Vegetable Frittata and Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

After all that market talk, I headed down to the Dupont Circle Farmers’ Market Sunday morning in search of great spring veggies for a frittata. Sadly, there’s not a huge selection of veggies yet, but what was there was great.

Some fresh salad greens, artisan bread and green, white and red onions…it was a successful trip. Oh! And…I got some quark cheese. A first for me, but it was so delicious when I tried it I had to get some. UPDATE: the cheese is from Keswick Creamery!

A quick pit stop at the Harris Teeter (or, The Teet, as I like to call it) to pick up bell peppers and asparagus (I HAD to have asparagus for some reason) and I was ready to frittata my evening up.

I’m pretty sure that making a frittata is the easiest meal you can make for either breakfast or dinner. And if you’re only feeding one or two mouths, making one can easily fill your belly for lunch and dinner the next day.

There’s no messing this one up folks. Pick a cheese, a meat (optional) and some veggies. Generally speaking, I’d say you need about 2 cups chopped veggies, 1 cup diced/chopped meat and 1/2-1 cup cheese (depending on what kind you’re using). That’s all estimated because you should feel free to put as much or as little in your frittata as you like. I’ve listed some ideas to get you rollin’ below the jump!

I served my frittata with a delicate green salad drizzled with a lemon vinaigrette and a charred piece of artisan bread spread with fresh quark cheese. How can you not love a dinner like this!?

Enjoy!

Frittata mixin’s to help get you started:

Veggies: white onion, red onion, green onion, chopped garlic, broccoli, asparagus, summer squash, zucchini, red/yellow/green bell pepper, kalamata olives, oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, black beans, Hatch green chilis

Herbs/Seasonings: basil, tarragon, sage, oregano, rosemary, chili powder, cholula sauce, tobasco sauce, salsa

Meats: ham (as in, chopped up sandwich meat), canadian bacon, straight up real bacon, turkey bacon, chorizo, italian sausage, diced/shredded chicken

Cheese: feta, extra sharp cheddar, white aged cheddar, applewood smoked cheddar, gouda, parmesan, gruyere

Frittata

Starting with the base from Giada de Laurentis

8 eggs

1/3 cup of milk

Plus your veggies, herbs, meats and cheese

1tbsp olive oil

a couple pinches of salt (garlic salt if you’re feeling fancy)

a couple dashes of pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. I used a soufle dish for baking, but you can use a 9x9inch baking pan, or even an 8 inch round cake pan!

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add your meat…cook until browned, warmed or fried (maybe you want to do bacon in a separate pan so you can drain the fat, or before you do the veggies so you can cook the veggies in the bacon fat). Add your veggie fixins…saute until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Season with a dash of salt and a pinch of pepper…less on the salt if you’re meat is bacon or canadian bacon or ham (the natural salts from these meats will flavor things just fine and well).  Set aside everything to cool for a bit.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper until smooth and creamy. Grate your cheese. Add your cooled, cooked mixins, meat, cheese, herbs/seasonings and egg mixture to your baking pan or dish. Bake for 50 minutes (if using a soufle dish) or until golden brown. (If using a 9×9 inch baking pan or an 8inch round pan bake for 20-25 minutes.)

Cut the baked omelet into wedges and sprinkle with extra cheese or parsley before serving.

Lemon Vinaigrette

Pretty basic recipe you can find anywhere

1tbsp lemon juice

3tbsp olive oil (good quality if you can find/afford it!)

pinch of salt

dash of pepper

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl until combined (usually this is when the mixture becomes a bit cloudy). Drizzle over your salad.