Simple veggie frittata

The first week of second year flew by, leaving me one week behind despite my good-faith efforts to keep up. No, I don't remember anything about the autonomic nervous system, but thanks for picking up where we left off last January. Last night, I showed up to a potluck empty-handed (save for a six-pack), unable to scrounge together even something simple. How embarrassing!

In an effort to stay sane, a few friends and I had an impromptu dinner a couple of nights ago. Once again spoils from the CSA ensured that we were well fed. Plus, I've now used up my zucchini for the week, which feels like an accomplishment! Onto more challenging items, like adrenergic antagonists.

Zucchini frittata with pesto (looks moderately fancy, tastes delicious, feeds many):

• 1 medium or large zucchini (or any vegetable you like)
• 1/2 red onion
• 2-3 tablespoons pesto, to taste, or a handful of chopped herbs
• 6-10 eggs (~2 eggs per person)
• 1-2 tablespoons butter and/or olive oil
• grated parmesan or other cheese, optional
• salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a cast-iron or other oven-proof skillet on high heat, melt the butter into the olive oil. Slice or chop the onion and add to hot oil, stirring now and then. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Slice the zucchini into very thin rounds. Add the zucchini to the pan and saute until soft (again, softer than if you were eating the zucchini plain). Add the pesto, salt, and pepper to taste.

Beat the eggs together in a bowl. Pour over the zucchini, still on the stove at high heat. Cook without stirring for 3-5 minutes. Grate parmesan over the top and place the entire skillet in the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are set throughout the pan (slice a knife in to check that the eggs are not liquid).

Serve with a salad and/or fresh bread.

A crowd pleaser

When I go for a run I feel like I travel worlds away in a time warp that seem to have lasted hours more than the run itself (a bit like Jodie Foster in Contact). I imagine that's what meditation must feel like. It's especially true in Albany these days, when the people I see while running are tending their gardens or walking their dogs or admiring the flowers in the park with their families. I think it's because as med students we get completely self-centered -- nearly 100% focused on bacteria and viruses at the moment -- and we forget that we live in a community of people doing other things.

Today on my run I saw overwhelmingly gorgeous tulips in the park -- so beautiful and so abundant that I didn't know what to do with them. I think the only thing to do in that situation is to lean in really close with a camera and take hundreds of photos that you will never print out. Makes a really nice Facebook cover photo or something.

Anyway, the tulip festival reminded me that Sunday is Mother's Day, and on Mother's Day people get together for brunch, so while I do not endorse the health benefits of this quiche, I will say that it's extremely delicious, high in protein rather than sugar, and good for sharing with a crowd (small portions!).

Homemade quiche (largely inspired by Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything):

Crust:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, cold
• 1 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• ice water, about 1/4-1/2 cup

Cut butter into pea-sized cubes. In a large bowl, use your finger tips to combine the butter, flour, and salt into crumbs: texture should not be uniform, because it is the melting chunks of butter that will give you a flaky crust. Do not knead the dough but combine with your hands just enough so that it stays together. Add the ice water a few tablespoons at a time: just enough so that you can roll the crust up into a loose ball. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes. Meanwhile...

Filling:

• 6 eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• pinch grated nutmeg or cayenne
• black pepper (skip the salt if you plan on using cheese or bacon)
• filling suggestions: grated cheese, chopped bacon, mushrooms, spinach, caramelized onions, tomatoes

Beat together the eggs, beat in the milk, add the seasonings. Saute any veggies on the stove (together or separately) so that they lose their water.

Using a rolling pin (or wine bottle covered in plastic wrap), roll out the dough on a floured surface and place into a pie dish. Sprinkle with veggies, then bacon, then cheese. Pour egg-milk mixture over everything.

Bake on a baking sheet (this will help cook the bottom crust) at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, until the middle no longer "jiggles" when you shake the pan. Allow time to cool: this will help solidify the filling. Serve warm (can always reheat at 200 degrees as needed).

