TL;DR: For when you have stuff laying around and you need delicious sustenance ASAP, you need a frittata.

Ahhhh the frittata.  That fluffy, splendorous voltron of eggs, veggies, cheese.  Such a stellar way to turn last night’s leftovers and whatever else is in the fridge into something unreasonably luxurious and satisfying.  Of course you could just make scrambled eggs, or an omelette, but there’s something about a frittata that provides little more firepower to clear the cobwebs.  Plus, it’s great for when you have company because you don’t have to be as careful and attentive as you would with scrambled eggs or omelettes, and you’ll get more oohs and ahhs when it hits the table, promise.

For this frittata, I used leftover mushroom and bell pepper pasta sauce, chopped scallions, minced jalapeños, and shaved parmesan cheese.  To make it, it’s as simple as cooking eggs until loosely set, then folding in these items, cooking till almost set, then finishing in the broiler to get that nice brown & sizzling action on the top.  Just a little bit of layering and positioning of the veggies and cheese makes the whole thing look a lot more labored and exquisite than the the effort required.

Tip: Just use whatever you got.

Don’t worry if you don’t have the exact ingredients in this recipe.  In fact, part of the fun of this dish is that you get to add whatever you have around or whatever you enjoy eating and not have to fuss too much about stuff.  Some other great veggies that go nicely in frittatas: mushrooms, onions,  zucchinis, bell peppers, roasted asparagus, cherry tomatoes, salsa, so on and so forth.  Also if you don’t have parmesan, any nice melting cheese will work great on here, like gruyere or cheddar.

Important: if using frozen or very cold veggies either thaw them first or heat them in the pan before adding the eggs. Otherwise they’ll slow the setting of the eggs or worse, end up being cold pieces in the frittata.

Alternatively, if you have the time and the inclination, you could (and probably should) use fresh veggies and make this thing from scratch.  Here’s a short video of the mighty Gordon Ramsay showing the process of making his frittata.  If you don’t eat meat, you could swap the bacon in his recipe with veggie bacon or omit it altogether.

The Process: Eggs and veggies in pan until happy, then under broiler until thrilled.

Add butter to pan, then lightly scrambled eggs/cream, then fold in sauce, veggies, cheese and herbs.  Cook until eggs are lightly set, then put under the broiler.

Broil until browned to your liking and get this thing out of there.

Finish with another sprinkling of fresh herbs, scallions, and MOAR cheese.  Slice like a pizza and serve.