I had the great pleasure of meeting Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond at a food writers’ conference a few months ago.
I hit it off with both women right away, and learned that they are the authors of a fairly new cookbook, Almost Meatless. I was really excited when Joy recently sent me a copy, signed by both of them, to give away here on my blog.
Almost Meatless isn’t a vegetarian cookbook. Most of the recipes in the book do include some meat. But meat is always given a supporting role, not a starring one, and the recipes are heavy on healthy vegetables and whole grains.
This is why I like this book so much: it really echos the way I eat.
The book is published by Ten Speed Press and it has beautiful photos. The recipes are very eclectic: from the Crab Pad Thai to the Sweet Potato Chorizo Mole to the Eggplant and Chicken Puttanesca Stacks to the Barley Pilaf Stuffed Squash, they all look fabulous to me.
I’ll be sharing a few recipes from the Almost Meatless collection this week, starting with these easy and delicious Mini Greek Frittatas. These bake up in muffin tins so they are a snap to serve, and they are great for when you need to take breakfast on-the-go.
Tara and Joy point out that these would work in a breakfast sandwich or for dinner with mixed greens and fresh fruit. These freeze and re-heat well, so feel free to make a double batch and keep a little stash in the freezer.
Grecian Frittatas
from Almost Meatless by Joy Manning and Tara Mataranza Desmond; shared with permission of the authors
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter/oil six cups of a standard 12-cup muffin pan. Start with 6 eggs…
2. …and crack into a medium bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of milk. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and set aside.
3. Finely chop 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh spinach, 2 tablespoons red onion, and 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts (I substituted roasted red pepper). Crumble 1/2 cup feta cheese…
4. …and add 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped (I didn’t have these, so I left them out).
5. Mix the veggies, feta, and olives together in a bowl. Spoon equal amounts into each muffin tin and then pour in the egg.
5. Place the muffin tin on top of a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the eggs are done “to your liking”. Run a knife along the inside of each muffin cup to loosen the frittatas before removing from the pan. Serve immediately, or cool and refrigerate. Reheat in a 325°F oven for 10-15 minutes, or until warm, if you plan to serve them later.
If you’d like a chance to win a signed copy of Almost Meatless, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me what your views are on eating meat. Do you eat it with gusto? Avoid it? Incorporate it into meals in small amounts? Buy commercial varieties? Eat natural or grass-fed? I’d love to know. I’ll feature two more recipes from the book later this week and the giveaway is open until next Sunday May 23rd 2010 at midnight. The winner will be picked at random. Good luck!
This post is linked to this week’s edition of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.
