Caramelized Sweet Potato, Red Pepper and Feta Frittata

The wild onions are in the fridge and I have been cooking with them all week — in scrambled eggs every morning, in a soup I made Tuesday with venison broth and dried corn and the onions added at the last minute, in an omelet I made Thursday that had cheese and dried chile and green onion and was not particularly Cherokee but used what was available and tasted good. This is how seasonal ingredients work: you use them while they are present, in everything, until they are gone, and then you wait a year for them to come back. There is a discipline in that I find calming. The food teaches you to be patient with time.

Kai has decided that wild onions are his favorite food. He announced this at breakfast Wednesday with the same conviction he brought to announcing he would be a soup cook. He may be three years old but his opinions are fixed and clear and he is willing to defend them. When I asked him why wild onions were his favorite food, he said: "Because we picked them." That is not nothing. That is actually the whole philosophy of local, seasonal, indigenous eating distilled to six words by a three-year-old. Hannah and I looked at each other over his head.

Danny's breathing has been more labored this week, Terry told me when I called Sunday. Not a crisis — just a bad stretch, the kind that comes and goes, the kind the doctors told us to expect. He is managing it at home. The oxygen is at the higher setting. Terry sounds tired in the particular way that caregivers sound tired, which is not the tired of not having slept but the tired of constant vigilance, of always having one part of your attention on the sound of someone else's breathing.

I drove out Monday morning before work and spent an hour with Danny. He was awake and alert, just laboring harder to breathe. We talked about the wild onion gathering — I had not told him the full story yet, just left the plate. I told him about Kai's frog discovery, about the thirty families in the flood plain, about Luna riding in the carrier. He listened with his eyes half-closed and he smiled twice. That was enough. Some mornings are just for listening and smiling and being still.

The omelet I made Thursday — cheese, dried chile, green onion, whatever was at hand — was proof that eggs are the most honest vehicle for seasonal cooking. They take on whatever you give them without complaint. When I thought about writing up something from this week, a frittata felt right: it has that same generous quality, that same willingness to hold whatever the season offers, and it is the kind of thing you can set on the table and slice into while Kai announces his opinions about food and Danny listens to a story with his eyes half-closed and the whole morning slows down just enough to matter.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 4–6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced small (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup sliced green onions or wild onions (about 4–5 stalks)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 large eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro, roughly chopped (for serving)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Set your oven to 375°F (190°C) and position a rack in the center.
Caramelize the sweet potato. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 10-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the diced sweet potato in a single layer, season with salt and pepper, and cook without stirring for 4–5 minutes until the edges begin to caramelize. Stir and continue cooking another 4–5 minutes until the sweet potato is tender and deeply golden. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Soften the pepper and onion. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet. Add the red bell pepper and onions and cook over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Combine the vegetables. Return the caramelized sweet potato to the skillet and stir everything together. Spread into an even layer and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Make the egg mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until fully combined. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper.
Pour and top. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the vegetables in the skillet. Let it sit undisturbed on the stovetop for 2–3 minutes until the edges just begin to set. Scatter the crumbled feta evenly over the top.
Bake. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 14–18 minutes, until the center is just set and no longer jiggles when the pan is gently shaken. The top should be lightly golden.
Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes before slicing. Scatter fresh parsley or cilantro over the top. Slice into wedges and serve directly from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Caramelized Sweet Potato, Red Pepper and Feta Frittata — When the Wild Onions Are in the Fridge and Everything Goes Into Eggs