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Frittata
for Two
by Jen Hirt, from the October 2002 newsletter
Once, while staying with friends, they made me an awesome brunch dish - the
frittata. Not only was it tasty, but it looked stunning in its cast iron skillet,
which inspired me to purchase my own skillet and embark on frittata adventures.
Frittatas are very versatile. You can use two cups of random vegetables from
your garden or you can use two cups of leftovers - pasta, rice, meat, anything.
Here's one such frittata adventure, slightly adapted from the book Kitchen
Secrets.
Vegetable Frittata
Serves 2
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ small red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
about 2 cups of your favorite vegetable, thinly sliced
2 tbsp of your favorite fresh herb, chopped
¼ tsp. salt
a dash of black pepper
3-4 eggs, depending on size, lightly beaten
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ tbsp. butter
You will need a 10-inch cast iron skillet with an oven-safe handle, or some other ovenproof skillet. Cast iron works best.
Heat the olive oil in the skillet over medium heat for a minute. Add the onion and garlic. Stir occasionally for five minutes, until the onion and garlic are soft.
Add the vegetable. Broccoli, green beans, spinach, tomatoes, or peppers all work well. Make sure the vegetables are mostly dry - too much water will cause a problem later when the eggs need to set. Cook until tender-crisp (or tender-dry for the spinach), which takes about 3 minutes. Add the herb, salt and pepper. Stir.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and the Parmesan. You can eliminate a few egg yolks if you want, and you can probably use whatever cheese is available, but Parmesan is yummy. Add the vegetable mixture from the skillet. Stir it all up until the vegetables are well coated. Preheat the boiler. Medium-low heat is best. Wipe the skillet clean and return it to the stovetop over moderate heat. I use a little nonstick spray (or olive oil) so that it will be easy to remove the frittata for serving. Melt the butter in the skillet until it's bubbly. Pour in the egg/vegetable mixture and immediately reduce the heat to low. This is an important step. Failing to reduce the heat, as I have often done inexplicably, causes the frittata to burn fairly quickly. The rest of the frittata will be deceptively fine, but the bottom will be crispy black-brown, and no one wants that, but everyone you are serving will pretend they don't mind and that they like to eat burnt eggs. (They are lying.)
Once the mix is in the skillet, do not stir it. Just let it cook for about 12 minutes. You're ready to move on when the edges are set but the middle is still somewhat runny. Move the frittata under the broiler, about 6 inches from the heat. Broil for about 2 minutes. The broiler is a great thing - the descending heat cooks the top of the frittata to a gorgeous golden hue, with a slightly crusty crust. It should smell awesome at this point.
They are two ways to serve a frittata. Both require a thin spatula. For the informal way, just slice some wedges and serve them right out of the skillet. If you're feeling fancy, loosen the entire frittata with the spatula, then carefully slide it onto an elegant serving dish. It can also be cut into bite-sized pieces for an hors d'oeuvre situation.
Jen Hirt is an MFA student in creative writing at the University of Idaho.
She's working on a collection of essays about greenhouses.
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