Last Night's Pasta Frittata

What I learned today: vanilla flavored almond milk is delicious in coffee, disgusting in a frittata!

I had some of yesterday's greens and pasta left over and although I thought it would be just fine reheated, I wanted to stretch it a little further. I also wanted to use some of the cherry tomatoes sitting on my counter. So I pulled up my recipe for leftover spaghetti frittata and decided to make it work for this.

I added the halved tomatoes to the pan just before I poured the eggs in and I used five eggs instead of four (I felt that four didn't quite cover all of the pasta last time). As I mentioned above, I didn't have any cow milk, so I used vanilla almond milk. Do NOT do this, it does not taste good. Otherwise, this turned out pretty well. The cannellini beans are a little weird in a frittata, but at least I know this for next time!

Kale and Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage Frittata

Hot mess

As you can see, I am trying to distract you from looking at the frittata by putting an equally crazy looking apron behind it!

Appearances and amateur cooking mistakes aside, this frittata was delicious! As my diligent and observant readers will know, I have been trying to diversify my kale recipes and after inspiring one of my co-workers to make a frittata (for the first time!) last week, I decided I needed to make one, too.

My love of sweet apple chicken sausage is well documented (see here, here, and here) and I buy it whenever it is on sale. I had some in the fridge and thought it would work well with the kale. I followed my basic "What's Left in the Fridge Frittata" recipe, but made one glaringly obvious amateur mistake. I threw the kale right in the pan after the chicken sausage had been browning and was shocked when it didn't wilt like spinach or arugula. Duh! So, learn from my mistakes! If you want to use kale in a frittata, make sure you blanch it first, and then cut into bite-size pieces before adding it to the pan. But, at least I remembered the broiler this time, so the kale and the Parmigiano-Reggiano got nice and crispy!

Leftover Spaghetti Frittata

I tried a recipe from the Washington Post the other night called Summer Spaghetti. It was a part of the Post's annual "Top Tomato" contest where they invite Washingtonians to send in their best tomato recipes. This particular recipe was a finalist and intrigued me because the only item you cooked was the pasta. 

Well, I ended up having a couple problems with this recipe. The raw onion about killed me; the sharp taste lingered in my mouth for about a day (yes, I do brush my teeth), and the overall dish just lacked taste. I love vinegar and capers and I even added mozzarella and yet, I was so underwhelmed. But I saved the leftovers because I just couldn't stand throwing the good ingredients away. The next day I said, WWIT: What Would Italians Do?

Make a frittata! The frittata saved the leftovers - it turned out delicious.

Leftover Spaghetti Frittata
Serves 3

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3 cups leftover pasta
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Whisk the eggs and milk in a bowl. Heat the olive oil in an oven-safe 10 inch saute pan over medium heat. Add the pasta to the pan and heat for about 30 seconds - 1 minute. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta and gently stir so that the egg covers all of the pasta. Cook until eggs are just set, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and transfer the pan to the oven.

3. Broil until the top is golden, 3-5 minutes. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the frittata to help it release from the pan. Transfer the frittata to a plate and cut into wedges.

What's Left in the Fridge Frittata

Every now and then, I end up with bits of this and that in the fridge and I hear my mom's voice in my head: "Don't throw that away! You can find something to do with it." This week they went into a frittata.

Frittatas hold a special place in my household as it was the first dish I cooked for Marshal Mike when we were dating. I haven't made one for a long time, but decided the ingredients I had on hand would be perfectly suited for it. Unfortunately MM is off playing Army so he didn't get to enjoy the fridge frittata. Below is a recipe for this particular frittata, but think of it as a general guideline and feel free to use any ingredients you'd like!

What's Left in the Fridge Frittata
Serves 3

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
6 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk (I had evaporated milk leftover from making a pie for Thanksgiving, so I used that)
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used a combination of Parmigiano-Reggiano and rosemary asiago)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
A handful or two baby arugula leaves

1. Position an oven rack in the top 1/3 of the oven; preheat the broiler. (I forgot you are supposed to use the broiler and heated the oven to 400 degrees. The top of my frittata did not get golden, which is why you see the bottom of my frittata in the picture above!)

2. Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in an oven safe 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook until the onions caramelize and the pepper softens.

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk, cheese, salt and pepper.

4. When the onions and pepper are just done, add the handful or two of arugula to the pan and stir to wilt slightly. Lower the heat to medium low or low. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and gently stir (I forgot to stir, that's why you can see all of my vegetables in the above picture).

5. When the edges are set, transfer to the oven and cook until puffy and golden (obviously this will take less time if under the broiler than in a 400 degree oven).

6. Let the frittata cool for a couple of minutes (remember the handle of the skillet will be very hot!) Loosen the edges of the frittata with a rubber scraper. Use a plate to invert the frittata and either invert again onto another plate, or keep the bottom as the top, whichever is prettier! Cut into wedges.