Kitchen Sink Dinner

I conceived of the idea of making a frittata (basically a crustless quiche) last night as a way to use up vegetables we have left in our fridge before our vacation. (They'll rot while we're on vacation if I don't use them up.) Apparently, I'm the 8-billionth person to come up with this idea, as nearly every recipe site I visited to look at recipes discussed the history of the frittata as a way to use up vegetables, bread, or even pasta!

Here's what I made--which I'm calling my "Kitchen Sink Frittata" based on the saying "everything but the kitchen sink." I am not certain of the origin of the phrase, but I have heard it is from WWII when Americans were supposed to be exceedingly careful about their use of metal in their homes, because the military could potentially need from Americans' houses "everything but the kitchen sink" (the sink being ceramic). I don't know if that saying exists outside the US, but you should definitely try making a frittata with whatever you have on hand. . . . As a side note for you omnivores, we had a dinner guest who is a real lover of meat (he orders steak nearly every time we eat out with him), and he loved this meat-less meal.

I use organic and local ingredients wherever possible.

Kitchen Sink Frittata

Serves 6 (or 4 as a full meal)

1 bunch of spinach
1 yellow onion
2 tsp. olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 zucchini
~3 T of sun-dried tomato pieces
8 eggs
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. crumbled feta
1/4 c. cheddar
salt
pepper
paprika

I washed the spinach well and washed and chopped the onion. Because spinach releases so much water when it's heated, I sauteed the onion for a couple of minutes and then tossed in the spinach to steam out some of the water for 3-4 minutes. I chopped the garlic and zucchini and threw it in the last minute or so of the spinach cooking.

I turned that eye off and left the veggie mix in it.

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees.

I cracked the eggs into a large bowl, whisked them well, added the sundried tomatoes, cheeses, and seasonings, and whisked again. I sprayed with cooking spray and heated an oven-proof skillet (a seasoned cast-iron one, in my case) on medium heat. When it was hot, I added the veggie mix to it. Then I immediately poured the egg mixture on top. I used a spatula to lift the spinach bits to let egg swirl throughout. When the frittata was about half set, I carefully transferred it to the hot oven to finish cooking in about 15 minutes.

To go with the frittata slices, I served fresh snap peas quickly sauteed in sesame oil with lots of garlic and a bit of Bragg's on top.

It was a delicious, easy meal.