Breakfast for Dinner: Stovetop Frittata

Breakfast for dinner – am I the only one who does this? (Don’t break it to me if I am.) For us, Thursday tends to be the night. Everyone’s tired from a week of work, the house has given up all pretense of the almost-clean it achieved the weekend before, and anything easy sounds good.

Last week I made this stovetop frittata, and French toast. I confess that the kids were not as interested in the egg dish as they were in the syrup-delivery dish. 

 
Frittata is a basic whatever-you-have-in-the-house dish. Add diced meat and cook the eggs sunnyside on top, and you have a skillet hash.


Stovetop Frittata with Spinach and Broccoli (vegetarian)

- 1 medium package hashbrown-cut potatoes, browned and kept warm (I used frozen, because we had some on hand, but any type of potato, browned, will do. Cut it into small enough pieces and it will cook quickly.)
- oil or spray oil for cooking
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- ½ red or green bell pepper, diced
- About ¾c to 1 cup of frozen spinach, cooked about halfway done, drained and dried between paper towels. You want enough to make it green, but not enough to overwhelm the flavor
- About ¾ cup broccoli, cooked about halfway done
- Grated cheese, whatever you have on hand (mild chedder, Colby, etc.) You’ll just need enough to flavor the top of the frittata, about 1/4  cup. Low fat is fine (non-fat is an abomination.)
- 2 small or 1 large roma tomato
- 6 eggs (Egg beaters would also be fine, or a mix of both)
- (optional) meat substitute. I added about 2 oz. Gimme Lean Sausage, mostly for the flavor.
- (optional) seasonings of your choice, if you don’t use something like sausage substitute. I'd use marjoram and thyme. (I just realized that I use marjoram about 5 times a week. Not sure if other people love it the way I do, so suit yourself on this step.)
- Salt and pepper

In a large skillet (I used a 10” cast iron) sauté onion, garlic, and bell pepper until softened. Add the cooked, warm potatoes and stir. Add the well-drained spinach and broccoli. Stir together and add seasonings. Cover and allow flavors to blend for 2 or 3 minutes until mixture is bubbly and warm.

In a small bowl or mixing cup, slightly whisk the eggs, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Lower the heat to low or medium low, so that the mixture stays warm but bottom does not get too brown. Smooth the top of the mixture in the pan and pour the eggs on top. Cover and allow to cook for about 2 minutes, checking for doneness. (Note, if the eggs are not cooking through, stir eggs into the mixture, cover the pan, and wait another minute or two for eggs to set. biting into raw eggs = gross!)

When eggs are nearly done, add the sliced roma tomatoes in an attractive pattern on top and sprinkle cheese over that. Cover and cook until cheese melts.

Serves 4 with leftovers