This Christmas-morning frittata, in fitting with the season, is strung throughout with the green and red lights of spinach and tomato. Of course, you could make it any time of year. Of course, you could make a frittata with any combination of color (vegetable, flavoring, meat, leftover, and so on).
That’s the idea of a frittata — to use up what’s there in one last fling on the stove.
I’m always surprised to read that most frittata recipes bake the thing, when the name itself, I am pretty sure, doesn’t simply refer to using a frying pan just to house everything. It’s “fried” eggs and their stuff, so my recipe, which I learned from a friend, performs everything on top of the stove only.
Some strong suggestions when cooking a frittata: Always add some whole-fat dairy; it “custardizes” what might otherwise become a dried-out omelet.
Be sure to fully cook raw add-ins before you finalize with the egg mixture. Many frittata flavorings or additions, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, squash, greens, sausage filling, aromatics and the like contain enough moisture to water-log and spoil the frittata if that wetness isn’t cooked and evaporated out of them before the eggs go in.
The same goes for cheeses: Drier cheeses such as Parmigiano-Reggiano go on top generously; wetter cheeses such as ricotta go inside minimally.
Be profligate with seasonings; they’re meant to go a long way in such a dish. And use a good, solid frying pan or skillet, anything non-stick (even a well-seasoned cast iron), but one that conducts heat well. Thin pans will burn a recipe that uses this combination of heat levels for this amount of time.
Christmas Morning Green and Red Frittata
Serves 4-6 depending on appetite, what else is served, and whether presents remain unwrapped.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons dried herbs such as oregano, thyme, herbes de Provence, or 1-2 teaspoons spices such as cumin, cayenne pepper, smoked or regular paprika, or 1-2 teaspoons herbs and spices mixed, all to your taste
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 large eggs, whisked with 1/2 cup whole milk or crème fraîche
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee
- 1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
- 1/2 cup yellow or white onions, or shallots, small diced
- 2-3 Roma tomatoes, medium diced
- 1/2 cup jarred artichoke hearts, drained
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, in strips or chopped
- 1 small bag baby spinach
- 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Directions
Add the chosen herbs or spices, or their combination, and the salt and pepper, to the whisked eggs and dairy, mix well, and set aside. Melt the butter and oil in a large 10-inch non-stick skillet and sauté the onions or shallots over medium-high heat until softened, 5 minutes.
Add the Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts and spinach, stirring, and cook until they and the onions have given up most of their water, an additional 5-7 minutes. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and fold in. Lower the heat to medium.
Give one last whisk to the egg mixture and add it all to the skillet, tilting the pan if necessary to assure that the eggs have reached in and around all of the vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes or a bit more, or until the eggs begin to set, then sprinkle the top of the frittata with the cheese and cover the skillet. (Use a flat pizza pan or baking tray if the skillet comes with no cover.)
Immediately lower the heat to its lowest possible setting. Allow the frittata to continue cooking, another 8-10, perhaps up to 15 minutes, until the whole of it is set but still slightly “jiggly,” as if it were one grand custard.
The final timing all depends on how robust the pan, the sorts of ingredients, the size of the eggs, the burner of the stove; what you don’t want is an arid omelet.
Reach Bill St John at bsjpost@gmail.com