Feta, Red Pepper — and Herb Frittata — Simple Cooking for the Week You Finally Feel Like You Belong

Second week at the clinic. I am starting to know my way around. I have a schedule template. I have favorite exam rooms. I know which of the EMR screens are the ones I use and which are the ones I ignore. Dr. Rashid has given me a panel of patients — people I will follow longitudinally. My first panel is fifty patients. I will grow it to two hundred over the next year.

A Friday patient — a forty-two-year-old woman with a new diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes — cried in the exam room. She said she was scared. She said her mother had lost a foot to diabetes. She said she did not want to lose a foot. I sat down across from her. I took her hand. I said "you are going to do the work. We are going to do the work together. You are not going to lose a foot. You are going to live well." She said "really." I said "yes. We are going to plan this. You have me." She stopped crying. She left the visit with a meter, a referral to nutrition, a statin, a metformin script, and a follow-up in two weeks. This is community medicine. I am doing it.

I roasted a chicken Sunday. The simple one. It came out well. Liam ate a leg. Nora ate the skin. I ate the wings and half the breast. The rest became soup Monday.

The roast chicken on Sunday was the thing that made the week feel real — like I actually lived here now, in this schedule, in this life. But by Tuesday the carcass was soup, and by midweek I needed something fast and uncomplicated that still felt like I had made an effort. That’s when I keep coming back to this frittata. Feta, red pepper, fresh herbs — it’s the kind of meal that asks almost nothing of you and gives a lot back, which is exactly what I needed after sitting across from a scared woman and making a promise I intended to keep.

Feta, Red Pepper, and Herb Frittata

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, snipped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Set your oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack positioned in the center.
2. Whisk the eggs. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and black pepper until smooth and uniform. Set aside.
3. Sauté the vegetables. Heat olive oil in a 10-inch oven-safe skillet (cast iron works best) over medium heat. Add the onion and red bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes until softened and the pepper edges begin to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more until fragrant.
4. Add the egg mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the vegetables. Let it cook undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to set but the center is still loose.
5. Add the toppings. Scatter the crumbled feta evenly over the surface, then sprinkle with parsley, thyme, and chives.
6. Bake. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the center is fully set and no longer jiggles when you nudge the pan. The top should be lightly golden.
7. Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes before slicing into wedges. Serve directly from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 285 | Protein: 18g | Fat: 21g | Carbs: 6g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 560mg