Frittata with Side Salad

We often don’t think of eggs as a main dish for lunch or dinner, but in my opinion, that’s a terrible oversight. Eggs are quick, delicious, and really good for you! Egg dishes also tend to be extremely flexible, which is great if you’re trying to use different odds and ends in your fridge to stretch your pantry another day or two. (And cooked egg dishes tend to store really well – some are even considered better after a day or two in the fridge – which is excellent for leftovers.) I’m providing a frittata recipe here, but check out the bottom of this recipe for a round-up of a few more ways to make eggs for dinner.

What’s a frittata? A frittata is just a quiche without a pie crust. Feeling ambitious? Try making this recipe into a quiche with this pie crust recipe! I recommend baking just the crust for 5-7 minutes before pouring in the egg mixture for maximum flaky texture.

Servings: In my experience, a frittata with a dozen eggs should easily serve 5 people with some leftovers.

Active cooking time: 20-25 minutes, depending on mix-ins

Passive time: 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the frittata

Ingredients available through Lettuce Heads:

Items available elsewhere:

Eggs Spinach Baby kale Mushrooms from Broadcap Parsley Oregano Chives Sage Rosemary Camp Farm Potatoes (dice and cook first) Camp Farm Beets (dice and cook first – will add a gorgeous streak of color to the final product) Hartzler’s cheese Fair View Meadow Farms sausage, chorizo, ground pork or ground beef For the salad: Lettuce Heads lettuce mix, baby kale, spinach, arugula (my personal favorite), sorrel, carrots (sliced into matchsticks or rounds), mushrooms (sliced thinly)

Some form of dairy: milk, yogurt, sour cream. Or, if you’re dairy-free, an alternative like almond milk or coconut milk. Optional: Dried tomatoes, or diced tomatoes that are well-drained

If you’re making a quiche, you can get spelt flour through Lettuce Heads, although you will need to provide your own butter, vegetable shortening, or lard for the crust.

1. Prepare your mix-ins: Technically, you could make a frittata with just eggs and dairy, but it wouldn’t be the same! Pick your add-ins from the list above. For veggies and mushrooms, dice them well and then saute until fully cooked. (This keeps items like mushrooms from giving off water in the oven.) If you’re adding in meat, brown in separately from any veggies. Set your oven to preheat at 400.
2. Prepare your egg mixture: While you’re sautéing veggies and/or browning meat, start cracking eggs! Stir well to break up the yolks, then add your dairy or dairy equivalent. According to Bon Appetit, you should use a half-cup of dairy for every dozen eggs (or a quarter-cup for a six-egg frittata.) They also advise that you don’t have to use milk – yogurt or sour cream will work too (butter or cheese will not work as a substitute for milk here, though). Feel free to combine multiple sources of dairy if you don’t have enough of any one item.

   Once you’ve added the dairy or dairy alternative, beat together well. There should not be any identifiable chunks of egg yolk, egg white, or dairy. Season well with salt, pepper, and any herbs or other seasoning you like. Mix well (keep in mind that adding more seasoning on top later will not incorporate very much). If you’d like to have cheese inside the frittata, add cubed, shredded, or slivered cheese now as well. (You can save some to put on top too.)

3. Add mix-ins and egg mixture to a greased pan: if you’ve got a cast-iron pan, now is an ideal time to use it! If not, try a casserole dish or pie pan. Just make sure you grease the sides and bottom well with oil, butter, or vegetable shortening to make sure it doesn’t stick. Once greased, put mix-ins into the pan, then pour the egg mixture on top.
4. Bake at 400: if you are cooking in a shallow pan, start checking for doneness after 10 minutes. If you are cooking in a deeper dish or cast iron, it might take more like 20-30 minutes. Most frittata lovers recommend cooking to a custard-like consistency, so that the eggs are just set and the final product still jiggles a little in the center. If you prefer your frittata to be baked a little firmer, leave it in for a little bit longer. Add cheese on the top when there’s still 2-3 minutes to go, so that the cheese melts but doesn’t burn.

   (Note to frittata newbies: don’t stress on the times – there’s a wide range of delicious consistencies between ‘just set’ and ‘overbaked.’ Just trust your gut and go with the level of doneness you usually like in your eggs.)

5. If you’re preparing a salad to go with your meal, put it together while the frittata bakes: this can be as simple as rinsing some greens to be served as a spring mix, or a more elaborate dressed salad with your favorite toppings – up to you and what you have in the cupboard!
6. Remove frittata from oven, allow to stand for five minutes before cutting, and enjoy!

Looking for more ways to enjoy eggs for dinner? Maybe the best thing about eggs is that they’re readily available from local sources all year round here in Lorain County. Not to mention, once you’ve tried fresh local eggs… let’s just say the flavor of supermarket eggs can’t begin to compare. Here’s a roundup of a few of my favorite eggs-for-dinner recipes, with notes on how to adapt them to Lettuce Heads product availability or simplify them for a stripped-down pantry or beginner cooks:

1. Sweet Potato Hash with Sausage and Eggs (the Kitchn – Faith Durand) This recipe doesn’t need much adaptation! The only note I would add is that there’s no reason you couldn’t use regular potatoes, or a mix of sweet and regular potatoes for this dish. And if you’d prefer chicken, beef, or a vegetarian substitute, you could certainly switch out the sausage for anything you like. Conveniently, most of it can be made ahead.
2. Pasta alla Carborna (the Kitchn – Sara Kate Gillingham) If you’ve never tried pasta alla carborna, you’re in for a treat! All you really need is pasta, eggs, and bacon. The eggs cook on the surface of the hot pasta, adding protein and creating an amazing creamy texture that you would never guess was from eggs if you didn’t know! If you’re a real foodie, check out the author’s notes on how to get the best texture and the most authentic cuts of meat for the dish – but if you, like me, are mostly an eater, just skip down to the recipe itself.
3. Egg Sandwich with Mushroom Hash (Leanne Brown – the Good and Cheap Cookbook) Leanne Brown’s amazing, FREE, download-right-now cookbook Good and Cheap is one of the best things ever to come out of the Internet. Seriously. Especially if you are learning to cook, her whole website is a gold mine. I don’t have much to add to this recipe in terms of notes on how to make it easier (she does a great job of making all of her recipes pretty approachable) but if you want to add more Lettuce Heads ingredients, I’m sure this would be delicious with any of our greens!
4. Japanese Ramen Eggs (Lifehacker – Claire Lower) I just made a batch of these eggs recently and fell in love. Typically, getting a hearty breakfast while packing a lunch that will keep me going until quitting time on the farm is a daily struggle, but with a supply of ramen eggs ready to go, getting geared up for the day was suddenly a breeze.

   Make up a big batch and add them onto ramen noodles, udon noodles, bibimbap, rice and veggies, or even just on toast with breakfast. The recipe for this marinade calls for mirin, a specialty ingredient in Japanese cooking, but you can easily omit it if you don’t have any on hand.

–Sarah Johnson, Lettuce Heads farm manager

PS: we’d love to see your creations! If you want to share the fruit of your labors in the kitchen, tag @LettuceHeadsFarm on Facebook or Instagram with a photo of your meal.