Frittata Recipe — The Christmas-Leftover Breakfast for the Quiet Week Between

Day eighty of ninety. Ten to go. We are in the suspended week between Christmas and New Year’s, where the calendar has gone soft and the hours all feel the same, and underneath the soft week the sentencing is on the calendar on the kitchen wall in red marker for Monday January ninth at ten o’clock at the Tulsa County Courthouse on Denver Avenue.

The date moved this week. Mrs. Patel called Tuesday afternoon to tell us. The hearing had been scheduled for January sixth, and the judge had a scheduling conflict, and the hearing got pushed to January ninth, three days later. It is three days. It does not change the outcome. But Mama hung up the phone after that call and stood in the kitchen for about a minute without saying anything, because the moving of the date felt like the kind of small reminder that none of the bigger things are settled yet, that the deferred is still hopeful and not certain, that we still have ten days of being people who are waiting before we get to be people who know.

So we are quiet. The Christmas tree is still up because nobody has had the energy to take it down. The presents are unwrapped and put away. The leftovers are mostly gone. Mama’s new work shoes are by the front door — she has worn them every day since Christmas morning and says they have changed the way her feet feel at the end of a shift. Cody’s book is on his nightstand, bookmark on page sixty. My green hat is on my head as I write this because the morning is twenty-eight degrees outside and the kitchen is cold.

The frittata I want to tell you about happened Wednesday morning because we had eight eggs in the fridge that needed to be used before they expired, and because the half of a red bell pepper from the holiday salad and the small handful of chopped ham from the Christmas dinner were both still in the fridge, and because a frittata is the kind of dish that turns whatever you have on hand into a meal worth sitting down at the table for.

The recipe was a Cafe Delites version of the basic frittata technique. The math: zero cost beyond what was already in the fridge. Eight large eggs (about $0.65 worth from the carton), a splash of milk, salt, pepper, half a leftover red bell pepper diced, a handful of green onions from the small pot on the kitchen windowsill (which Mama had stuck back in May and which has regrown twice), a half cup of chopped leftover Christmas ham, a quarter cup of shredded mexican blend cheese from the bag in the fridge. Two tablespoons of olive oil. Total ingredients I had to buy: nothing. The frittata cost the household a few cents in already-purchased ingredients.

The technique is the part I want to write down, because frittatas are one of those dishes that I avoided for a year because I assumed they were harder than they actually are. The wall is paper. Always.

You start by sauteeing the vegetables in an oven-safe skillet (we use the cast iron) over medium heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. The bell pepper goes in first for three minutes, then the green onions for thirty seconds, then the chopped ham for one minute just to warm it through. While that is happening, you whisk the eight eggs in a bowl with a splash of milk (about two tablespoons), a half teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of black pepper.

You pour the egg mixture over the vegetables in the skillet. You do not stir. You let the eggs set on the stove for two full minutes — the bottom firms up and the edges start to pull away. Then you sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top, and you slide the whole skillet under the broiler for three minutes. The broiler puffs the eggs and browns the cheese. The top goes golden. The frittata sets into a single thick disk.

You let it cool for two minutes. You slide a spatula around the edge to loosen, then slide the whole frittata onto a plate. You cut it into wedges, like a pie.

I served it Wednesday morning at eight with toast. Cody had two wedges. Mama had one. We sat at the kitchen table in our robes for an hour. The radio in the kitchen was on quiet. The kitchen window looked out at the Hendersons’ yard, where the small Christmas lights were still up. Mama was reading the morning paper. Cody was reading The Grapes of Wrath with his coffee.

I did not say very much because the household has gone quiet in the lead-up to Monday, and the quiet is not bad. The quiet is the quiet of a thing being held very carefully because it could break. I have decided I am going to stop writing about the sentencing in detail for the rest of this week, because I have written about it enough already, and because the writing is starting to feel like its own kind of pacing back and forth, and because the cooking is the only useful thing I can do with my hands until Monday morning at ten.

The frittata is the recipe. The morning was the morning. Day eighty. Ten to go. We are still here.

The recipe is below, the way Cafe Delites wrote it. The trick I want you to keep is the broiler step — do not skip it. Frittatas finished in the broiler are puffed and golden in a way that frittatas finished only on the stovetop never are. Use whatever vegetables and protein and cheese you have in the fridge. The basic ratio is eight eggs to about a cup and a half of mix-ins. The frittata holds up however you fill it.

Frittata Recipe

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

Ingredients

• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk or heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup diced vegetables of choice (bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, or spinach)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, Gruyère, or mozzarella)
• Optional: 1/2 cup diced cooked meat (sausage, ham, or bacon)
• Fresh herbs for garnish (parsley or chives)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Set your oven to 400°F. Position a rack in the center.
2. Whisk the eggs. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper until fully combined and slightly frothy. Set aside.
3. Sauté the fillings. Heat an oven-safe 10-inch skillet (cast iron works best) over medium heat. Add the olive oil, then the onion and any other vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–7 minutes until softened and any moisture has cooked off. If using cooked meat, stir it in now and heat through for 1 minute.
4. Add the egg mixture. Spread the fillings evenly across the skillet. Pour the egg mixture over the top, gently shaking the pan so the eggs settle around the fillings. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the surface.
5. Cook on the stovetop briefly. Let the frittata cook undisturbed over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, just until the edges begin to set and pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.
6. Finish in the oven. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and bake for 10–13 minutes, until the center is just set and no longer jiggles when you gently shake the pan. The top should be lightly golden.
7. Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing into wedges. Garnish with fresh herbs. Serve warm directly from the skillet.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 280 | Protein: 19g | Fat: 20g | Carbs: 5g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 420mg