your favorite fritatta recipes

Yesterday evening, I thought Nancy was planning dinner, but I assumed wrong. Poking around in the fridge, we decided on a fritatta.

Usually my fritatta ingredients are predicated on what's in the fridge at the time, and this was no different. I had fresh asparagus, but we decided to use that for a salad, with balsamic vinegarette and grated reggiano. Vidalia onion, garlic, red bell peppers, diced carrrot, giardinara, fresh tarragon, a combo of fresh Thai and sweet basil, and topped with goat cheese prior to finishing in the broiler. We had some LaBrea raisin/walnut bread in the freezer and opened a bottle of wine; what a satisfying, but simple, dinner.

I always use so much stuff in the fritatta, the eggs are more like a binder for the vegetables.

So what are your favorite combinations?

Cheers,
Al

1. Zucchini, sliced and fried golden brown in olive oil; salt, pepper, parsley. (Other vegatables work this way too, such as zucchini flowers, eggplant, etc.).

2. Russet potatoes (sliced thin and fried to light golden brown in olive oil), onion (optional, fried briefly along with the potatoes as they near being done), salt, pepper, parsley.

3. Fresh herbs (whatever is on hand; only parsley is 'required', but then for me, parsley goes in almost everything).

4. Left over maccheroni of several sorts, e.g.: fusilli with tomatoes, garlic, capers and eggplant; orrechiette with broccoli di rape and garlic; spaghetti with simple tomato sauce (olive oil, garlic or onion, tomatoes and basil). Some parmigiano or other cheese may be added but is not necessary.

5. I don't eat this any more for health reasons but... butter, pieces of fresh mozzarella or fior di latte, a little parmigiano, parsley, salt, pepper. (Regarding the cheese, of course, the fresher the better but this is also a good way to use mozzarella that wasn't used up the previous day, when it was bought.)

Little pieces or scraps of left over prosciutto wouldn't be a bad addition to several of the above.

These are pretty much all traditional things from the Campanian / Neapolitan kitchen. Simplicity and frugality are the overriding themes.

Antonius

Hi!

I will admit Fritattas is a meal consisting of small bits of stuff I cannot find use for otherwise. Ideally, I will want as a base some potatoes, sauteed onion and garlic, tomatoes (fresh or if canned, then plum) and fresh herbs to mix with the eggs. After that it may be cheese, bits of meat, leftover vegetables, whatever can be tastefully included.

My only challenge about Fritattas, and probably if I made more this would not be an issue, 75% of the time I am successful in flipping it over to finish cooking. If it is just for myself and it looks ugly, who am I impressing? Murphy's law, I have a guest and it goes bust, then you borrow from Julia Child and start dishing the parsley!

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy,

I don't flip fritattas, I start on the stove top and finish under the broiler. The fritatta gets brown and toasty, puffs up and, if I don't take my eye off the ball, presents beautifully on the plate.

I, like everyone else, go fancy or simple depending on what's in the frig and mood.

Enjoy,
Gary

I also finish it off in the broiler. Use a good non-stick pan and you can slide it right out onto a round platter. I hadn't made one in a couple of months because I needed a new 12" non-stick pan; they were sticking in the old one.

Since I rarely have left over potatoes in the fridge, I must plan ahead to use them. My mother, who is from a small town near Lucca, used to use zucchini or potatoes pretty frequently. These seem to be pretty traditional ingredients.

I don't remember having a fritatta with pasta, although I've read about them. I'll have to try it soon.

Best,
Al

Al:

Al Ehrhardt wrote:Since I rarely have left over potatoes in the fridge, I must plan ahead to use them. My mother, who is from a small town near Lucca, used to use zucchini or potatoes pretty frequently. These seem to be pretty traditional ingredients.

Both zucchini and potatoes do pair particularly well with eggs, I think. My grandmother used to use the zucchine blossoms too but I haven't myself. If I can find them and they're not too expensive, I want to try that and also filling them with ricotta, dipping them in batter, and frying them up.

I don't remember having a fritatta with pasta, although I've read about them. I'll have to try it soon.

Not all sorts work so well but it's a good way to use up something that otherwise wouldn't be so interesting. There's also a Neapolitan 'frittata' made without eggs -- it's really just fried pasta. I do make that fairly often and that's really good.

I usually make very simple frittate because it's almost always for lunch that I make them. They also have to compete for room on the household menu with French-style omelettes, which I really love.

