Monday 20 August 2012

Summer vegetable frittata

Meals made from leftovers are often the best. Every ingredient in tonight's tea except for the eggs was originally bought for Sunday dinner, a slow roasted shoulder of lamb lightened up a bit with some seasonal vegetables.

The lamb was a great success, but then I knew it would be. The amount of fat on a shoulder makes it a very forgiving cut. Bung it in a pot with rosemary, garlic and onions, then stick it in the oven for anything from two and a half to four hours; - precise timing is hardly crucial.


What came as a surprise was how much I enjoyed tonight's frittata. All of the previous night's vegetables, lightly bound with eggs, seasoned with parmesan and pepper, and livened up a bit with lemon zest and parsley. We ate it cut it into thick wedges while still warm with just a green salad and tomatoes. A light, bright meal for a muggy August day.

Serves two to three as a main meal with salad, but would also be good cold cut into slices for a picnic. Next year I'll make it earlier in summer with the newest beans and asparagus.

What you'll need:

6 eggs
4 spring onions
very small clove garlic
small handful shelled broad beans
small handful freshly shelled peas (or frozen will do)
half a courgette
half an ear of sweetcorn
1 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
zest of 1 lemon
handful flat leaf parsley
salt and black pepper
light olive oil


What to do:

1. Finely chop the spring onions and garlic. Chop the courgette into small dice. Cut the sweetcorn off the ear. Set the oven to 170 deg C.

2. Heat up a little olive oil in a pan, then saute the vegetables until al dente. Put the spring onions in first, then the courgette, garlic, beans, sweetcorn and finally the peas. Don't let them brown.

3. While the veggies are cooking lightly beat the eggs, then season generously with black pepper and just a little salt. Throw in the parmesan and lemon zest, then finely chop the parsley and add that too.

4. Line an 8 inch loaf tin with baking parchment, then add the just cooked vegetables. Pour over the egg mixture then put in the oven.

5. Bake until the eggs are just set and it's lightly browned on top. Mine took around 25 minutes. Check for doneness with a skewer, it should come out clean without any wet egg mixture on it (like with a cake).

6. When it's done leave to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin and slicing to serve.

 

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