The Breakfast Warrior: Insalata Frittata

For tonight, I'm making breakfast for dinner. Although I think that I can comfortably file this under breakfasts too. And brunch. And appetizers. And snacks. It can be eaten anytime of the day really. To top it off, you can put anything in it, as long as you follow the basic frittata egg recipe.

My recipe is very simple and easy to follow. Or if you have a frittata recipe, of course use that instead. What I found that helps with this mixture is 2 teaspoons of all purpose flour. It just binds everything together and gives the frittata some "body" which then holds its shape. Another thing to keep in mind is not to add too many things in your frittata. The egg is the star here and the other ingredients supporting ones that add flavor to your dish.

I think most of you who follow my blog would know that I'm recently into watching A LOT of anime series. One of my favorites is actually food-related - called Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma, for obvious reasons. Basically, it is very much like Iron Chef but animated. They feature a dish or two on every episode and I watch this show repeatedly to understand and sort of decipher if the dishes are actually possible to make. Believe me, there are a lot of fans out there who have tried and succeeded, so I thought, why not give it a shot? From the picture below, you can see that there's cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, and the frittata are drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Image from the Anime Wiki

My version is from an episode where the students had to cook breakfast for hotel guests. A character there who grew up in Italy, made an Insalata Frittata. I thought this is one of things that I can make for sure! I got all the things in my pantry ready but my version, I thought was I guess a bit fancy in terms of ingredients but did not deviate far from the anime.

So here goes. Before anything else, preheat your oven to 180C. First, make the egg base. I used 7 eggs, 1/2 cup cream, 2 teaspoons all purpose flour, salt and pepper. Whisk together then set aside. You can also choose to add any dried or fresh herbs you like.

Next, figure out what you want to put into your frittata. You can be as creative or as simple as you like here. I happen to make petite bell peppers (yellow, orange and red maybe around 6-7 pieces), cherry tomatoes and half of a sweet potato chopped into small dices. I heat up a 9 inch cast iron pan (ideally, you should use a non stick pan for this, trust me). On medium heat, add around 2 tablespoon of oil to your pan and gently sautee the vegetables until soft. Then, spread the veggie mixture evenly on the bottom of your pan and pour in your egg mixture around. Add cheese on top then crank the heat up to high. Count for 30 seconds. Then put this into the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes. Mine was cooked at 15 minutes. Adjust to accordingly to your oven's heat. Once it's cooked, take it out of the oven and insert a thin knife into the center of the frittata. The tip of your knife should come out clean.

Cut into squares or bite sized pieces. Then prepare your salad. This can be anything but simple is best. I had a mixture of arugula, spinach and beet leaves. Place this on a plate and drizzle lightly with olive oil and any vinegar of your choice. I think a vinegar will work best here but feel free to use a creamier dressing if you prefer. Place the cut squares on top of your salad and ENJOY!!!