Flour's Tortilla with Chorizo, Peppers & Potato

I've been making liberal use of my oven during the recent snowstorms and "polar vortex," the better to warm up the house. Icy, grey mornings call for a hearty breakfast or brunch like this tortilla.  Red peppers are sauteed and potatoes get browned before pouring in an egg mixture laced with Parmesan, and then the skillet is thrown in the oven to finish.  You can keep the recipe vegetarian as is, or add some chorizo like I did.  It adds a nice, salty bite.

Sprinkle on some chopped scallions and parsley for freshness, then slice into wedges.  I like that the tortilla can be served hot or at room temperature, and that you can make it a day or so in advance and reheat when serving.  Perfect if you want to get a head start before house guests arrive, or for getting one weekend brunch dish out of the way.

Making a Spanish tortilla usually involves flipping the eggs, hot skillet and all, onto a plate, and then sliding the filling back into the skillet to cook the other side.  I'm not a fan of inverting piping-hot cast iron skillets with ingredients that could still be runny, so I'm glad this recipe involves no flipping!  When the next snowfall hits, I hope this is in my oven.  It'll sustain us through lots of shoveling.  Stay warm, friends!

Boston Globe Review: Eggs Benedict Eleven Ways

Photos by Shirley Goh/Globe Staff

Clockwise from top left: The Atlantic benedict has poached eggs and smoked salmon on rye with Hollandaise in a twist on the traditional; muffins; blueberry-stuffed pancakes; and bring a big appetite for the Lumberjack omelet.

This was a great place for weekend brunch.  You know how sometimes you regret eating at greasy diners or chains afterwards, thinking you could have made it better, and for less money?  This isn't that place.  Plus there's the 11 varieties of eggs Benedict.  If you're on the South Shore, visit Nikos in Weymouth.

Read the review at: http://bitly.com/TMicN5
If the subscriber pay wall locks you out, it's available at: http://bitly.com/U6w7rD

Potato Crust Quiche

I thought this was the coolest idea for a quiche. A hash-brown-like crust of potatoes encases an egg filling. I chose this for New Year's brunch because my friend has wheat/gluten allergies, and the usual flaky butter crust would have been out of the question. I used a simple cheese and scallion filling instead of the mushrooms and leeks in the original, since we hate mushrooms and my friend doesn't eat ham, bacon, or asparagus (the other things I had on hand). Will I make this again? The crust was a bit time-consuming for my tastes, and I needed more in the filling for my own personal tastes, but it was fun to try it once.  I might play around with it in the future.

Update: In the process of editing, I think I deleted the recipe!  You can find it on King Arthur Flour's website at: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/potato-crust-quiche-recipe.

Frittatas!

This is my favorite new weekend breakfast/brunch item. I like frittatas because in spite of their fancy rep, they're deceptively easy. No flipping is required with this one (I often break my omelets that way!), and it puffs up beautifully. I skipped the mushrooms, not being a fan of them. I also substituted the sausage for spinach once for a friend who is a self-described "mostly vegetarian," and she loved it.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/03/30/tortilla_and_frittata/?page=2

After some experimenting, I discovered it can easily be converted to a recipe for two, in case you don't have a crowd to cook for.

I simply use the smaller pan on the right (this one's about 6 inches across the bottom and 8 across the top), use 5 eggs instead of 9, halve the other ingredients, and cut the oven time down to 10 minutes. And it still comes out perfect.