Red Pepper and Potato Frittata

 It's been too hot to cook this week, so we've been enjoying leftovers for dinner each night. One of my favorites has been this red pepper and potato frittata that I originally made for brunch on Sunday. Cold with a green salad it made good dinners too.

Often frittatas like this include bacon. The key to getting good flavor without the bacon is to brown the onions until they are deep golden in places. A few bits stuck to the skillet are no bad thing, just unstick them before pouring in the eggs.

The other key flavor is the fresh oregano. It adds a green base note that offsets the sweet pepper and salty cheddar.

This is the beginning of red pepper season, and I can think of no better way to start it than with this frittata.

Red Pepper and Potato Frittata
1 potato, peeled and cut in 1/4 inch dice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
8 eggs
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 cup grated cheddar

Put the potato cubes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and add a little coarse salt. Bring to the boil, covered, and simmer until just tender. This will take 5-8 minutes depending on the size of the cubes. Pierce with the tip of a knife to see when they're done. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a 10 inch cast iron skillet (or other oven-proof skillet) over medium-high heat. Add the red pepper, onions, and a sprinkling of salt. Sauté 5 minutes or so until tender and the onions are starting to brown. Add cooked potato, garlic and oregano. Sauté another minute or so until it smells great and the onions are well-colored. Smooth the vegetables out, scraping the bottom of the skillet to release any stuck pieces.

Whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let cook until the eggs are set around the edges, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.

The center will still be wet. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and place the skillet under the broiler until the cheese is melted and browned. This will take about 3 minutes. As you can see in the picture, mine got very dark in places. Larry allowed as to how that tasted even better.

Let the frittata stand a minute before cutting into it.

Serves 6-8

Omelet with Tomatillo Salsa

Sunday brunch is one of my favorite meals. We return from the market laden down with colorful produce that we unpack on our sunny kitchen table. Then Larry squeezes fresh oranges while I make some combination of eggs and carbs. We enjoy a leisurely meal with the Sunday papers. Last week, I decided to add a little zest to our brunch by pouring tomatillo salsa on our omelets.

Tomatillo salsa is easy to make. You can find my recipe for it here. Even better, it freezes well. I set some out on the counter to defrost while we were at the Market, ready to heat and serve when we returned.

The omelet was thick with mushrooms, cheese, peppers and cilantro. The sauce added zest, and a few breakfast potatoes rounded out the plate.

Sunday mornings are really great around here.

Omelet with Tomatillo Salsa
3/4 cup tomatillo salsa
4 eggs
1/4 cup sliced red onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp butter, divided use
1/2 red pepper, cut into strips
5 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 cup grated cheese — half jack, half cheddar
1 tbsp cilantro

Warm the salsa and set it aside.

Whisk together the eggs, onion, salt and pepper.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a medium cast iron skillet over medium heat. Sauté red pepper and mushrooms until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in skillet. Add eggs. Cook without stirring until they begin to set, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with vegetables, cheese and cilantro. Cover skillet and cook until the cheese melts and the eggs are set, about 2-3 minutes.

Fold the omelet in half, then cut it in half and serve on two plates. Pour the warm salsa on top.

Serves 2

Summer Eggs

When we got home from the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sunday, Larry started squeezing oranges for juice while I headed into the garden to pick basil and tomatoes for this brunch dish that is only as good as the tomatoes it's made with.

I poached eggs in a simple sauce of tomatoes and basil, then served it with fresh baguette and butter to sop up the sauce.

Summer on a plate.

Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 lb ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup thick kefir or Greek yogurt or crème fraîche
1/4 cup chopped basil
4 eggs

Warm the oil in a small skillet. (I use an 8-inch stainless steel skillet.) Sauté the garlic until fragrant, then add the tomatoes. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and are juicy. Add the kefir and cook another 3 minutes or so until thickened. (Kefir and yogurt might crack but they still look and taste delicious.) Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.

Spread the sauce evenly in the pan, make 4 slight indentations, and crack the eggs into them. Cover and cook until the whites are set but the yolk is still runny, about 5 minutes.

Serve the eggs with lots of sauce and baguette and butter on the side.

