Pesto Veggie Frittata

March 22, 2012Katie

Sometimes, one finds one-self with a produce drawer full of half-cut-up vegetables.

If one I’m not careful, I end up with a bunch of half-cut-up vegetables with strange green fuzz growing on them.

Since my daughter Kayla returned from her Haiti mission trip (look for a future post from her), I have been ever-mindful of the way we tend to waste food and leftovers, and have been trying really hard to use up even the little scraps in new and creative ways.

I had a drawer full of red and yellow bell pepper halves, and a bunch of green onions itching to be used this Saturday. I also went outside to find that my dear little herb garden was overflowing with basil.

I set about to picking it, and ended up with this rather large colander of the beautiful, green, fragrant leaves. I left the roma tomato in the picture so you could see just how big this colander is.

I made 3 decent-size recipes of my pesto.

Little did I know we would devour one-and-a-half of these beauties on Saturday night with our wonderful friends Melisa and Steven on homemade pizza. Thank God for an abundance of basil, I say.

I threw all of these hodge- podge of ingredients together in a frittata.

A frittata is nothing more than a fancy name for an omelet. Mr. Wonderful thought it seemed like a quiche with no crust. It actually starts out just like an omelet, but instead of flipping it over, the filling is put right into the eggs and the frittata is started on the stove and finished off by popping it into the oven and served open-faced.

Now I had my skepticisms about this process. I don’t like browned scrambled eggs and therefore, had doubts I would like it. What I found, however, is the frittata is extremely creamy and tender and I am now hooked.

Best of all, frittatas are super easy and fast to make!

I made this in a smaller 6 1/2 inch skillet and cut in half, it was perfect for Mr. Wonderful and I’s brunch alongside some blueberry pancakes. You could make it in whatever skillet you like, then cut it in wedges and serve just like quiche.

I started by chopping up a couple tablespoons of red and yellow bell pepper and also a couple of green onions. I also used about a cup or 2 of fresh spinach.

I put a tablespoon of olive oil in my skillet and turned the heat on medium. Toss the pepper and onion into the skillet and saute them until they begin to soften.

Stir them around every minute or so.

When they soften up a bit, (after about 5 minutes) add in your spinach. It may look like a lot, but believe me, spinach wilts down to nothing when you cook it.

This was just under a minute of my spinach sauteing.

While your veggies and spinach are sweating down, mix up your eggs.

I used 4 eggs for our frittata. If you’re using a regular 12 inch skillet, you’d probably want to go with 6-8 eggs.

Crack your eggs into a bowl.

If you were my mom, you’d remove the little white stringy things (does anyone know what those things are?) I figure they add more protein and who has the patience to remove them anyway?

My mom does, that’s who.

Add in about 2 tablespoons of milk and whisk the whole thing up!

Pour your egg mixture into your skillet right over top of your veggies.

While it’s cooking, sprinkle some cheese over the top.

You can see in the above picture how the edges are beginning to set. Let the mixture cook until it’s about 1/2 way cooked. Make sure you have medium-low heat, you don’t want the bottom to burn.

Take it off the stove and dollop it with some pesto.

I used about 3 tablespoons. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Put it on the top rack of a 400º oven for about 2-3 minutes. Check it with a fork for doneness. You can let it really brown up if you like.

IMPORTANT!!! Before you remove your pan from the oven – remember to use an oven mitt or towel!

I know that seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes people (I) just think…it’s a skillet, and grab it with my hands.

Did I just say that out loud?

Is this thing on? Tap…tap.

I preferred mine tender and not too overcooked, so I opted for the less-browned look.

Cut it into wedges and serve it up. Garnish with a sprinkle of your leftover veggies or some chopped basil or even a nice shaving of parmesan would be wonderful.

Frittatas are fun to play with. You can use so many varieties of toppings – asparagus, potatoes, artichoke hearts, broccoli, ham, bacon, pancetta – the possibilities are endless!