When I first moved to Barbados in the late 90’s to work at the Caribbean Broadcast-ing Union (now Carib-bean Media Corporation, CMC), it meant getting home closer to 8 each evening after Caribbean Newsline, one of the flagship programmes of the organization. I’d reach home famished and not with a lot of energy to cook. I was always on the lookout for things to make quickly that would be satisfying and filling but not overly heavy.
One evening I decided to cut up some onions, tomatoes, shallots, and hot pepper and mix them into whisked eggs. There was some leftover roast chicken that I chopped into bite-size pieces and added to the mix. The entire mixture was poured into a microwaveable Pyrex dish that I had brushed with oil and set to cook on high for 5 minutes. In no time I had a pie-plate of cooked, puffed, savoury eggs. It was the first time I had made anything like that. Sure I had made omlettes and so on before but I’d never ‘baked’ my eggs this way before. Later I was to learn that what I had made was very much like a frittata.
According to Italian food expert, Danilo Alfaro, a frittata is a flat Italian-style omlette that is usually prepared in a cast iron skillet. Beaten eggs are cooked briefly with other ingredients such as onions, spinach, bacon and or potatoes, topped with cheese and finished in the oven. In some ways, you can think of a frittata as a crust-less quiche.
Since that first night back in 90’s, I have been making frittatas often, especially when entertaining at brunch or tea. A frittata (depending on the size of your pan) can feed at least 6 people. It is one of my go-to recipes. The thing that I like about a frittata is that you can add as many or as little ingredients as you like, the only must-have ingredient – eggs!
It is preferable that you have a skillet that can go from the stovetop to the oven to make this dish, however, if you don’t, butter or brush with oil an ovenproof pie dish and pour all the ingredients into it then place it in the oven. For this recipe, I used a 10-inch cast iron skillet.
INGREDIENTS
- 5 – 6 English sausages
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 cup finely minced onions
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
- Minced hot pepper to taste
- 2 whole green onions sliced thinly, white/purple and green parts
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup grated cheeses
- 10 large eggs, room temperature, whisked
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cook the sausages according to the package instructions and when cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch rounds; set aside.
Add oil to a skillet and place on medium heat, when hot, add onions and thyme, reduce heat and cook until fragrant and the onions have softened.
Add hot pepper and green onions, raise heat to medium and toss to mix. Spread the mixture out in an even layer. Season with salt.
Distribute half of the sausages evenly in the pan and then sprinkle the cheese.
Season the eggs with a little salt just before pour the eggs all over, covering the aromatics sausages and cheese.
Scatter the remaining sausages over the eggs and transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10 – 12 minutes or until the eggs are set. To test for doneness, insert a knife or skewer into the center of the frittata, if the egg is still runny, bake for another couple of minutes then remove the frittata from the oven. Let cool for 5 – 7 minutes, cut into wedges and serve.
COOK’S NOTES
The following ingredients can be sautéed together or in combination to add to any frittata:
Spinach
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatoes
Bacon and any type of sausage meat or leftover cooked meat
