Emergency Soup and Baby Frittatas

Jack was coming home from a 10-day trip to England, I'd had a crazy busy work day, and my plan for getting to grocery store and buying the ingredients for something special had gone by the wayside. I knew he'd be jet-lagged and hungry and I wanted to have something nice on hand to feed him, but the larder was pretty empty. I had one large leek, some potatoes, eggs, cherry tomatoes, onions, a jar of roasted red peppers, various bits of cheese, cream and eggs. What to do? If I'd had some good bread on hand I'd have made these truffled egg toasts in a heartbeat (you know you want them!), as demonstrated by zenchef, but I'm telling you, the larder was empty. So I settled on Emergency Soup and Baby Frittatas.

Emergency Leek and Potato Soup

First I started the Emergency Soup by chopping the leek and letting it saute very slowly in butter with a little garlic. When it was nearly translucent I splashed in a little white wine and let it cook down, then added some vegetable broth (normally I'd have used chicken broth, but the vegetarian daughter was in the house) and cubed potatoes and let it simmer another 30 minutes. Just before the frittatas were ready I whirled the soup in the blender, then poured it back into the pan, added a little cream, and let it heat gently while plating the frittatas.

Baby Frittatas

While the soup was simmering I chopped and then sauteed some onion and roasted red pepper, adding halved cherry tomatoes near the end. If I'd had mushrooms I'd have tossed them in too, but alas. I let it cook until it was pretty dry, turned off the flame and whipped a dozen eggs with about half a cup of grated gruyere and some salt and pepper. I poured the eggs into 12 muffin cups (greased!) to about the 3/4 full mark, adding some of the cooked vegetables to each , and then put them in a 350F oven.

After about 15 minutes I sprinkled some grated parmesan onto each little frittata and put them back in for another 5 minutes or so. When they're puffy they're done (they'll fall once you take them out of the oven, so don't despair-- this is normal).

Comments

[Manggy]

The soup sounds just perfect! And best of all, your pantry will be empty afterwards (more shopping!!). Jamie Oliver made a similar soup, but with leeks and chickpeas (I prefer potatoes). I'd purée only half the soup, though, I love de big chunks.

Welcome back to Jack!

[CookiePie]

Love love LOVE these baby frittatas! They sounds so rich and comforting and delicious -- and your photo is beautiful! You're giving me dinner ideas...

[Karyn]

Baby frittatas look so cute! I love mini foods. It's a real problem. Not only do I want baby pears and apples, but I'm also willing to spend more on them. :)

[Lisa]

Now I'm very hungry...Jack is a lucky man....

[Karyn]

Hey - just wanted to offer my congrats on your big bundt win! Woot woot!

[Ann]

Manggy, there is something very satisfying about making something out of nearly nothing. I like the chunks, too, but I was a little distracted by last-minute coordination of the soup and frittatas. :-)

cookiepie, thanks! There is something intrinically appealing about small things, no?

karyn, I love baby foods, too. I have a special fondness for tiny eggplants... and thanks for alerting me to the win!

Lisa, wish you'd been here... I miss you.

[yulinka]

Clever fritatta idea! Those are too cute.

[Jack]

Lisa - yes, I am. And I have the sense to realise it. :-)

[katy]

love it! i had a feeling mine would fall, since they're basically savory souffles, but without all the annoying buttering and cornmeal-ing of the ramekins!