First Fall Frittata

Although I've only got Italian blood pumping through my veins, somehow I never had anything like a frittata growing up.  Sure, my mom used eggs in cooking -- she'd make the perfect soft boiled egg with a runny golden yolk that I would dip butter topped whole wheat bread into for lunch, or somehow fit a whole egg in the middle of a meatloaf.  But never frittata.  Perhaps the idea was lost on her; or perhaps it was a lack of a cast iron skillet.  In either case, I had never had anything like a frittata until I studied abroad in Spain, where I dined on the luscious tortilla at least once a week, loaded with potatoes, asparagus, or eggplant by Antonia, my host mother.  It was one of my favorite dinners to have while I was living there, and Andrew and I ate our fill of it when we traveled there (and got engaged!) in 2008.

But, back to the frittata.  Those who know Italian and even Spanish can come to the conclusion that the word is the past participle of "to fry" -- and thus this word was once used as a general term for any sort of fried egg.  But Italians ended up getting fancy with things, and now is associated with a sort of omelet. Except oh-so-much-better because of one key factor -- the broiler.  What makes a fritatta so darn tasty is the fact that when the omelet is just about set, you sprinkle cheese on top and stick it in the broiler for a few minutes, until some good bubbling action happens.  This is where having a cast iron skillet comes in handy -- it's great for stove top cooking and oven baking, and also can be set on a trivet on the table for serving.  The fewer dishes the better, right?

Since I haven't been eating eggs for a while, this was the first frittata that I've made in a while.  I used to be an omelet eating queen, having one almost every day for dinner, splitting it with Andrew as we, in the classiest way possible, sat on our living room floor, sharing a plate.  This autumn air has got me craving eggs again, and this dish fulfilled my craving...and has got me thinking about other ways to utilize eggs in my cooking.

Fall Frittata

6 eggs, whisked together in a glass bowl
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for drizzling at the end
3 cloves garlic, smashed and diced
1/2 onion, diced
3 carrots, sliced into thin half-moons
1 small potato, sliced into small pieces
1/4 cup grated cheese -- we used a raw goat cheddar

Start off by preheating your oven to 375 degrees, and then season your eggs with salt and pepper.  Heat up a 7 inch cast iron skillet on medium heat, adding the olive oil.  Cook the onion and garlic for 3 minutes, stirring things around with a wooden spatula.  Add in the carrots and potato, and cook for another 5 minutes.  Slowly add in the egg mixture for about 5 minutes, or until the eggs are just set in the skillet and there isn't a whole lot of liquid lingering around.  Sprinkle the cheese on top of the set egg mixture and place in the oven.  Hang out with the frittata -- things go from perfect to not-so-perfect very quickly. Once things have gotten puffy, after about 5 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool, if you can bear it.  Serves two, and accompanies a salad nicely.