Mr. X and I didn’t really have a plan for New Years’ Day, besides Drink Champagne and Be Naked, so our trip to the grocery store to stock up for provisions was a bit haphazard. Too bad we didn’t think before hand, because Mr. X had a brilliant idea that morning that would have been even more better with a little advance planning: recreate the Zachary’s Mike’s Mess.
The Mike’s Mess was a staple of my post-college years. I waited tables at Zachary’s for about a year, and probablyate one of these things a week: a huge frittata-like dish with eggs, bacon, the Zachary’s signature home fries, and mushrooms, topped with tons of cheddar cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, and green onions (and Miguel’s special salsa, when I order it, because I’m spicy like that). The Mess has a special place in my heart, and it truly was inspired to attempt to recreate it. Inspired, but not so easy, seeing as we were lacking about half the ingredients.
What we did have were eggs, and of course, the neverending bacon, and some delicious Dubliner irish cheese I went crazy about at the market. And peppers. And a potato. Alright, so this didn’t really resemble a Mike’s Mess at all, but it was still deliciously delicious.
New Years’ Day Frittata
- 9 eggs (ha! Yes! We used 9 eggs!)
- 2-3 slices of bacon
- 1 small green pepper, diced
- 1 small potato
- about 1/4 c. Irish cheese
- 2 T. butter
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- salt and pepper
Cook the bacon in a large skillet. Well, you might not want to use too large a skillet, or you’ll end up having to use nine eggs, so let me rephrase: Cook the bacon in a medium, oven-proof skillet, over low-ish heat, so the bacon can render out a lot of its fat, but not cook all the way. Remove it from the pan before it’s all the way cooked and crispy, because it’s going to be cooked some more in the eggs.
Cook the potato the lazy way: Wrap it in some plastic wrap, real tight, poke it full of holes, and stick in the microwave for about 2 minutes, or until it’s soft and cooked. Then cut it up, and add it to the bacon greasy pan (to which you’ve added a little more butter, if the bacon didn’t render enough fat). Add turmeric, salt, and pepper, and let it cook until the potato is a little browned. Then add the green pepper, and cook for about 2-3 more minutes.
Meanwhile, chop the bacon into bite-sized pieces, and add it back to the skillet once the pepper and potato are nice and cooked. Whisk the eggs with some salt and pepper, and pour it into the pan–you want enough eggs so that it covers everything almost completely, like you’re making an omelet. Cover the pan, and let it cook for about 5 minutes, then uncover, and keep cooking it until the edges and bottom are set, probably another 5-10 minutes.
Then, turn on your broiler. Sprinkle the top of your ginormous frittata-type thing with cheese, and put it under the broiler until it’s nice and browned and bubbly.
It should be set enough so you can invert it onto a place, and it will behave like a pizza or a pie or something–no runny eggs here.
Now if we’d thought ahead we would have had the ultimate ingredients that make the Mess awesome–sour cream and salsa. Alas, it will have to wait until next time. This was still incredibly yummy, especially with the awesome blue cheese sourdough bread we found at Roche, and of course, beaucoup de champagne. Mimosas all around! New Years’ Day is awesome!! Yay!