(last spring but same idea)

Babies & eggs

One of the things that I love about science is that you can be immersed in biochemistry and anatomy when suddenly you stumble into something very moving, and you realize that you are at the crux of life and death. Take this preface to a lecture on growth hormone, delivered by a very old man with a thick Czech accent:

When you get to the delivery room you will understand what a miracle it is that from a fertilized egg such a cute human being is born, and you will be touched by the expression in the eyes in the mother when she sees the baby for the first time.

This week a quiet wave of concern spread among some of the female med students as we were subjected to several lectures about how fertility diminishes with age -- beginning in the late 30s and completed by the early 40s -- with few words of comfort or encouragement about our own futures, given the years of training we have ahead. We had to remind ourselves and each other that many of our mothers had us at those ages; but it would have been nice to hear such reminders from some of the women doctors at school. Instead, one professor (a PhD) told us that her friend in med school had been told "better freeze your eggs now!" -- the underlying assumption being that this was a somewhat offensive warning, but it wasn't really contradicted in the retelling. I guess we should worry less about ourselves and more about our patients: don't take this stuff so personally, that is.

I was just sent a book in the mail about med school and motherhood called This Won't Hurt a Bit (And Other White Lies): My Education in Medicine & Motherhood. The author, Dr. Michelle Au, had a baby during residency. She too kept a blog in med school; she is now an anesthesiologist in Atlanta. Inspiration to us all.

Scrambled eggs (get it?) with scallions and tomatoes:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 chopped tomato
• 1-2 scallions, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• dash canola oil
• dash soy sauce

Heat the oil, add the garlic and tomatoes, and cook until soft. Add the eggs, scallions, and soy sauce. One of my favorite meals from the summer I spent in China:

Cooking for speed

Not every meal has to be elaborate. When I walk into the house hungry and stressed out, it's nice to have something that I can cook so fast it leaves me no time for snacking. After the lecture that I just sat through (see below), today was one of those days. For those of you with jobs that prevent you from coming home midday for lunch (school has its perks!), I think this would make a delicious weekend breakfast!

Too simple to be a recipe, consider this as more of an idea: English pea omelette (English peas are in season right now and it's nice to have them in everything). Heat and butter a frying pan, pour in a layer of uncooked fresh peas, beat 2 eggs together and pour them over the peas. Season with salt and pepper, and herbs or cheese if you like (I used about a tablespoon of leftover homemade buttermilk salad dressing). I can vouch for this being really good.

(Unfortunately the omelette collapsed. I think in my enthusiasm for spring I overdid the pea:egg ratio.)

Honesty

A few weeks ago, I bought a huge head of cabbage with the intention of recreating the delicious vinegar-based coleslaw that I'd had at the 2nd Ave Deli in NYC the weekend before. I chopped up the cabbage with some carrots, added white vinegar and sugar, and left it in the fridge to marinate and soften. But no such magic happened: the resulting slaw was crunchy, cold, and bland. So what to do?

Mark Bittman's recent piece on cabbage gave me some ideas: basically, cabbage can be used as a substitute for noodles, or to add some crunch and substance to any old meal. Always craving Chinese food, I thought, why not try Moo Shu Cabbage? I will admit that this recipe is not for everyone (*cough, mom*): but if you are inclined to crave greasy late-night Chinese food, perhaps try this healthier, homemade version... And no more cabbage posts for a while, I promise.

Moo Shu Cabbage:

• 1/4 head white cabbage, cut off of the core and thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled and shredded or thinly sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• chopped garlic and ginger optional
• 1 scallion, chopped
• ~1 tbsp canola oil
• ~2 tbsp white vinegar
• pinch of sugar
• drop of soy sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• 2 eggs, beaten

Heat the canola oil, then add the veggies, vinegar, and sugar, sauteing until soft and adding water as necessary to keep the vegetables soft without burning. The cabbage should be cooked through with only the slightest crunch at the end. Add the eggs and scallion, then adjust soy sauce to taste. Serve with about a teaspoon of Hoisin sauce.