Saturday, November 13, 2010

Asparagus Frittata - Cooking Italy 14

Asparagus Frittata 2, cropped

I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason I had never before made a frittata - I think it may have had something to do with never owning a non-stick pan and being afraid that it wouldn't come out of the pan.  Well, recently I decided to invest in one and I have to say it's been life changing - why did I never do this before?!  So now in the possession of a non-stick pan, I was pretty excited when a recent assignment for the Cooking Italy group was to make a frittata.  You will recall that we are cooking from Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" book, and we had the option to choose any "flavour" we liked.  It being spring here, the choice was really a no-brainer - it just had to be asparagus.

This was an absolute breeze to make - it may have been my first frittata, but it definitely won't be my last.  I had beautiful, organic asparagus and gorgeous, bright-orange-yolked, free-range eggs - with such wonderful ingredients this was bound to be good, and it did not disappoint.  This made a beautiful light lunch, and was still delicious served cold (well, room-temperature really) the next day.

Asparagus Frittata
Adapted from Marcella Hazan's
Serves 4
Vegetarian
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

450g (1lb) fresh asparagus
5 eggs (preferably free-range)
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2 tablespoons butter

Snap the woody ends off the asparagus spears, and drop them into a pot of boiling salted water.  Cook until the spears are fork tender, but are still firm to the bite.  Remove from pan, cool, and then cut into short pieces about 1.5cm (1/2-inch) long.

Asparagus Frittata 4, cropped

Beat the eggs together in a bowl.  Add the asparagus, a couple of generous pinches of flaky sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and the grated parmesan cheese.

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  As soon as the butter begins to foam, give the egg and asparagus mixture a good stir, and pour it all into the pan.

Turn the heat down to very low, and as soon as the eggs have thickened and set, with just the surface still being a bit runny, remove the pan from the heat and finish off under the grill (broiler) in your oven.  This will barely take a minute - remove as soon as the top is set and before it starts to brown.

Asparagus Frittata 3, cropped

Slide the frittata out of the pan onto a board or serving platter, and cut into wedges.

If you don't eat this all at once, it is wonderful the next day used in a sandwich on fresh ciabatta bread.

Asparagus Frittata 1, cropped

Do visit my Cooking Italy page to learn more about the group (maybe you'd even like to join in - you don't have to have a blog to join the group and cook along with everyone else), find links to other members of the group, and links to all the Cooking Italy recipes I've cooked so far.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking 

19 comments:

  1. There's a bunch of asparagus waiting in my fridge. I should give this a try, it looks simple and delicious !

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  2. Thanks Vanille - this frittata would be the perfect home for your bunch of asparagus - hope you try.
    Sue :-)

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  3. This looks SO good! I can't wait till asparagus are in season. :-)

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  4. Looks lovely. My husband would adore and enjoy eating this. He likes eggs for breakfast and if its got asparagus in it, its an added bonus.

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  5. I've ever made a frittata before either Sue and for the exact same reason, lol! So few ingredients and such a lovely dish. I LOVE the idea of the sandwich!!! I would love to bring that to work for my breakfast. Delicious!

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  6. I have been making frittatas my whole life and that is pretty great for someone's FIRST. I'm impressed.

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  7. you've just made me realize I've never made a frittata either -this looks great!

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  8. Sue - looks yummy! You're photo of the asparagus is just fabulous, too!! I can't wait to make this dish, easy ingredients I almost always have on hand! Thanks for sharing!

    -Veronica

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  9. It's a staple dish in our house - but I've never made an asparagus one....will rectify pronto!

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  10. Simply beautiful Sue! And I bet it tasted just as good! I love asparagus with eggs...this one's on my list to try for sure!

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  11. I am a big fan of frittatas and make them quite oftn. This recipe looks gorgeous! What a great idea to put leftovers onto ciabata bread. I will remember that.

    ps... the lunches you mentioned on my blog - brought back memories from the 80's. All I can say is, I'm glad I survived the decade :-)

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  12. Thanks Kaye - I wait all year for asparagus to come round, and then I totally "pig-out " on it while it's here :-)

    Thanks mangocheeks - this would be great for breakfast - a great way to start the day - hope you make it for your husband soon :-)

    Brenda - once you make this and realise just how easy it is, you're going to kick yourself for waiting so long!!

    Oh Angela - thank you so much :-)

    Simply Life - once you try, you'll wish you'd done it sooner!

    Hi Veronica - thank you so much for your lovely comment. Hope you enjoy it.

    Hi Sally - hope you try the asparagus one - what are your favourite versions?

    Thanks Glennis - something about the combination of asparagus, eggs and parmesan was wonderful - one of those great dishes where the final outcome seems to be so much greater than the sum of the parts :-)

    Lyndsay - the leftovers on ciabatta bread was wonderful - would work with any frittata - hope you tried it. OMG - I often think it's a miracle that I survived the 80s :-)

    Sue :-)

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  13. That's been my reason for not doing a frittata, not the right pan. I so need to get one!

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  14. Debbi - don't wait a moment longer - go and get a non-stick pan, today - they are relatively inexpensive, and worth every penny :-) I can't believe I waited so long to get one. I think I always had this funny idea that, because you don't need to use very much fat/oil that things wouldn't brown very well - wrong!! Things brown beautifully. I think I also had this rather ridiculous, food-snob notion that "real cooks don't use non-stick pans" - who the heck was I trying to kid - I'm sure they do, and who cares if they don't? Life is too short to miss out on great food, just because you don't have the tools that make it easier.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Sue :-)

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  15. I love frittatas! I'm jealous of your asparagus! It will be a good six months before I see that again!

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  16. My non-stick pan is one of my favorite kitchen tools! So glad you got one and that you love it. This frittata looks wonderful. Oh how I miss asparagus.

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  17. Starwind777 - thanks for visiting and adding me.

    Pam - yes I know that feeling of asparagus envy, when I am shivering with the autumn chill and you are all doing wonderful things with asparagus. It's always worth the wait though, isn't it.

    Joanne - I'm kicking myself that I waited so long to get a non-stick pan.

    Sue :-)

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  18. wow this sounds extremely easy and awesome!

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  19. Thanks Ananda - definitely very easy and beautiful tasty result :-)

    Sue

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