tomato + onion + kale frittata

In this dish:

- eggs

- half and half

- salt and pepper

- red pepper flakes

- tomatoes

- kale

- onion

- garlic

- pecorino romano

- feta

We’ve been eating a lot of eggs lately.

We’re in the thick of pandemic lockdown, and every day at almost exactly noon, Nick comes out of his bedroom/office and says, “Wanna have lunch?” (I do. I do want lunch.)

Our go-to pandemic lunch has been egg sandwiches. Nick usually goes for an over-easy between two toasted slices, and I’ve been hitting the hard-boiled open-face pretty hard.

I’m kind of tired of eggs.

But not—NOT!—when they come as a force of eight in a skillet with a crew of sautéed veg. I’m talking about that trusty old frittata, folks.

It’s basically a build-your-own omelet, but bigger and hotter and less froufrou. I mean, it’s cooked on cast iron! Under the broiler! And when it’s done, you can cut big slabs of it and eat them with your bare hands! (You can also use a fork.)

Are you sold yet?

Here’s the scoop:

Whisk eight eggs with some cream or half and half (I used about ¼ cup total), plus salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if you like some heat.

Chop your tomatoes, kale, onions, and garlic.

Now turn your oven to broil and let it heat up. While that’s happening, put the cast iron skillet on the stove over medium heat with a generous pour of olive oil. Spread that oil up along the sides of the pan too.

Throw in the chopped onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden and soft. Then comes the garlic and kale; let the garlic get a little golden and the kale wilt a tad. In go the tomatoes for a quick stir-round before topping the whole crew with grated cheese.

Fun fact: In addition to grated cheese, we added a sprinkle of failed homemade cheese. Those curdy bits that look sort of like crumbled feta? Those were supposed to become fresh mozzarella balls, but they never graduated from the curdled milk stage. So we salted up that curdled milk and called it a feta-like substance. Resourceful, and a little suspect!

Anyway, you should probably go with feta.

Now it’s time to pour in all those eggs.

Once they’re in, leave them be until you see the edges are set. This’ll take about five minutes. Then the skillet goes into the oven to broil for six to nine minutes. Monitor the bake and pull the skillet out when the top is set and golden.

Top that hot egg cake with more cheese, per usual, and that’s it. It’s rustic, low fuss. Makes me feel like a countrywoman—but instead of collecting fresh eggs from the barn while wearing a flowery sundress, I’m hastily grabbing a carton of them from the dairy case at Lund’s while wearing a face mask. What a time to be alive!

What a time to make a frittata.