Frittata

Frittata is a baked Italian style omelette. It shares some concepts with the Spanish Tortilla, but the fillings are often more diverse. I like the frittata as a simple way to repurpose leftovers quickly into something tasty.

The concept is simple. A 10 inch skillet. Nonstick or well seasoned cast iron or carbon steel simplifies things a lot and I strongly recommend one of those choices. It needs an oven proof handle as well, at least for the technique I prefer.

The ratio is this: 6 eggs to about 3 cups of filling. The filling usually includes something starchy like potatoes or pasta, some vegetables, often some herbs and some meat and/or cheese. For this fritatta, I'm using up some leftover linguine in a tomato sauce,  some sauteed zucchini and patty-pan squash, some cut up ham, and a mix of Romano and Parmigiano cheese.

I tend to cook on a lower heat for a longer time than many other frittata recipes you'll see. Those frittatas have a darker overcooked egg surface that is less appealing. You'll see.

Season your eggs. I chose some Goya Adobo, black pepper and a little garlic Cholula hot sauce. That's what I most often s eason my eggs with for most any savory purpose.  Then beat the eggs.

Add your filling choices. Mine were pasta, squash, ham and cheese. 

Combine those. 

Heat your pan over medium heat. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Tilt your pan to coat it evenly. I don't recommend butter. The milk solids tend to overcook and darken the surface of the fritatta and tastes a little off from the longer cooking time of this dish.  

Add your fritatta mix. It will set around the edges slowly. Lift the edges and let some egg run under and cook. Do this around the fritatta twice. 

Meanwhile, heat your broiler and position your rack about 6 inches from the heat. You can see on the right of my photo I'm down one notch on the position in my oven. Also note that I removed the cover from this pan's handle so it's safe for broiler temperatures. 

The surface will set before it's done cooking. Look for the surface to pick up some color is useful clue. When you see some color, to see how the fritatta jiggles. If it moves fairly uniformly it might be done. if the center jiggles more than the edges, it needs to cook some more. You can test it pretty simply for doneness. Poke a knife into the center and look for liquid. If you click the photo below to see it larger, you'll see the liquid shine by the blade. Some recipes say that it will finish cooking from the carryover heat outside the oven, but I've been burned by that technique. If you like your omelets with a littlye runniness in the french style, that's fine. That's just not my preference. The surface here can take a little more browning. so I let it go another 2 minutes under the broiler At that point, it had enough color but was still wetter than I liked so I turned off the broiler, and let the frittata bake in the closed and cooling oven about 5 more minutes

Compare the browning in mine to the wikipedia frittata-photographed by flagstaffotos. Their egg surface is overcooked and will have poor texture and flavor. 

Generally, recipes tell you to invert onto a plate. Plates don't give you a lot of extra rim if you're not experienced at that inverting thing. This is where the non-stick cooking surface helps out. A cutting board is easier I think than a plate and it's much easier to cut and better for the knife. 

Then slip it onto the serving plate.

Good warm or at room temperature.