The Frittata

 

November 1, 2015

 

 

I keep telling you to use what you have! In the fridge this morning I had leftover plain cooked spaghetti, some raw spinach, and a bunch of green onions. Also three eggs. Frittata time. Here's how you do it.*

 

Heat the skillet and add olive oil. Drop in the spinach and a couple tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook on medium-low while you chop the green onion (three or four of them).

 

Remove the lid. Add the green onion to the pan and stir it all around (the spinach will be totally soft and cooked by now). Add the spaghetti, however much you need for the number of eaters (in our case, two). Stir and get as much of the pasta as you can to the bottom of the skillet—i.e., underneath the spinach, which as you know is now already cooked.

 

Beat the eggs in a bowl; I had only three, so that's what I used. But a frittata made in a 9-inch or 10-inch skillet can easily accommodate five or six eggs and will make four nice servings. Add salt, some Aleppo pepper flakes or smoked Spanish paprika or Sriracha or whatever seasoning you like. Stir in some grated Parmesan cheese or, lacking that, crumbled feta or grated Cheddar or Swiss.

 

Beat this all together and pour it over the spaghetti and spinach, lifting them up to let the egg mixture flow through and around and under.

 

Put a lid on it again & leave it on medium low for about five minutes. Loosen it from the bottom with a spatula.

 

And now you have three choices: 1) Turn it over with the help of a wide spatula (this will be a rough job) and cook five more minutes. 2) Invert the frittata onto a plate larger than the skillet, then slide it back into the skillet to cook the other side. 3) Stick the skillet (without a lid) into a (preheated) 350 degree oven for ten minutes or so (this depends on how many eggs you have used & how thick/deep the frittata is).

 

It is finished when both sides are nicely browned and the egg is cooked. There is a Chinese noodle dish with the enticing name, at least in translation, of "Two Sides Golden Noodles." That's what this frittata will look like: two sides golden.

 

Serve hot or at room temperature, cut into pie-shaped wedges. Great for breakfast or lunch.

 

*If your leftovers don't match what I had on hand this morning, don't fret. You can use any kind of leftover pasta. You can dice and fry up cooked potatoes (or even start from scratch with raw potatoes, though the cooking time will be longer). Use any of the dark, leafy greens (kale, collards, etc.), thick stems removed; treat them like spinach (above) but slice them into ribbons first and allow a longer cooking time. Dice onion and/or red or green pepper and cook gently for five or six minutes before you add the egg mixture. You could also include cooked leftover vegetaables such as peas or green beans.