Hail the Humble Frittata

No matter how fancy I try to get in the kitchen, in the end I am what used to be called "a good plain cook." But I must admit, I'm pretty adept at whipping up comfort food, particularly at this time of year. Roasted sausage with peppers and polenta, pasta with pancetta, greens and white beans, and a recent meal I served up: a lovely frittata rounded out with a green salad and homemade bread.

This one came about at the end of a long day. I was tired, and nothing was defrosted, but I didn't particularly feel like pizza or Chinese take-out. In the refrigerator were some leftover roasted potatoes with carmelized onions and a package of fresh mozzerella. Since I have a serious breakfast habit, I always have eggs on hand; ditto Progresso bread crumbs, a staple no Italian kitchen is ever without. I sliced the potatoes thin, estimated how much cheese to slice (then added six more slices) and scrambled up some eggs with freshly ground pepper, salt, grated Parm, and the flavored crumbs, making sure to get every last piece of sweet browned onions in there. I started it on the stove in the cast iron pan you see above, and finished it off in the oven. While it set up, I threw together a salad and warmed up half a loaf of bread. With a glass of strong red wine, that meal was nirvana. And I put it together in just about the time it would have taken me to get to the pizza place and back. Brava, buona frittata!

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