've made creme fraiche before. It's not difficult, but it does take a bit of time - 7 or more hours, to be exact. I knew that I've seen creme fraiche in the grocery store, though, so I figured I would just buy it and save me the effort. I give you this preface as a segue into what I like least about Cafe Davis. I HATE grocery shopping. It's not buying the items that's the problem; it's the oblivious people that wander aimlessly around the aisles, and even worse than them, it's the fact that grocery stores seem incapable of stocking what I need. I routinely hit up two or more grocery stores shopping for a Cafe Davis night, looking for random, everyday things that grocery stores should have... like cucumbers. I know creme fraiche might be a little "out there," but I was 100% sure that I'd seen it at Martin's in the past. But in the present, there I was in the dairy section, demoralized at the lack of creme fraiche and the fact that I had only 5 hours until dinner was served. That's not nearly enough time to make it from scratch.

What to do? I wandered over to the gourmet cheese section, hoping that creme fraiche might randomly be stocked there. Then, what to my wondrous eyes did appear? Krinos Taramosalata! This is a Greek caviar spread made with carp roe, lemon juice, herbs, and bread crumbs. It's not the quite the same thing as creme fraiche with caviar, but I thought it was a reasonable alternative. And this, friends, is why the Cafe Davis menu says that ingredient substitutions are sometimes necessary. Plus, the jar of taramosalata was under $4! To make the appetizer, I cut rounds out of Italian bread with my handy, dandy biscuit cutter (gotta love the cheesy slogan - when I saw this at a yard sale, I couldn't resist it!):

Then I toasted them lightly, spread on the taramosalata, and topped it with diced red onions and red peppers. Easy, and delicious!

If you're looking for a hearty frittata for main entree, I recommend the one I made tonight. Here's the recipe, and a pic:

Tomato Pasta Frittata
(From About.com)

The recipe says this serves 4 - that's a lie. I think it could serve 6 or more, easy.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup leftover cooked fettucine or spaghetti pasta
- 2 red tomatoes, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 6 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup shredded Muenster cheese
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
In bowl, combine cooked pasta, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and lemon juice and mix. Add eggs, milk, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese; season with salt and pepper.

Melt butter in large cast-iron skillet. When butter is sizzling, add egg mixture. Cook, lifting edges of frittata occasionally to let uncooked mixture flow underneath, until bottom is light brown and eggs are almost set, about 5-8 minutes.

Sprinkle with Muenster and 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and place 4" from broiler. Cook, watching carefully, 8-12 minutes until frittata is puffed, set, and golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes, then cut into wedges to serve.


The guests tonight were Sarah Smitherman, Tom Robinson, and Clayton Johnson. After dinner we played games into the wee hours. Good, clean fun! We'll leave it at that... this isn't a gossip blog. ;)