Recipe: Good-For-You-Greens Frittata

It was a Saturday and I wanted to make something. Not my usual oatmeal or (whole wheat, dairy-free) pancakes or veggie scrambles. Something new to me and pretty. I had in mind a recipe for a Cilantro Quiche a classmate of mine had beautifully blogged about. I had the cookbook from where she got the recipe, and checked it out. Looked awesome but I just didn't have that much time. On the opposite page was a recipe for a Potato Frittata (not an entirely new concept, but one I don't do often). Now, mind you I can't follow a recipe for the life of me. It's not so much that I can't even, it's just that my inner creative cook refuses to not experiment. (My favorite moment of the cooking process was when I handed my boyfriend the recipe to read to me: Him: "Uh, where're the potatoes?" me: "That's not the point. :) ". Him: "wait, this recipe doesn't even use the oven?!" me: "Guess not, but if it's a frittata, we have to use the oven...ok, we'll use the oven." ) And so we have this lovely delicious and easy recipe for a Good-For-You-Greens Frittata. Make for friends or make just for you. *It stores well in the fridge overnight, just heat in the oven the next day.

By the way, how do you like my new kettle?? Seeing as I boil water at least four times a day, I thought I'd get a pretty one. :) It makes me incredibly happy. Ah, the simple things in life.

Serves 3-4. 

Inspired by "Potato Frittata" by Amadea Morningstar from Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners.  

5 large organic free-range eggs

1 1/2 T olive oil 

1/2 c chopped onion

4 leaves of rainbow chard. 

--> de-vein and chop stocks into 1/2 inch pieces. Chop leaves into short ribbons. Keep stalks & leaves separate. 

1 zucchini, ends removed then grated (can be chopped finely if you don't have a grater)

 1/8 c finely chopped herbs : I used 2 parts cilantro to 1 part flat leaf parsley

salt & pepper

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Crack eggs, add dash of salt & pepper, add chopped herbs: Mix well and set aside. In a large oven-safe pan, saute onion & chard stalks in olive oil with dash salt & pepper over medium heat on the stove. Once onions are soft, but not brown, add zucchini and chard ribbons. Combine well. Add 2 tablespoons water and a touch more oil if needed. Stir often for 4 minutes or so, or until chard looks soft and zucchini has sweat & excess moisture has burned off. There should not be any remaining liquid at the bottom of the pan. Spread the vegetable mixture out on the bottom of the pan. Pour egg mixture (eggs, herbs, salt & pepper) over the vegetables mixture and stir until vegetables are well distributed within the egg. Carefully put the pan in the oven, removing when top is firm at the center of the pan. Alternatively, you can cover the pan over low heat on the stove and again wait for the frittata to firm. Normally, this is when you would flip the frittata after allowing it to rest for a minute. As you can see from the photo above, this is pre-flip, and could be easily served as is or possibly even slid out of the pan and onto a plate. I serve this with toast with ghee and then again with roasted sweet potatoes.

• Vata: very good. Some say that eggs in excess can aggravata vata, but in small amounts they actually calm vata. 
• Pitta: Eggs, like meat, raise Pitta, but overall, this dish soothes pitta with it's cooling zucchini, chard and cooked onions. Be sure not to use too much salt, pepper or parsley. 
• Kapha: ok. Zucchini is alright for occasional use. This recipe could be made more kapha-friendly by substituting spinach or summer squash for the zucchini.