Frittata - sort of!

I am overrun with eggs here on the farm and constantly thinking of ways to use them. This dish is a favorite of mine. Not exactly a quiche and not exactly a frittata, it's quick and easy.


This one has about 1/4 cup of red bell pepper in it.

If you've always wanted to make a frittata but don't because your skillet can't go in the oven try this version.

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 dried red chile, crushed (or use 1 tsp red pepper flakes)
1 potato, finely diced (1/4" dice)
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)

You can put anything in here! I always use onions and garlic but the other vegetables change depending on what's in my fridge. I frequently add diced red bell pepper and something green because the red and green colors look beautiful in this dish. What you use and how finely you dice it determines how much prep you will need to do. I always pre-saute the onions, garlic and red chile. If you fine dice the potatoes you won't need to pre-cook them. Asparagus and broccoli should be blanched before you put them in. Use common sense and practice to see what works. The vegetables in the finished product should be tender. When you're trying to decide what will be good think of what you like in omelets and quiches.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees

Heat up your skillet and add the olive oil; add the onions and crushed red chile, saute until the onions are translucent, add garlic, salt and pepper and saute for an additional 1 or 2 minutes until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from the heat and set aside.

If you are using vegetables that need to be blanched, prepare a bowl of iced water, set aside, boil a pot of water and put the vegetables to be blanched into the boiling water. Remove the vegetables after 2 or 3 minutes; green vegetables will be bright and vibrant. Remove the vegetables from the boiling water and plunge them into the iced water to stop the cooking. Remove from the iced water and set on paper toweling to drain.

I use a glass pie pan for this dish but have also used an 8 x 8 baking dish. Put the sauteed onion mixture and all the other vegetables in the baking dish and mix them evenly. Whisk the 4 eggs and cup of milk together in a bowl and carefully pour over the vegetable mixture. Salt and pepper and top with a couple of tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes or until set. Check it after 30 minutes and if the center still jiggles, cook it 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with fruit and a salad.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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