The fallback dinner

10May09

bread, caramelized onions, swiss, prosciutto

Once my schedule settles back into a somewhat reasonable pattern, I promise fewer posts about the speed at which I can get dinner to the table. But until then… you get my fallback dinner. But I’m pretty sure that even if I did have tons of time to cook every night, I’d probably still make this at least once a week (which is what I do now).

It’s Bittman’s frittata. I know, I know, Nicole — you don’t like eggs for dinner. But this is really good. And here’s the bonus: you can use frittatas to use up leftover food. It’s brilliant!

Here’s the basic recipe (HTCE p. 741): Scramble 6 eggs (Bittman says 5-6, but I always use 6 because I tend to load up on the toppings). Pour a couple of glugs of olive oil an oven-proof skillet and heat over medium. Combine toppings (see below) with egg and pour into skillet. Cook about 8-10 minutes undisturbed until bottom sets. Then pop into the oven at 350 degrees for another 8-10 minutes.

I was waiting tables in NY at the fantastic August restaurant when I first learned about the frittata as the perfect vehicle for leftovers. Every Saturday and Sunday August serves a frittata of the day and most mornings it contains something the kitchen has too much of. Usually there would be a starch like stale bread or cooked pasta, a vegetable, sometimes cured meats and a bit of cheese.

Here are some of my favorite combos of late:

• roasted red peppers, chorizo, goat cheese
• tomatoes, cilantro, salsa
• bread, caramelized onions, swiss, prosciutto, sprinkle of dill
• asparagus, goat cheese, dill (because I put dill on everything)

Advertisement

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  2 Comments