There’s less inspiration to writing a food blog, and there is a good reason. It isn’t because there’s less cooking. Instead, I’m in bed at an earlier hour, which affects the flow of creative ideas.
As an undergraduate art student, my classes were mostly held in the afternoons or early evenings. My graduate design classes accommodated my late night habit. I’ve worked on less sleeping hours than the average person for a long time, and it’s a bad habit that continues today.
My age is in a new decade, and my body has sounded the alarms — such as increased acne, difficult weight loss and muscle aches. Fortunately, the aches and pains decrease with more hours of sleep. Adding to the pressure to change my sleeping schedule are my boyfriend’s complaints of how climbing into bed early in the morning wakes him. Lack of sleep causes less focus on my weekday job. And, my eyes are visibly puffy and dark.
But, it’s fun to stay up late. Around the 10 pm hour, there’s a sudden urge to visit all the creative online sites to read opinions, food, politics, design and art. Which leads to writing until the early morning hours. If it’s a weekday, I wake up at an early hour to being grumpy. On Saturday mornings, I happily wake up late to start the day (ahem, afternoon) making a generous brunch, such as a Shiitake Mushroom frittata. The flavor in this recipe is the stir-fried shiitake mushrooms, but a heavy hand of adding salt to water is recommended for cooking the potatoes. It’s a simple, lovely dish when a savory brunch is preferred over pancakes.
My bad habit is not quite broken. Like a drug-addict, I often have relapses. Right now, I’m watching the clock, because it’s early evening. In a couple hours, the time will be 10 pm. It’s the time to decide if I should stay up with the midnight owls creatively working or sleep away my creative ideas to be a productive and healthier person during the day. The latter has to win… but, there’s a typography design project to finish, lamps to find for the living room, a new Pinterest board exploring ideas for decorating our second bedroom…
Ingredients
- 10 oz. unpeeled baby red skinned potatoes; shrubbed cleaned and quartered
- 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. sea salt; more or less as needed
- About 2 tsp. olive oil, more or less as needed
- 3 slices of turkey or pork bacon
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped sweet onion
- About 12 medium sized fresh shiitake mushrooms; cleaned and about 1/4” sliced thick
- 1/4 cup epis seasoning
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 8 to 9 large eggs
- 1-1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp. fresh black pepper, more or less as needed
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 375°F.
- Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and fill with enough water to cover potatoes at about 2-inches deep. Add about one tablespoon of sea salt. Cover saucepan and bring to boil. Uncover and decrease heat to a simmer. Cook potatoes for about ten minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, add olive oil to an eight-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add bacon. When the underside is starting to turn golden brown, turn the bacon over to slightly brown on the other side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. When completely cooled, roughly chop it. Set aside.
- In the same skillet — if necessary, add another two teaspoons of olive oil — add the onions. Season with sea salt. Slightly reduce temperature to about a medium-low heat. Occasionally stir until onions are almost golden brown for at least 10 minutes. If the onions start to quickly brown, reduce heat. If caramelized onions are desired, reduce heat to about low and frequently stir for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile (as the onions are cooking), in a large bowl, whisk the epis seasoning, milk, eggs and one cup of parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
- If necessary, add about an additional one teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet. Add the shiitake mushrooms. If desired, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. When the mushrooms start to wilt (about five minutes), add the potatoes and bacon.
- Whisk the eggs one more time and stir into the mushrooms and potatoes. Gently stir the egg into the vegetables.
- Place skillet in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes. When the frittata is starts to turn brown, sprinkle 1/4 cup parmesan cheese on top. Bake until the frittata browns a little more and the cheese is melted.
- Remove from the oven. After a few seconds the frittata will deflate, and it’s okay.
- Sprinkle the last quarter cup of parmesan cheese over individual servings.
- Enjoy with buttered toast.
The frittata looks heavenly. Never met one that I didn’t like!
I identify with being a night owl too. To be at my best, even since I was a child, I go to bed later and get up later. I love staying up late blogging and reading when I can. But most of society doesn’t operate that way. Although, I must say I’ve been more than lucky with having very flexible work schedules. The struggle continues!
This is a lovely vegetarian frittata Sanura!
Absolutely delightful one pot dish!
Now, on another note regarding the night owl business, my college years broke me real bad and years in media cemented my fate. I am finding now that I really need to be in bed by 10 to get to my next level in life but it is such a huge struggle. Especially when you throw being married to a chef in the mix!