Showing posts with label frittatas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frittatas. Show all posts

The 911 Frittata

This outrageously easy recipe can function as a delicious quick dinner, a filling lunch, or an incredibly fancy breakfast.

We've discussed the remarkable value of the frittata previously here at Casual Kitchen. It's a supremely flexible dish that can stand in as an emergency meal at any time. And it's one of those recipes that seems really fancy for the minimal amount of work it takes to make.

Therefore, if you don't already have a basic frittata recipe as part of your cooking arsenal, I strongly encourage you to add it to your repertoire. There are few recipes this flexible, this healthy and this easy to put on the table. Enjoy!
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The 911 Frittata

Ingredients:
6 eggs
Black pepper and salt to taste
2-3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium or large onion, sliced coarsely
1 medium unpeeled potato, sliced thinly
1 large tomato, chopped coarsely
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce, more or less to taste

Directions:
1) Beat eggs together with black pepper, parsley and one of the two minced/pressed garlic cloves. Set aside.

2) In a large, deep, broiler-proof non-stick pan, saute onions in oil on high heat for 3-4 minutes, until they begin to brown. Add potatoes and the second minced/pressed garlic clove, reduce heat to medium-high, cover and cook for approximately 7-10 minutes--stirring periodically--until the potatoes are al dente but not too crunchy.

3) Add the chopped tomatoes and Tabasco and saute for another 3-4 minutes, until everything is hot and the tomatoes begin to soften slightly.

4) Then pour the egg/parsley/garlic/black pepper mixture over everything in the pan. Reduce heat to medium. As the eggs begin to set, run a spatula around the edge of the skillet, lifting the mixture to allow uncooked portions of the egg mixture to flow underneath. Continue cooking and lifting until the entire egg mixture is almost totally cooked through (the top surface should still be slightly moist).

5) Place pan under your broiler about 3-4 inches from the heat source. Broil for 4-6 minutes until the the frittata is cooked through to your liking. Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 4.

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Recipe Notes:
1) Obviously the amount of Tabasco you add to this dish can a variable. If you like a lot of heat, double it. If you're a total wimp, go ahead and cut it in half.

2) A quick word about the cost. I made today's recipe for about $2.25, or a per-serving cost of about 56c. That's just laughable.

3) Finally, a word about the innate flexibility of the frittata, by far its greatest strength. You can pretty much put anything into it: whatever greens or veggies you happen to have handy in your fridge are fair game and can be tossed in. For me, there's only one constraint: there's gotta be something green in every frittata. It's like a law. Otherwise the dish just looks too... yellowy.

Readers, what are your favorite ingredients to put into a frittata?



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How to Make a Simple Frittata

The frittata is an easy dish that everyone should consider adding to their cooking arsenal. In many ways, it's the perfect dish for the typical Casual Kitchen reader. It's like an omelet, but easier to make. It's like a quiche, but healthier. And best of all, this dish looks like it's a lot more work to make than it really is.

And since nobody has yet coined the phrase "real men don't eat frittatas," sitting down to a easy and laughably cheap frittata dinner doesn't include an implied threat to your manhood.

The frittata recipe I'll share with you today includes spinach, feta cheese, garlic, onions and tomatoes, but keep in mind the primary advantage of the fritatta is that it can contain almost anything. Leftover veggies, invigorating greens--whatever you have sitting around in your fridge is fair game, as long as you think the ingredients will go well together.

Finally, for those of you who are interested, I've included a brief list of additional frittata recipes and resources at the bottom of this post.

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Greek Frittata

Ingredients:

6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups spinach, torn into medium-sized pieces
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
1) Beat eggs and black pepper, set aside.
2) In a large, deep, broiler proof non-stick pan, saute onions and garlic in oil on medium heat until soft, about 4-5 minutes. While onions and garlic are sauteing, turn on oven broiler. Add torn spinach, saute another 2 minutes until spinach is limp. Add feta cheese.
3) Pour egg/pepper mixture into pan. As the eggs begin to set, run a spatula around the edge of the skillet, lifting the mixture to allow uncooked portions to flow underneath. Continue cooking and lifting until the entire egg mixture is almost set (the top surface should still be moist).
4) Place pan under your broiler roughly 4 inches from the heat source. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the top of the frittata is set. Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 3.
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This recipe seems almost too easy to be true, but it really does amount to nothing more than sauteeing whatever leftover veggies or frittata fillings you have handy, dumping the beaten egg mixture over the top of it...

Futzing with it for a few minutes by lifting up the edges and making sure the entire egg mixture starts to set....
(Isn't it shocking how unappetizing it can be to look at a close-up photo of a partially cooked egg dish?)
....and then just take the entire pan and stick it in the oven, just a few inches away from the broiler burner. In a matter of minutes you'll be eating!

Frittata Recipe Resources:
40 Frittata recipes at Recipezaar.com
Top 20 best Frittata recipes at Allrecipes.com
30 Fritatta recipes at Cooksrecipes.com

Related Posts:
When High-Fat Food Can Actually Be Healthy For You
Seven Ways to Jazz Up Your Morning Eggs
Ten Tips to Save Money on Spices and Seasonings
How to Make a Perfectly Boiled Egg Every Time
How to Make Pickled Eggs

How can I support Casual Kitchen?
If you enjoy reading Casual Kitchen, tell a friend and spread the word! You can also support me by linking to me, subscribing to my RSS feed, or submitting this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg or stumbleupon.