Serves 2

(Make sure to eat all of it at one sitting — that won't be difficult. It does not keep well because the egg white moves through the sauce — fine for breakfast but weird to pour over spaghetti later.  You can reserve some of the sauce before putting the eggs in. It's great over pasta or rice. Or on bruschetta. Or eaten with a spoon. Simple is so often the best.)

Eggs with Green Chiles

I'm busy using the roasted poblanos from my freezer before this year's crop comes to market.

On Sunday, I added one to our scrambled eggs. Yum — spicy eggs are great with sourdough toast and breakfast potatoes.

Eggs with Green Chiles
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 poblano, roasted and peeled
1 tomato, seeded and diced
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Sauté the onion and garlic in butter until tender. Add the diced poblano and tomato and let cook until warmed through.

Beat the eggs with the salt until creamy. Add to the pan and cook, stirring regularly, until the eggs are cooked through.

Serves 2-3

Breakfast Potatoes

While our Sundays start with the stress of driving the 110 freeway at 7:30 a.m. en route to the Hollywood Farmers Market, once we've power-shopped and made it home our morning becomes more relaxed.

Larry squeezes oranges for fresh juice while I cook up some variation of eggs and potatoes. Then we settle down with the Sunday papers for a leisurely meal.

Last Sunday I made breakfast potatoes that were similar to what you'd find at a Mexican restaurant. I served them with spicy scrambled eggs and sourdough toast. I always make too many of these potatoes because the leftovers make great potato tacos.

Breakfast Potatoes
3 large yukon gold potatoes (1 1/4 lbs)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Peel the potatoes and cut in 1/4 inch dice.

Warm the oil in the bottom of a large cast iron skillet. It should shimmer as it coats the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes and a spoonful of water. Cover the skillet and let the potatoes cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Stir them occasionally. They will stick to the pan and create wonderful browned crusty bits.

When they're almost cooked, stir in the onion and green pepper. Season with salt and cook, covered, until the green pepper is tender.

Sprinkle on some black pepper and the cilantro. Serve hot.

Serves 4


Potato Tacos
Combine leftover breakfast potatoes with some grated cheese, a diced roasted red pepper, lime juice, extra cilantro and onion if you like. Season well. Put the filling on tortillas — I used a wheat/corn tortilla the other day — pressing it about 1/4 inch thick. Cover with another tortilla. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Put the tortillas in. (Commercial potato tacos are fried in oil which gives them a crunchy exterior. These are cooked on a dry skillet, more like a quesadilla. But you can still get a decent crunch on the outside.) Cook until they are browned on the bottom, then flip them and cook the other side. Serve hot with salsa or guacamole.

(We ate them all before I remembered to take a photo.)

Breakfast Potatoes

Sunday morning I wanted a fry-up for breakfast. Usually that means eating at the pub, but we'd been there the night before (possibly why I craved a fry-up) so I decided to make a healthier version at home.

Instead of frying the potatoes, I roasted them in the toaster oven. It was slightly healthier yet really delicious with fried eggs on the side. Actually they'd be good for dinner too.

Breakfast Potatoes

2 medium red potatoes (about 8 oz total)

4 cremini mushrooms

1 small shallot

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

10 grinds pepper

Preheat toaster oven to 450°F.

Peel the potatoes and cut in 1/2" dice. Cut the mushrooms in quarters. Peel the shallot, halve lengthwise, and slice thinly. Toss these all together with the oil, salt and pepper. Spread out in a small roasting pan and cook for about 18 minutes until they are tender and golden. Stir after 10 minutes, making sure to scrape any browning onion bits back to the center of the pan.

Serves 2

Asparagus Frittata

Spring is here. The scent of freesias and orange blossoms waft around the garden. The hummingbirds are flirting, and squawking baby jays hide in the undergrowth.

Spring makes me think of young spears of asparagus and fresh eggs from happy hens. I bought some of each at the farmers market on Sunday and made this great sunday brunch frittata.

There's a lot of asparagus in this dish, and not very many eggs. The green flavor shines, but I did dampen it a bit with some aged gruyere - I thought this was a great combination. But a milder cheese, or even no cheese at all, would be fine too.

Leftovers were great for lunch during the week as well.

Asparagus Frittata
1 lb asparagus
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded gruyere

Snap tough ends off asparagus spears and cut the rest into 1-inch lengths.

