Dill. Dill is one of my best friends when it comes to cooking. It loves so many of it's other food buddies. I recently made a fantastic potato salad inspired by Molly Wizenberg's recipe in her new book A Homemade Life. She mentions, that while some folks either make potato salad with a thick mayo dressing and others a light verison with vinagrette and dill, her father made it with mayo and dill. And what a happy combination it was! How easily dill can please the palate.
While dill just loves potatoes, it also loves eggs. And fortunately for me, I am a fan of eggs. One of my favorite things to make for brunch on a lazy Sunday is a frittata. They are so simple to make and hearty to eat, that one should never pass up the chance to learn how to make one. For me frittatas are an easy way to pack in my daily dose of vegetables as well. I've made mine with roasted peppers, potatoes, broccoli and spinach, just to name a few variations.
I first learned how to make a frittata from Ina Garten's Food Network show Back to Basics. She had sauted some onions and peppers with some chunks of potatoes before adding her eggs and cheese and putting the whole pan into the oven. The finished product looked amazing and I vowed to make my own that day.
As I've said, I've made many variations of her frittata; some I've loved, and some were just okay. But today on this lovely spring day, I think I've made my best frittata yet! I like to call it my Spring Frittata, because of it's light, airy flavours. It's packed with soft chunks of potato, handfuls of baby spinach and loads of fresh dill. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect brunch.
So here is my recipe as follows (although to be honest, I'm more a "pinch of this, dash of that" kind of gal, so please excuse the "ishes" thoughout the recipe):
Spring Frittata (for two):
about 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 a small onion, roughly chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small-ish thin-skinned potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small-ish chunks
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli pepper flakes
pinch or two of salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 handfuls baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 large handful fresh dill, roughly chopped
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon freshlysh grated black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon aged raw milk cheddar, shredded (optional)
1. preheat oven to 300 degrees Fareinheit
2. add oil to a medium sized cast iron pan or other oven proof pan and heat at medium high
3. add onions and lower heat to low, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes or until soft
4. add garlic and chili pepper flakes, stirring frequently for about 30 seconds and then add potatoes, salt and paprika
5. stir well to coat potatoes and bring heat back up to low medium- medium heat
6. stir occasionally to promote even cooking for about 8-10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender
7. meanwhile as potatoes cook, crack all four eggs into a bowl and beat well; add salt, pepper and water and continue beating until combined well
8. when potatoes are fork tender, turn off heat and add spinach, stirring it into the potato to promote spinach to wilt slightly
9. add fresh dill evenly over potatoes and spinach
10. pour the egg mixture into the pan and turn pan to make sure the egg mixture makes it into all of the crevices
11. put the pan into preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes until egg has risen and has reached a golden colour
12. if you are adding cheese, remove the pan from oven 2-5 minutes before it is done and sprinkle with cheddar and then return to oven for the last few minutes to melt
So there it is, my perfected frittata recipe. I hope that you enjoy it!