A

Fritattae in my family are always asparagus. I've branched out to spinach, zukes, potatoes, pepper & onion [& sausage on occasion]. Zukes with onion & tarragon are particularly nice imho, altho we've moved much north and west of my Sicilian origins with that one. I always flip them, using a plate. It has a messy result sometimes [which can usually be repaired somewhat back in the frying pan], but I feel it helps to prove my womanhood, or something. Plus, I feel that putting them in the broiler dries them out a little bit.

There is something fritatta-like that is made in my family that I've never seen anywhere else... called a frausha [and that's my phonetic best guess... I have NO idea what it would really be in Italian/Sicilian dialect]. It's leftover bread, torn into small pieces, mixed with fresh parsley, grated Romano [not Parmesean in my family], salt, pepper & a healthy dash of garlic powder. It's fried in a pan like a fritatta. Also makes a totally great chicken stuffing. This sound familiar to anyone? Anybody have a clue how it's really spelled?

There's a kink in my family's cooking, too. My grandmother was a wonderful cook, but learned to cook here after she got married from some in-law who wasn't Sicilian. So I don't know what region [/i] my grandmother's cooking had its roots in.

Giovanna wrote:There is something fritatta-like that is made in my family that I've never seen anywhere else... called a frausha [and that's my phonetic best guess... I have NO idea what it would really be in Italian/Sicilian dialect]. It's leftover bread, torn into small pieces, mixed with fresh parsley, grated Romano [not Parmesean in my family], salt, pepper & a healthy dash of garlic powder. It's fried in a pan like a fritatta. Also makes a totally great chicken stuffing. This sound familiar to anyone? Anybody have a clue how it's really spelled?

Eh Giu',

The basic word in the Sicilian dialects for frittata is, I believe, 'frocia'. That's the usual spelling but the pronunication will vary along certain parameters. The <c> before <i> is a short Eng. <sh> sound in much of Italy (my family's dialect included). So your approximation was pretty good.

The bread-based 'frittata' reminds me of the Neapolitan frittate which are built on left-over pasta which I mentioned above in this spago. A question though: is the bread frocia with eggs or not? It was unclear in your description.

Old bread, if it's good bread, is a wonderful thing...

Saluti,
A
_________________

Sure! Love to take that as the proper spelling. Thanks.

Yep. Eggs. Sometimes a little milk to moisten up the bread if it was particularly dry. I highly recommend it next time you're looking for something to stuff a baked chicken with. Come to think of it, something similar went into Grandma Jenny's braciole, too.

Giovanna

Hello! I would like to make a frittata for Easter brunch and I can't find my trusty recipe. Anyone have some to share? I'd like a recipe that is:
~crustless
~low in carbs (there will also be birthday cake, bagels, cheesy potatoes and a french bread casserole. We don't need any more carbs or sugar! )
~on the lighter side but some meat is fine

Everybody in this family likes freakin' everything, so no worries there!
Thanks!

Have you looked at CI? They've got an amazing, meatless tortila that I adore with homemade mayo. I think they've got a great frittata as well. If you aren't a member you can look for free for 2 weeks.

x

If you have the Silver Palate's New Basics cookbook, there is a lovely recipe for a leek-chevre-smoked salmon frittata. I am out of town but could get it to you after the weekend.

I often prepare fritatas with ingredients similar to the ones Antonius described above. Definitely good stuff.

My other fritata standard recipe is based off the Palestinian dish ejjeh, which is more or less a fritata, but a bit thinner and, when authentically prepared, rarely finished in an oven. Cheese does not find its way into the dish.

Some ingredients that do: large amounts of chopped parsely or coriander are a must. Sauteed zuchini, onions, tomatoes, and hot peppers are often used. My family in Palestine will occasionally add toasted almond slivers - a wonderful and unexpected addition. Lots of black pepper, and if you have a taste for it, a bit of ground allspice, round things out. Obviously, use olive oil.

To acheive the desired texture, the dish should be cooked in a wide vessel, so that the surface area to volume ratio is greater. Cook slowly as not to burn the eggs, and leave covered. You may need to flip the sucker if the top is too wet for your taste. Or finish in the oven.

The truly authentic approach is to fry the hell out of the ejjeh, so that the bottom becomes more or less crispy, and it is easy to flip. I imagine that the crispy, fried texture that results from this preparation may put off those who prefer the fluffy, barely set profile of a fritata. I'm good with both.

Our favorite fritatta of all time is Pie Lady's baby artichoke and taleggio cheese fritatta in the fiddle head ferns and baby artichoke thread. And great photos too! Yum. --Joy

My favorite frittatas contain leeks as the main veg, either leek & chevre or leek, mushroom & gruyere. Thinly sliced potatoes are a nice addition to both if you're not avoiding carbs.