Pour oil into a warmed 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt. Cook about 3 minutes until onion is softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in asparagus, reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 6-8 minutes until asparagus is just tender. Pour in eggs and cook until they are almost set but still runny on top, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle cheese over top and broil until cheese is melted and browned, 3-4 minutes.

Serve in wedges.

Serves 6-8

Warning: this is weird

I like to vary the grains we eat: various kinds of rice, millet, quinoa, barley, and —last week — buckwheat.

Buckwheat is technically a seed, not a grain, and it's no relation to wheat. It originated on the Russian steppes and is a good warming winter grain.

It is strongly flavored — as you know if you've eaten buckwheat pancakes. I tend to serve it with mushrooms — a classic combination. Last week I cooked it up with potatoes to balance the intensity of the buckwheat. Served with steamed vegetables, it made a simple healthy dinner.

But there was a lot left over. I thought a bit, and then I realized it would be great for breakfast as a sort of hash.

Knowing this might be a little weird, I did not offer it to Larry. But I enjoyed it every morning for a week.

I scooped the grains and potatoes into my small cast iron skillet, fried them up, bashing them a little, and then added an egg — sometimes a hard-boiled one that I bashed into the mix, other times I moved the buckwheat to the side and fried an egg in the pan next to it. Salt, a good grinding of pepper and a drizzle of rooster sauce and I had a stick-to-the ribs-breakfast.

I encourage you to try it with whatever leftover grains you have in your fridge.

And if you want to try buckwheat with potatoes, here's the recipe.

Buckwheat and Potato Casserole
1 1/2 cups buckwheat (also known as kasha)
3 cups water
1 1/4 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces1 cup diced onion (1/2 large one)
1 tbsp organic canola oil

Bring the water to a boil, add a little salt, and cook the buckwheat, covered, 15 minutes. It should absorb all the water.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until soft. Drain and set aside.

Fry the onion in the oil until lightly browned.

Combine all together in a large bowl. Add 20 grinds of black pepper and a little salt to taste.

Scoop into an oiled casserole. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Serves 6-8

Asparagus Frittata

It was cool and overcast Sunday morning, so I made this sunny asparagus frittata to brighten us up. I served it with simple fried potatoes and a bowl of strawberries and pomelo. 

The frittata is beautiful. If I'd used a non-stick pan, I could have tipped it out onto a plate to serve. But I prefer my trusty old cast iron, even if eggs do seem to stick to it. (Maybe I need to re-season it.)

The asparagus to egg ratio is high, so this very healthy dish would also make a great light lunch. In fact I plan to serve leftovers for Memorial Day lunch.

Asparagus Frittata

1 lb asparagus

2 tbsp olive oil

3 shallots, diced (about 1 cup)

7 medium eggs (or 6 large)

1/2 cup parmesan

1/4 cup chopped basil leaves

Bring an inch of water to a boil in a saucepan large enough to hold the asparagus. Rinse the asparagus and snap off the ends. Cook, covered, in the water for 5 minutes until tender-crisp. Drain, refresh with cold water, and drain again. Chop into one-inch pieces and set aside.

Warm the olive oil in a 10-inch skillet with an ovenproof handle. Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add asparagus and warm through.

Lightly whisk together the eggs, parmesan, basil and a little pepper. (I find the parmesan is salty enough, but add more salt if you're used to eating restaurant food.)

Pour the eggs into the pan and stir gently to mix the eggs with the vegetables. Cook over medium-low heat until the sides of the frittata and most of the top is set, about 10 minutes, making sure not to let it burn on the bottom.

Preheat the broiler to high. Put the skillet under the broiler and cook until the top is golden brown and set, about 2 minutes.

Serve immediately, or let cool to room temperature and serve in wedges.

Serves 4

Strawberries and pomelo wedges

Potatoes with Rosemary and Sage

Eggs and potatoes are a Sunday staple around here. The eggs from the happy hens at Ha's Apple Farm are so delicious that even simply poached they taste better than any eggs we've eaten in restaurants.

Yesterday I served them with these Mediterranean-inspired herb-roasted potatoes. Whenever I eat these I remember that their pungent herbal flavor would be great for dinner too - with a crisp salad and an omelet, or a bean burger. Or even with a lentil stew.

