Sunday, May 10, 2009

Weekend Fritatta

I love the smell of fritattas in the morning. Smells like... the weekend! My weekends usually start with sleeping in, eggs, and a trip to the weekly farmers market. My fallback weekend breakfast is the fritatta. I've never been able to fold an omlette and they always turn out as "scrambled eggs with stuff in them". The fritatta is much easier - no folding, normally finished off in the oven but for lazy souls like myself, can even be flipped with a plate, and finished on the stove.

I came across the fritatta about 18 months ago, which you can read about here. Since then, I have read 2 very convincing pieces on the benefits of eggs, one from a dermatologist & general expert for beauty magazines, Dr. Graf; the other from what I deemed a more convincing source, the Health section of the NY Times. The 2 sources both had recipes for healthy fritattas, which led me to the dish I look forward to all week, my weekend fritatta - the collection of everything I can find in my fridge.

Weekend Fritatta
1 small potato
1 tsp miced garlic
3 Tbsp prepared kale
3 Tbsp prepared spinach (can be substiuted by fresh baby leaves, if in season)
5 free range or organic eggs
4 seeded, chopped cherry tomatoes
3 sundried tomatoes
1 Tbsp capers, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp black olives, roughly chopped.
pecorino cheese
grilled red peppers for garnish

Wash potoato, do not peel it. Chop potato into pieces, place in pan with cold, salted water. Bring to a boil, drain. Potatoes should still be hard.
Sautee garlic, as well as prepared kale and spinach. If using fresh spinach, do not sautee - reserve for later.
Mix sauteed ingredients with eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, capers. Pour into frying pan & cook, covered on low heat. If using fresh spinach, add spinach too the top of the egg mixture. After 10-15 minutes, small bubbles should form & the surface should look more solid. Slide fritatta onto plate, flip & continue to cook for a few more minutes, or until fritatta slides around the pan easily.
Grate pecorin cheese on top, garnish with roasted red peppers.

This is my fallback, but I make it on Saturday mornings before I get to the market, using whatever I have around. I often use frozen greens, sometimes I throw in some peas, sometimes some sauteed onions - it's breakfast, not rocket science. And it keeps me going for hours.

I'll be BlOgging this Omelet (see BlOg yOur Omelet). The prize is Iberian Ham, and even though I already have some, you can never have too much ham.

9 comments:

Cathy said...

I can't fold an omelette either...it's a huge mess and I get pissed off and just dump it in a pile on the plate. Hubby is the master omelette maker though! Love the addition of capers to the fritatta - the salty crunch would be amazing!

taste traveller said...

I used pickled capers, although you are right, Cathy - I totally forget about the existence of the salty ones. At any rate, don't add any salt to the egg mixture, unless you're planning on drinking gallons of water along with it :-)

Anonymous said...

I thought you didn't follow recipes :)

Oh and if you have too much Ham, Jim and I would be happy to take it off your hands ;)

Rebecca

taste traveller said...

Sorry Rebecca - that ham is illegal in the US. I#ve heard of jail sentences for importing it! And I'll write a recipe, but I'm just not capable of following one :-)

Amanda said...

Mmmmm...I eat eggs every day, but I've never made a frittata. I'm intrigued by the addition of potato. I love how many greens you add in, and I bet the sundried tomatoes, capers, and black olives add amazing flavour. This looks great!

Núria said...

Thanks so much for joining Taste Traveller!!!! I love that picture of your frittata... lovely colours and presentation :D. Yes eggs are basic in our diets!

See you in the Round-up and maybe you end up with more Ham in your pantry ;D

taste traveller said...

Amanda: the idea of a potato comes from the Tortilla espanol, an omelet with nothing but eggs, potato & sometimes onions. They're good! But with these, I trick myself into eating veggies in the morning :-)

Nuria: thanks! Even if I don't win more ham, it's worth sharing ideas about delicious & good for you foods!

Núria said...

Guess who won the contest :D :D :D

taste traveller said...

:-)

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