Guardian Service Frittata

Yesterday I returned to Reading Terminal Market to see what quality, sustainably-farmed foods I could find at the Fair Food Farmstand. Even off-season, the Farmstand carries a treasure trove of locally-farmed vegetables, raw milks, yogurts and cheeses and a variety of eggs from cage-free, organically-fed fowl ranging from chickens, ducks and geese to emu (which lay Fabergé-sized eggs with dark emerald-teal shells—marvels of Mother Nature's flamboyance). The Farmstand had all the seasonal ingredients I needed to make an excellent frittata.

Though I'd never cooked or eaten duck eggs, I'm a quick convert: larger and more flavorful than hens' eggs, duck eggs are also more richly nutritious (higher in protein, minerals, vitamins and complex amino acids). They're also beautiful—firm shells, large saffron-colored yolks and thick whites which set up firmly in dishes like this dense frittata.

Often a frittata is flipped to brown both sides or placed under the broiler to finish, but the Guardian Service fryer cooked this dish perfectly in 20 minutes on top of the stove, with a slightly browned bottom and a soufflé-like texture. Allow the dish to cool for 15 minutes before serving and it will lift easily out of the pan. 

Guardian Service Frittata

with Duck Eggs, Sweet Potato, Mushroom, Shallot, Bacon and Cheese

Ingredients

6 duck eggs, lightly beaten (Pecan Meadows Farms, Newburg, PA)

2 medium Covington Sweet Potatoes, thinly sliced (Mast Farm, Morgantown, PA)

3 Yellow Dutch shallots, sliced (Tuscarora Organic Growers, Hustontown, PA)

8 oz. Crimini mushrooms, sliced (Mother Earth Mushrooms, Kennett Square, PA)

4-6 strips bacon, fried and crumbled into bits (Niman Ranch)

1/4 lb. "Maidenhead" cheese (or other semi-soft cheese), diced (Cherry Grove Farm, Lawrenceville, NJ)

1 Tbsp. butter, olive oil or bacon fat (optional)

1/4 tsp. salt and pepper, freshly ground

Directions

1. In the large Guardian Service Fryer, fry the bacon over medium low heat until just crisp enough crumble into bits and remove to dish to cool. 
2. In the rendered bacon fat, sauté sweet potato slices 4-5 minutes per side until wilted, covering the pan between, then remove to dish. 
3. Add an additional Tbsp. of fat or oil to the pan and sauté the shallots until translucent. Add mushrooms and continue to sauté, covered, for another 5 minutes.
4. Return the sweet potato slices to the pan, distributing evenly with the sautéed mushroom and shallot mixture.
5. Beat eggs with salt and pepper and pour over the potato, onion, mushroom mix. Sprinkle the diced cheese and bacon bits over the top.
6. Cover fryer and cook over medium low heat for 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and the eggs have set at the center.

Optional: finish under a broiler for a few minutes until browned or use a metal lid to employ the "stove top" browning method.

Allow the frittata to cool for at least 15 minutes or up to several hours. Invert or slide frittata onto a serving plate and cut into wedges or serve directly from the Guardian Service pan.

Chicken Napolitana

One of the great joys and challenges of being an actor is travel. While I love to experience the local food and culture of each new locale, I miss home and, in particular, home-cooked meals. So imagine my delight to not only stay in a household in the heart of one of the best “foodie” areas of Philadelphia, the famed Italian Market, but with a host who owns one essential piece of cookware that made me feel right at home: a large Guardian Service Chicken Fryer.

After feasting on some must-have local cuisine (pork scrapple from Reading Terminal Market, cheese steaks at the 70-year-old Jim’s Steaks on South Street, and the fresh and indescribably scrumptious cannolis from the century-old Isgro Pasticceria) I wandered into Molly’s Books & Records yesterday (right around the corner from my temporary home) and found a 1^st edition of Craig Claiborne’s 1963 “An Herb and Spice Cook Book," and therein a simple Italian recipe that not only draws upon the choicest ingredients within two blocks, but is ideally suited for the Guardian Service fryer.

I jotted down a list of ingredients and made the rounds right after work today: 

• An organic, free-range chicken — Esposito’s Meats (1001 S 9th St).
• Oregano and Bay Leaves — The Spice Corner (904 South 9th Street).
• Tricolore Fusillone, canned Italian plum tomatoes — Claudio’s (926 South 9th Street).
• Mozzarella — Di Bruno Bros. (930 S. 9th Street).
• Assorted produce from the fruit and vegetable stands along 9^th Street.

Chicken Napolitana

(adapted from Craig Claiborne’s “An Herb and Spice Cook Book,” Harper & Row, 1963)

1 3-4 lb.	Broiling Chicken, cut into serving pieces
3 Tbsp.	Olive Oil
2 cloves	Garlic, finely chopped
1	Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp.	Freshly ground sea salt
1 tsp.	Fresly ground black pepper
6-8	Mushrooms, sliced and cooked in 1 Tbsp. butter until wilted
2 tsp.	Oregano
2	Bay leaves
28 oz.	canned Italian plum tomatoes
6-8	thin slices Mozzarella cheese
¼ cup	Pinot Grigio (or cooking wine)
	chopped Parsley (optional)

1. Prepare Chicken: wash, cut into serving pieces, pat dry with paper towel and rub with salt and pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in Guardian Service fryer over medium heat and brown chicken pieces on all sides. Add the garlic and onion, cover and cook briefly.
3. Add sautéed mushrooms, oregano, bay leaves, tomatoes and wine. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4. 15 minutes before chicken is done, preheat the oven to 400°F.
5. When chicken is tender, uncover fryer and arrange the slices of mozzarella on top of the chicken. Place in the oven only long enough for the cheese to melt. Serve immediately, sprinkled with chopped parsley. Optional: serve on a bed of pasta (Fusilli, Fusillone, Penne, etc).