The potatoes are flavored with rosemary, sage and bay - which, if you live in Southern California and have even a small patch of sun, you can grow. They are drought tolerant and can be snipped year-round for an extra pop of flavor in whatever you're cooking. Rosemary and sage can be overpowering, so a little goes a long way. (The plants grow in winter-y climates too - the sage will go dormant outside, but the rosemary and bay will need to be taken in as house plants before the first frost.)

Fresh eggs, freshly-squeezed orange juice, and potatoes aromatic with herbs from the garden: there is nothing like good simple food to start the day off right.

Potatoes with Rosemary and Sage
3/4 lb potatoes (2 medium)
1 heaping tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 bay leaf

Peel the potatoes and place in cold salted water for 15-20 minutes. This reduces the amount they will stick to the pan when you roast them.

Preheat toaster oven to 500°F.

Drain the potatoes and cut them in 3/4 inch cubes. Place on a baking dish and toss with the oil, garlic, rosemary, sage and bay leaf. Spread the potatoes in a single layer and bake 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Lower the heat to 375°F and cook until tender, about 10 minutes longer. Turn them occasionally while they cook.

Serve hot.

Serves 2

The Week's Granola

Last week I found 1/4 cup of amaranth in a jar in the pantry. I was not happy at this discovery. A quarter cup of this tiny grain is not enough to cook by itself, so I was tempted to feed it to the neighbor's chickens.

But that felt wasteful. Instead, I decided to add it to our weekly granola. Amaranth is high in protein so I knew it would make a nutritious addition to our breakfasts. The key would be to get it to stick to the oats and nuts, and not just fall to the bottom of the granola jar where it would remain uneaten.

Brown rice syrup and honey provided the stickiness, along with some dates, and Larry declared it the best granola I've made. Here's what I did.

Granola with Amaranth

4 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup amaranth

1 cup wheat bran

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pitted dates

Preheat oven to 275°F.

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, amaranth, bran, sunflower seeds and walnuts. Sprinkle in the cinnamon and stir well.

In a medium saucepan, warm brown rice syrup, honey and canola oil until boiling. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour this over the rolled oats mixture and stir well. (This might be easier with two spoons or with your hands.)

Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet and bake until lightly golden, about 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally while it cooks. It will feel soft when you take it from the oven, but it will crisp up as it cools. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chopped dates. Let it cool completely and then store in a large glass jar.

It will probably last a few weeks in the cupboard, if you hide it from your family.

P.S. To make this truly vegan, substitute extra brown rice syrup for the honey.

Fried Eggs and Potatoes

On Sundays we usually have a leisurely brunch with the Sunday papers. Yesterday, however, I wanted to eat a quick meal before getting out to dig in the garden. I had plans.

So I made these simple fried potatoes with eggs. The potatoes mopped up the egg yolks, and the meal fortified me for a good day of work.

Fried Eggs and Potatoes
3/4 lb potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp tumeric
4 eggs
2 oz feta
sriracha or other hot sauce
1 tbsp cilantro

Scrub the potatoes, cover with cold water and a sprinkle of salt, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Put the lid on and let them simmer until tender, about 10 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. Drain and let cool until you can touch them.

Dice the potatoes into 1/2" pieces. Warm the olive oil in a skillet, and add the potatoes, caraway and turmeric. Cook the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown.

Turn the heat to low, move the potatoes to the edges of the pan, and crack the 4 eggs into the center. Sprinkle the feta and a drizzle of hot sauce over the top. Cover the pan and cook 5-8 minutes until the whites are cooked. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Serves 2

Sunday Morning Hash

After the morning rush of driving the crazy freeways to the Hollywood Farmers Market (yes, the freeways are crazy early on Sunday mornings - speed racers weave in and out, every couple of months we pass accidents, especially in the rainy season), buying the week's groceries, then braving the traffic home, we are ready to relax with a leisurely breakfast.

Yesterday, I went for simplicity. While Larry squeezed the o.j., I tossed diced potatoes and sweet potato in olive oil and cooked them in the toaster oven. I diced them small enough that they cooked quickly and became the perfect foil for simple fried eggs. Fresh blueberries and strawberries rounded out the meal.

(You might remember that Larry is not a fan of the sweet potato, but he really enjoyed this potato dish - the sweet potatoes, shallots and mushrooms mix with the red potatoes to make a hash that is fun to eat.)

