Beach House Frittata
Flexibility and resourcefulness are primary features regarding beach house cooking. For example, on this morning I had planned on making omelettes but went to the fridge to find that I only had 5 eggs. I had already texted D who was off playing tennis to ask him to pick up some bakery bread so I did not want to bother him again. As a result, my omelette plans morphed into frittata. This is pretty easy to achive at this time of year when fresh produce is more than plentiful. Freshly picked spinach was the pivot of the egg pie.
When we packed up our family home, precipitated by our Mom’s move to a nursing home, we dispersed many of the kitchen items that she had requested, back to the person who had originally filled the request. This meant that I received her mandolin (not the musical kind, but the culinary one). The device is a simple one and I get a special kick out of efficient low-tech items. Hers makes perfect little matchstick potatoes that work great for this purpose.
The potatoes were cooked first and separately. Make sure that you patiently wait for them to crisp up before you stir or turn them. Have a little taste to determine that the starchy surface that potatoes sometimes retain, has been cooked away.
- 1 T canola oil
- 2 medium red potatoes, cut into matchsticks
- ½ yellow pepper, roughly diced
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 200 g of bacon, diced
- 1 small bag of fresh spinach, likely 1½-2 cups
- 5 ish eggs
- ¼ c milk
- freshly grated parmesan
- Select a metal handled sauté pan that can go from stovetop to oven.
- Fry potatoes, peppers and garlic together in oil until the potatoes are done to your likeness.
- Remove from pan and set aside.
- Cook the bacon until crisp.
- Remove from pan and set aside.
- Pour off all bacon drippings except for approximately 1 T.
- Place spinach into the pan, cover and cook just until wilted.
- Stir the potato and bacon mixture together and then place on top of spinach layer.
- Whisk the eggs and milk together.
- Pour into the pan until the liquid just covers all the ingredients (you may need more or less eggs depending on the width and depth of your pan).
- Cover and cook on medium heat until the eggs have started to set.
- Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan and place under the broiler until eggs have completely set and cheese has melted.
- Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Placing the sautéed spinach on the bottom layer will ensure that the eggs will not stick to the pan.
Oh yum. Use a fork.
Kath’s quote: “The two-pronged fork is used in northern Europe. The English are armed with steel tridents with ivory handles – three pronged forks – but in France, we have the four-pronged fork, the height of civilization.” E. Briffault, ‘Paris a table’ (1846)
Love-that is all.
