Savory Sunday: Asparagus and Portabello Frittata with Potato “Crust”

Yes, I know it’s not Sunday.  My schedule was thrown off a little by making large amounts of tiny food for a baby shower this weekend.  Oops.

I love frittatas.  Let me count the ways:

1. Fantastic for using up bits of leftover veggies, meats, cheese, etc in the fridge.

2.  Super fast, super easy weeknight dinner.

3.  Leftovers are great, hot or cold.

4.  Can be wonderful for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, with just a salad and maybe a glass of wine.

5.  So simple, but can be fancy enough for company.

Is that enough convincing for you?  I make frittatas all the time for family members who claim to not even like eggs, and they always love a good frittata.

I love potatoes in a frittata (maybe it reminds me of a Spanish tortilla), and for this one I thought I’d try and see how they would work, thinly sliced, as a kind of a fake crust.  And it actually worked!  Imagine that.

Anyway, here’s what you need:

Portabello (or any other kind) mushrooms, red potatoes, olive oil, asparagus, eggs, Gruyère (or Swiss) cheese, butter, parsley, green onions, and salt and pepper.

First, these veggies need to get smaller.  Now, I wanted to be all fancy and use some of the veggies to make a little design on top of my finished dish, but if you don’t care about that, by all means, don’t worry.  Totally unnecessary.

Chop up your mushrooms, asparagus, and green onions into a somewhat large dice.  Leave a few asparagus stalks whole and a few portabello slices nice and whole if you want to make something pretty on top. Then slice the potatoes nice and thinly.

Then I just sauteed the veggies in some butter and olive oil in my new oven-safe pan.  Before I had an oven-safe skillet, I would just get everything prepared and then put it all into a pie plate with the eggs and stuff to put it into the oven.

Once your veggies are all sauteed, transfer them to a paper-towel-lined plate, both to drain some of the liquid that comes off and also to get them out of the way to make room for the potato “crust”.  That’s important stuff.

Just add a little more olive oil and/or butter and then arrange the potato slices, slightly overlapping each other, all over to completely cover the pan.

Let ‘em sit there for long enough to get the bottom to a golden brown, by which point they should be all cooked through and will kind of stick together in a mass.

Then combine the veggies with the eggs and…

cheese!

Get it all good and combined and then pour it over the potatoes, being careful not to disturb them.

Then, if you want, arrange a few bigger pieces of veggies on top to make it look pretty.

Let it cook a bit in the pan, just until the edges of the eggs start to set up, and then transfer it to the oven.

And after shockingly few minutes….

ta daaaa!

Let it cool for just a few minutes, and then it should be able to just slide right out of the pan so you can easily slice it into wedges.

See?  Potato fake crust!

Just slice into biggish wedges and serve with a lightly dressed spinach salad and there you go!  Dinner in about 30 minutes.  Bam.

Ready…bake!

~SWB

Asparagus and Portabello Frittata with Potato “Crust”

serves 4

3 whole eggs and 4 egg whites

2 green onions, chopped

10-12 asparagus spears, 4-5 left whole if desired

2 portabello mushroom caps, chopped, 4-5 long slices left whole, if desired

2-3 red potatoes, thinly sliced

2 Tb butter

2 Tb olive oil

2 Tb chopped fresh parsley

3/4 c. grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400°.  Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tb each of the olive oil and butter.  Add the green onions, asparagus, and mushrooms and saute until cooked through.  Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.

Add the remaining butter and olive oil to the pan and, once melted, add the potatoes, overlapping, in a layer to completely cover the pan, coming up the sides a bit.  Cook without moving, occasionally pressing down with a spatula, for 3-4 minutes or until golden and crisp on the bottom and somewhat sticking together in a mass.  Reserve larger pieces of veggies, if desired, and combine the rest of the cooked vegetables with the eggs, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the mixture over the potatoes in the pan, being careful not to disturb the crust.  Arrange the larger pieces of veggies on the top in a decorative pattern, if desired.  Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the eggs are just starting to set up around the edges of the pan.  Transfer to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the center doesn’t jiggle when you wiggle the pan.  Allow to cool 2-3 minutes in the pan, then slide out onto a cutting board and slice into wedges and serve.

 Printable Recipe