A word about vocabulary: When we ate breakfast at Kitchen 24 on Cahuenga a couple of Sundays ago, the waiter explained to us the difference between hash browns, home fries and breakfast potatoes. My eyes glazed over, so I'm not sure what the technical term is for diced potatoes cooked in the toaster oven.  I'm calling it hash.

Sunday Morning Hash
5 oz cremini mushrooms
3 1/2 oz sweet potato
8 oz red potatoes
1 small shallot
1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Wipe the mushrooms clean and cut them in 1/2 inch pieces. Peel the sweet potato and red potatoes and cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice. Peel, half and thinly slice the shallot.

Toss the mushrooms, sweet potato, potatoes, shallot and oil together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and cook for 18-20 minutes, stirring at 10 minutes and 15 minutes, until tender and golden brown.

Serves 2-3

This Week's Granola

I think I ate commercial granola once, back in the 80s when there was something called Harvest Crunch which was supposed to be healthy but word was it was high fat and high calorie because of all the nuts and fruit.

As you can tell, it didn't impress me much. It tasted like sweet crunchy lumps. So I learned how to make my own. It's not difficult. Toast some grains and seeds and nuts, add some dried fruit, store in a jar.

By making it myself, I can ensure that all the ingredients are organic, and that they really are food. I use differing amounts of sweetener depending on how I feel. This one, which we're eating this week, has brown sugar and honey in addition to the fruit. The sugar and honey keep the grains soft and sweet - if you are trying to convert your family from sugary cereals, this will help. I use raw honey even though I'm not sure it has any live enzymes left after being baked for half an hour.

This is healthy food, and it is very nutrient-dense. The nuts, grains and seeds provide protein, cholesterol-lowering fiber, immune-boosting beta glucan, antioxidants, heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, and more. The dates provide slow-burning sugar, antioxidants, fiber, B vitamins and other vitamins and minerals.

Homemade granola is a great way to start the day. I eat mine with plain yogurt (unsweetened, made by St. Benoit Creamery from the milk of grass-fed Jersey cows in Sonoma County), brewers yeast (good source of B vitamins), ground flaxseeds (omega-3 fatty acids) and almond milk. Larry prefers his straight with milk. There's no bad way to eat granola.

Nutty Granola
4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup chopped pistachios
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange blossom honey
1/2 cup dried figs
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup deglet noor dates
1/2 cup dried pears
1/2 cup dried mangoes

In at large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, oil and honey. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 325°F for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's lightly golden.

Meanwhile, cut the dried fruit into bite-sized pieces. Stir it into the cooked oats. Let cool completely. Store in large glass jars at room temperature for up to a few weeks (but it won't last that long).

Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillos are interesting vegetables (actually fruits). They look like giant cape gooseberries with a papery husk that covers a hard green ball which has a sticky surface. They are tart and tangy, and form the base of the green sauce poured over cheese enchiladas.

I made this variation the other day and poured it over cheese omelets for breakfast. It was great.

Tomatillos are coming to the end of their season, but they last for a few weeks in the fridge still in their husks. I've also husked and rinsed them and frozen them successfully in the past.

The poblano pepper adds a slight heat to the salsa. But this is not a hot sauce - it makes an interesting but not overwhelming breakfast dish. It would also be good on enchiladas or stirred into rice.

Tomatillo Salsa
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup husked, rinsed and diced tomatillos (4-5)
cilantro for garnish

Warm oil in a small pan over medium heat. Sauté poblano and onion until tender. Add the garlic and tomatillos. Cook until they start to brown, just a few minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Make a 2-egg omelet, layering a little cheddar in the middle before you fold it over. Spoon some of the salsa on top and serve.

Makes enough salsa for 2 omelets.

Sunday breakfast

After an early morning trip to the Hollywood Farmers Market this morning, we were
ready for a big breakfast.

We buy all our produce for the week at the market, and today that included many melons. It was a heavy load that we hauled back to the car.

So omelets and fried potatoes were in order.

I picked a tomato, a jalapeno and some basil from our garden to stuff the omelet, along with a few slices of avocado. The potatoes were parboiled, then sautéed in butter and olive oil with a little salt, pepper and Mexican seasoning.

Afterwards we felt re-energized to go out and work in our garden.

