Breakfast frittata!

Gary and I have been working a lot lately.  For those of you who haven’t been in the store of late, we’ve rearranged almost everything there and we did it basically on our own in two days (two very long days might I add!).  So this morning, feeling like we needed a little relaxation and comfort, I decided to make a simple veggie frittata.  We happened to have a zucchini, half a red pepper and a shallot in the house that all needed to be used quickly.  I referred to Deborah Madison’s “Local Flavors” cookbook for inspiration.  Now, although my veggies were not local (organic yes) I checked out her recipe for a zucchini and marjoram frittata.  My favorite idea from the recipe was to grate the zucchini instead of dice it.  Would have never thought of it but man was it a fabulous idea!  So here’s what I did:

Grated 1 zucchini, mixed it with 1/2 tps of salt and placed in collander (in the sink) for about 15 minutes.  Rinsed it quickly and squeezed it to dry.

Finely diced a shallot and sauted the shallot and zucchini at medium/medium high heat  in a cast iron skillet with some olive oil for about 5-6 minutes.  I thought that for future reference this would be a great substitute for hash browns for people who are sensitive to a lot of carbohydrates.

After about 5-6 minutes, I removed the zucchini/shallot mix from the skillet and placed in a bowl.  Wiped out the skillet.  Then in another large bowl I beat 5 nice farm fresh Milo’s eggs (Wisconsin, pastured raised).  To the eggs, I added the zucchini, finely diced red pepper and some Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese (from Uplands Dairy in Wisc).  This cheese is similar to a gruyere in nature but much better than any gruyere I can remember.  I only used about 1/3 cup grated. 

After the skillet was wiped out, I brought the heat back up and added more olive oil to coat the bottom and rolled the pan around so it coated 1 inch up the sides.  I poured in the egg mixture and lowered to heat to medium low.  Covered skillet with a sheet pan for about 9 minutes.  Then I popped the frittata under the broiler for about 2 minutes to finish off the top of it.

Then pulled the skillet out of the oven and flipped the frittata out so that the nice golden brown side was face up.  Clearly it looked and smelled so good that we couldn’t take a picture of it before we ate so here’s what’s left.  This was super easy and really delicious.  AND economical!  We’ll have the rest for a late lunch today (can serve at room temp the way you would a quiche) and put a nice Windy City Harvest salad next to it.