The
ELLICSR Kitchen isn’t only a place where people can learn how to prepare healthy recipes and taste some delicious food, it really has become a space where people love to share. And they do share…stories, food preferences, nutritional concerns, and recipes. We have really come to embrace recipe sharing as a way to build community and educational content for the ELLICSR Kitchen. Sometimes recipes are even submitted with the request to somehow make them healthier. We absolutely love this interaction at the ELLICSR Kitchen, and the challenge of introducing some healthier ingredients and cooking techniques into people’s favorite recipes. We’ve termed this recipe makeover process “ELLICSRFY.
One recent case of recipe “ELLICSRFYING” came when an ELLICSR Kitchen regular brought us a recipe for a Ricotta, Spinach and Mint Terrine and asked if we could find a way to make it healthier without compromising taste. To say the least this frittata style egg dish had no shortage of egg yolks, butter and calories. With our mission outlined it was time to hit the batcave!…uh er, ELLICSR Kitchen Lab!
Test 1: Replace half the egg yolks with egg whites. Add the spinach and mint in raw instead of cooking it in a ¼ cup of butter first. Replace the all-purpose flour with spelt, and to amp up the flavor with one full zucchini grated.
The first results were pretty good. Everyone that tried the two recipe versions and preferred the flavor of the ELLICSRFIED frittata (the bottom one in the picture above), however the texture didn’t quite match up. We found it too moist and crumbly.
Test 2: We kept the same modifications in test 1, however this time, we squeezed out as much liquid as we could out of the zucchini, and drained out the liquid from the ricotta. We also put the grated parmesan on top of the frittata before we baked it, versus adding it directly into the mixture.
The result was a fluffy, but firm texture, loaded with flavor and a really nice golden brown crust on top from the parmesan. It was a winner in all areas, but more importantly for the submitter, it was much healthier. We were able to cut down the fat from 20g per serving to 5g and the calories from 258g to 106g per serving. Plus we significantly increased the amount of greens included throughout the frittata.
This ELLICSRFIED recipe was a success in my books, and to everyone who ate it throughout testing. For the full recipe, check out
ellicsrkitchen.ca. And if you would like to submit your own recipe to get ELLICSRFIED email me at
geremy@ellicsrkitchen.ca or tweet us
@ELLICSRKitchen.
Yours in good eats,
Geremy
