I met Henri when she was dating her then boyfriend, and now husband, Sam (creator of the Turkish fish stew). Henri made a huge impact on me – she’s not loud, she’s not over-the-top but she is engaging and interested in everyone. I see this in Henri’s work; she is a talented artist who doesn’t restrict herself to one medium – she works in two-dimensions but creates landscapes which you feel you can walk into and explore.
Browse her website for a feel for who she is and the depth of her talent, you won’t be disappointed.
Henri didn’t give me this recipe, Sam did. I was meeting Henri for the first time and needed a dairy free vegetarian recipe and this is the one that appealed to me the most. It uses basic ingredients in slightly ingenious ways to create something extraordinary. It has depth, it doesn’t leave you hungry and also keeps well should you have any left-overs (which you won’t).
This frittata serves 4 to 6 people.
Music to prepare this dish to: ‘Better’ by Tom Baxter
Ingredients
- 5 Large Spanish onions
- 8 eggs
- 2 large rounds of goats cheese (or two small batons of goats cheese sliced into rounds)
- 8 Cloves of garlic
- A large handful of fresh sage, chopped (leaves and stalks – don’t be shy)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Chop the onions into broad slices (no elegance required).
- Roughly chop the garlic.
- Pour a very generous glug of the oil into a heavy-bottomed pan and warm up over a medium-high heat. Add your onions, garlic and sage (keep some for garnish).
- Toss this mix till everything is coated in oil. Do not add the salt and pepper yet, we want onions to turn into a sweetened mulch. You’ll season later.
- Turn the heat right down, cover with a lid and cook slowly for at least an hour, turning every now and then. What you want is a dark, syrupy mulch. The onions will still have shape and form, you just need to check every now and then to ensure they aren’t burning/sticking to the pan.
- Beat the eggs and add generous amounts of salt and pepper to the liquid. You’ll need a fair bit, there’s a lot of onion in there.
- Have your goats cheese ready
- In a flan dish or shallow lasagne dish add a good covering of olive oil and put into a preheated oven (190C) for at least 15 mins. Try and time the cooking of the onions and the end of this quarter of an hour to coincide. It’s no biggie if you can’t.
- Take your dish out and pour in the beaten eggs. Immediately add your cooked onions, spreading evenly, and on top lay your pieces of goats cheese.
- Garnish with the sage you kept aside
- Return the dish to the oven and cook for about 15 minutes on a medium heat (160C).
- When done, the eggs have risen and the goats’ cheese has half-melted and has started to brown.
Serve with a simple lamb’s lettuce salad, dressed with Claudie’s vinaigrette and crusty bread.
All the recipes that Sam and I swapped at this time are on h2g2.com
Pug's Kitchen 