Still-life for breakfast

We eat bowls of fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. Is there a more beautiful way to start the day?

Winter Fruit

Winter fruit is extra high in Vitamin C, very useful in cold and flu season.

We juice oranges on Sundays, and take tangerines and apples in our lunch bags.

Our bowls of morning fruit are full of the excellent grapefruit we get from Jorge at the Hollywood Farmers Market - both pink and white. I add color with pomegranate seeds, and an extra zip with kumquats from the dwarf meiwa tree mum gave me for Christmas. The fruit is a little larger than a regular kumquat, and a little sweeter.

All these vitamins help us feel stronger during this virus and bacteria laden season. And eating the fresh fruit is much more fun than swallowing a vitamin pill.

Isn't it cute? This is the dwarf meiwa kumkuat we got at Bellefontaine Nursery in Pasadena. It was tough to come home with only one citrus tree - talk about a place of temptation!

Summer Fruit

 The Hollywood Farmers Market is piled with peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, pluots, grapes, melons in more varieties than I can name, and strawberries.

That's along with all the apples and citrus fruit that I now take for granted.

It's hard to limit my fruit shopping. We eat fruit once a day - for breakfast - so we don't need basketfuls. I rarely cook fruit - it's too darned hot to cook, and why waste all that nutrition? So I control myself as I walk through the market buying two of this and two of that, restraining myself to a small basket of strawberries, two - oops actually three - melons.

The stone fruits tend to be hard - flavorful but not completely ripe. I leave them on the counter for a few days until they are fragrant. I check them each every day, looking for mold, squeezing gently for ripeness. When they are really ripe, I either put them in our morning fruit, or refrigerate them until we need them.

Melons, however, can be bought completely ripe and ready to eat. Last Sunday morning we bought strawberries and cantaloupe at Finley Farms stall and ate them for brunch. They were so sweet they tasted like candy. The accompanying omelet was a good counter-balance with heat from a homegrown anaheim pepper and some salty cheese.

We had the remaining strawberries and melon for breakfast on Monday morning, Tuesday was grapefruit and last week's Santa Rosa plums - finally ripe and incredibly juicy. Then on to the nectarines and peaches, and the other cantaloupe we bought. We still have a white Japanese melon that Mr. Ha says is good to eat now but if we can wait a week or two until it is soft it will be unbelievably sweet. Let's see how long we can wait.

Summer fruit: there's nothing like it.

Tropical Granola

It's been cold here in Southern California, so last week I decided we needed a taste of the tropics for breakfast.

I had found packages of dried organic mangos and pineapple at my local supermarket. I think the brand name is Made in Nature. I approached it with caution, because so often dried fruit is sweetened with sugar or corn syrup. Why, I don't know. Drying concentrates the natural sugars in fruit - they don't need any more.

But these are unsweetened, so I brought them home and decided to make tropical granola. The dried fruit is a little pricey, but it made a large amount of granola, and I have enough left for a second batch.

It's a good thing I made a lot, because Larry really likes this granola. (He says he likes all the granolas I make, but this one he's been eating regularly.)

Of course, as with any granola, you can vary the ingredients to suit your taste. I added currants for some tartness to offset all the sweet (and because I had some in the freezer). I used dates because they grow locally and I get organic ones from the Batista Family Ranch stand at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Raisins could take the place of both. I used raw wildflower honey from Martinez Apiaries (also at the Hollywood Farmers Market).

I cut the dried mango, pineapple and apricots with scissors - far easier than a knife - into irregular bite-sized pieces. I pitted the dates and cut them into rough eighths.

I think it's the toasted coconut that gives it that real tropical flavor. I recommend eating this granola as the sun rises over the palm trees in order to get the full effect.

Tropical Granola
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 cups oat bran
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
1/3 cup sesame seeds
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup currants
6 dates, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup dried pineapple, snipped
1/4 cup dried mango, snipped
1/2 cup dried apricots, snipped

In large bowl, stir together oats, sunflower seeds, oat bran, dry milk, almonds, walnuts, coconut, sesame seeds and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, honey, vanilla and almond extract.

Stir wet into dry until well moistened (hands work best).

Bake in a 250° oven for one hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets 10 minutes, then stir in dried fruit.

Store in glass containers. Makes about 10 cups granola.