Italian Frittata

by | May 15, 2020 | General, Recipes

Finished Frittata

Voila! A frittata

One of my favorite pantry items (stored in the refrigerator) has become JUST Egg. It is so versatile and enables me to quickly whip up breakfast for dinner, or any time of day, for that matter, including breakfast.

Back in the day when quiche was in vogue, I have to admit to jumping on that band wagon. But, being of Italian heritage, I also never allowed myself to stray far from a good, hearty Italian Frittata, basically a quiche without the crust.

But before JUST came out the with their JUST Egg, product, and since becoming vegan 13 years ago, frittatas were mediocre at best, using some variation of tofu and chick-pea flour with turmeric and/or saffron, or similar concoctions to create something akin to an egg custard that would envelope those lovely sautéed veggies and plant-based cheese product.

I no longer feel deprived. JUST Egg has seen to that. Now, in full disclosure, I receive nothing from that company. They are in no way sponsoring me to write this blog. This is purely out of my own love for frittatas that I am writing this blog.

Hence, on to making a frittata

Leftover veggies work well here. Heck, I’ve even used left over spaghetti, gravy or not. Trust me, leftover spaghetti is truly a delight in a frittata, and a welcome surprise to someone not expecting it. Even beans would work well. It’s one of those dishes where you can use up whatever you need to that’s hanging out in your refrigerator/pantry.

Preheat your oven to 385°F. Prepare a 9”x12” casserole pan with a light coating of oil or plant-based butter.

Prepped ingredients

Prepped ingredients

For today’s frittata, I had some leftover roasted potatoes from last night’s dinner that I cut up into smaller pieces. I had a lone yellow squash, a green pepper, and a handful of baby bella mushrooms that were begging to be used today, but no later than tomorrow. I sautéed the veggies with an onion and garlic. Set aside.

I didn’t have any plant-based grated cheese (well, to be honest, I’m not really all that fond of the ones that are available in grocery stores); but I did have some Field Roast Chao cheese (again, no sponsorship here) that I diced up. You could certainly use nutritional yeast; and it will be equally delightful.

Sprinkle the veggies into the prepared pan, then do the same with the potatoes, followed by the cheese.

oven ready frittata

Ready for the oven

Sprinkle with a scant touch of kala namak, that black Indian sea salt which is actually more pink but definitely not black. It has a very high sulphur content, which helps to make any food taste more egg-like.

Pour the JUST Egg over the mixture to barely cover. You can add some plant-based milk, if you’d like, but with the moisture from the veggies, I didn’t add any additional liquid.

Bake until set and the top get a lovely ‘crust’, which takes about 30-35 minutes, depending on how deep your frittata is.

You can serve immediately but it also parks wells for reheating, eating cold straight out of the frig, or freezing in individual portion servings for a later date.