Green Eggs and Ham and Potato and Spinach Frittatas are TOTALLY the Same Thing
Number 15062 on the Great List of Things People Don't Mention When You're About to have a Kid is that whole thing where you will not only know about all sorts of random holidays, but you'll find yourself celebrating them. Alexis started pestering me a week ago about Dr. Seuss' birthday, so there was no way I was going to dodge celebrating the day. She specifically requested green eggs and ham for dinner as part of her party-palooza. Of course, I couldn't just make boring old green eggs and ham, so I made a frittata and gave it a green twist.
The frittata recipe is roughly based on what my host mother made when I spent my senior year of high school in Spain. I'm not any good at following instructions letter-for-letter, so I haven't looked at the recipe she wrote out for me in . . . um . . . almost two decades. (GET OFF MY LAWN, WHIPPERSNAPPERS.) This is probably pretty close, though.
Potato and Spinach Frittata
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup cooked chopped spinach (frozen or fresh)
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk
Salt and paper to taste
Cheese (mozzarella or provolone are my favorites)
Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add in the potatoes and cook, stirring occasional.
When the potatoes begin to soften, toss in the onion and spinach. Cook until the potatoes are tender and the onion is clear.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the potatoes. (Green = Happy Dr. Seuss Day!)
Green food coloring in the egg mixture is TOTALLY optional. But interesting.Use a heat resistant spatula to gently push the edges of the frittata inward, so that the sides are rounded. (Raw egg will seep around the edges as you go--that's OK. Keep working around the entire edge until the egg cooks enough to create a rounded "wall.")
I Swear There is a Black Spatula in that Photo. Somewhere.
Continue to cook the frittata until the sides are firm and it's nearly cooked all the way through.
It's Only Shiny in the Middle!
Now for the magical part. Turn off the heat and place a plate on top of the frittata. Like this:
Flip the skillet and plate so that the frittata is resting uncooked side down on the plate.
The Green Makes It Look Almost Burnt. It Wasn't.
Then slide the frittata back into the skillet and turn the heat back on.
Sprinkle cheese over the top of the frittata (cheese slices are also OK--just cover the top).
Cook until the cheese is melted and all of the egg is done. Cut into slices and TAH-DAH!
We usually marry the frittata with some good bread along with a few slices of Morningstar Farms Bac'n.
If you want to do it Spain Style, use ham and a good bread with a tough crust.
Psst . . . Speaking of things that are an odd shade of green, I'm giving away a Family Four Pack of Shrek the Musical tickets over here.
Recipe
Reader Comments (17)
You win :) I made scrambled eggs with some spinach tossed in for lunch. Of course it was for a pair of 19 month olds so I could get away with it! That looks terrific! The "magical" part is where things usually go to hell in my experience.
@Karen--I *always* think the whole thing is going to fall apart when I flip it, but it never has. Not even once. Just got to flip fast and slide slow, I think.
So, I'm not a baker/cook by any means, but I've printed out like 5 recipes from your blog that I plan on trying in the next week (including the Nutella Monster Cookies). You make everything sound so easy...hopefully I don't burn my apartment building down. Also, I'm preemptively blaming you for the weight gain that will happen after all the cookies are gone =)
@Dana--Considering I don't get home until 6:30 most nights, I *only* do easy. The frittata takes a little longer than ideal (I like dinners that are done in 10 minutes), but it makes enough to cover dinner twice, so it's worth it.
Well now I have to make these tomorrow. Don't care if it's no longer DS's bday...this looks so yummy.
Mmm.
You're such a great mom. I just went all boring ass on the project.
When I was in Spain, we called this tortilla in Spanish, and "Spanish tortilla" in English. Regardless, NOW I WANT IT. I didn't like eggs and potatoes all that much until I went to Spain, and now I have lots of both. I'm definitely making this some night soon. Thanks for the reminder that it exists!
@Caroline--In Alicante/Valencia, it was just "Sandwich." It didn't matter what was on it, it was always a "Sandwich." It confused the heck out of me for about two weeks. Heh.
That looks so yummy! The only thing we did was read The Foot Book before bed, lol.
Yum! Bookmarked! ;D
Oh, have mercy! That was good enough to lick the screen over.
that tortilla would be awesome with a little manchego. My mom never puts spinach in hers but I'll have to try it.
I will forgo the food coloring, though.
@Becoming Mommy--You can't really taste the spinach, but it's an easy way to shove some extra nutrition in there.
Wow, that looks delicious! My kids probably wouldn't touch it, even though they love eggs... but I'd like it!
This looks so good I might actually try it. (I don't usually "cook", I "heat things").
Just inserting my two-chef-cents here...
You can totally skip the flip & repan part via baking. The method up there is definitely the faster one...im guessing all told about 10 minutes once the egg hits the pan, but if you follow all the steps up to the spatula pushing the egg into the center to make the omlette, in essence, but transfer to a 375 oven and bake until the center is mostly firm, top with the cheese and then let it stay in until the cheese is totally melted you alleviate the hard & tricky part of the dish and in my experience end up with a lighter & fluffier frittata. Total bake time is about 15-17 minutes.
This method would also be useful if you didnt have a nonstick pan or if you were making this as a brunch-y dish for a larger group & needed a bigger one. If you cook everything off in a skillet, put in into a buttered casserole (i actually put buttered bread slices on the bottom on this when I make it myself), then top with the egg mixture you can bake it in the casserole dish instead. This way should be done at 325 for at least 30 minutes because the egg layer is usually thicker and the pan is cold to start and that makes a difference.
Ok...Chef Out!
frittatas make me crazy happy...they remind me of vacation at myrtle beach. my cousin and i were hungry one morning, but we woke up after everyone was done with breakfast. (one of those mornings after a night of more than a few drinks.) i staggered to the kitchen thinking cereal, she told me she had this one and that i should sit down. next thing i know all kinds of stuff from the big dinner our uncle had cooked out on the counter and being tossed into a cast iron skillet. leftovers, including salsa, kept getting stirred around in the skillet, then the eggs went in. she did the pushy around thingy that you did, then BAM!, into the oven like mindy mentioned. came out almost like a quiche without the crust. might just be the best breakfast i ever ate.
i really need to try to cook...