Hakuna Fritatta

What a wonderful phrase....Hakuna Fritatta means no passing phase.  It means no worr-ies for the rest of your daaaaays.  It's our problem free.....philosophy...Hakuna Fritatta!

Ok.  So I know its Hakuna Matata.  When Blockette was a wee little lass, I made a fritatta for dinner for the first time.  I wasn't sure how it would be received, so I told her we were having Hakuna Fritatta for dinner.  And yes.  I did sing the entire song. 

It was a huge hit!  (The food, not my singing.) So the name just stuck, and we've called it that ever since.

I thought I had posted about it ages ago, but apparently, I was mistaken.

Fritattas are such a quick and easy meal, and a great way to use up leftovers.  The only things you really need to make one are eggs and an oven safe frying pan.  The rest is up to you!

Here are a few ingredient suggestions:
shredded potatoes
garlic
onions
ham
bacon
sausage
cheese
broccoli
peas
garlic
milk
paprika
mustard
hot sauce
fresh or dried herbs

I use a 12" skillet and 8-12 eggs, depending on how many leftovers I want.  (Yes! Fritattas make great leftovers.  They even taste good cold!)  A 10" skillet is fine too.  If you are going to use a 10" skillet, I suggest using 6-8 eggs.  I used 8 eggs in a 12" skillet for today's fritatta.
 
If you have uncooked ingredients, saute them in your skillet until they are cooked to your liking.

For this fritatta, I used leftover potatoes, garlic and onions, and 3 diced precooked cheese bratts.  I tossed them with 1 T of olive oil and cooked them over medium heat until the bratts began to turn dark brown and caramelized.  (About 5 minutes.) Once the bratts were browned, I tossed in a few handfuls of frozen peas

While your ingredients are cooking, either preheat your oven to 400F or turn on your broiler.  As your add ins are cooking/warming and the oven is heating up, crack the eggs in a large bowl and whisk them together.  Add milk, cheese and any desired spices.  For this fritatta, I used 3 splashes of fat free milk, pre shredded pepper jack cheese, a few grinds of black pepper and 10 drops of hot sauce.

Over medium high heat, pour the egg mixture into the pan over the cooked/warmed add ins.  Cook the eggs for 4-5 minutes.  I like to lift the edges up and let the uncooked egg pour under the cooked part.  This speeds things up a bit, but is not necessary.  You can just leave the whole thing alone if you like.

After 4 minutes your fritatta will look something like this:

The bottom and edges are set and the top is no longer liquidy.  The eggs are still a bit runny, and not fully set.

To cook the eggs the rest of the way you can either bake them for 3-4 minutes under the broiler, or at 400F for 12 minutes.  My family prefers the 12 minute version.  With the broiler version, if you don't keep a close eye on the eggs they can go from lightly browned to dark brown very quickly. I will use the broiler version if I'm really pressed for time and watch the eggs like a hawk.  With the 12 min version I have time to do other meal related things like: make a salad, make toast, cut up fruit, pour beverages, etc

Here is what the fritatta looks like after 12 min at 400F:

The edges are light brown and have pulled away from the sides of the pan.

At this point you have two options for removing it from the pan.  You can flip the whole thing out over a cutting board, like you would remove a cake from a pan.  Most of the time we either melt our plastic cutting board or the fritatta falls out and breaks.  I prefer to cut the fritatta and remove it from the pan in individual slices, as you would for a pie.

Typically, for an 8 egg fritatta, I will cut it into 6 slices.  If I use 10 or more eggs, I'll slice it into eighths.

And that's how I make a fritatta.  It's a neat economical dish that looks like it took much more time and effort than you put into it!