Italian Sausage Frittata

I have to share a kind of embarrassing fact with you guys: I am a terrible omelet-maker (and crepe-maker, for that matter.) I would love to be able to make omelets well because I like to eat them, but mine end up very ugly and falling-apart-y and often runny on the inside. And when I say “often,” I mean “pretty much always,” and that, unfortunately, does not help with my complicated egg aversion.

So my answer to all my omelet problems are frittatas. They sound fancy and hard, but really, they’re way easier than omelets and come together in just a few minutes. In this month’s issue of Cooking Light, they have a whole spread on various frittata options, but really, you can do it yourself–the egg/milk/seasoning mixture is the same, and the cooking method is the same, but you can swap out the meat and veggies for whatever you prefer, just like an omelet. Ham, chicken, asparagus, gruyere, mozzarella, cheddar, pepper jack, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, fresh herbs…whatever strikes your fancy, throw it in there!

One of the great things about frittatas is that the leftovers hold up beautifully, so when you’re starving in the morning and trying to get your kids up and dressed and actually, like, moving instead of staring at a wall or something, you can grab a few bites here and there. When your two-year-old is eating crackers, string cheese, and frozen peas for lunch and you’re about to begrudgingly pick into the same thing, frittata to the rescue. When it’s dinnertime and the last thing in the world you want to do is make dinner? Frittata. It’s good cold, it’s good hot. It’s like the Stanley Tucci of the culinary world.

The first time I made this, I made it as written and then I left it under the broiler a little too long and it burned, which ended up being a good thing because there were things I definitely wanted to change when I made it again. I upped the salt, I threw in some green onions and garlic, I used grape tomatoes that I cooked until they were just about to burst, and I doubled the cheese because, you know, cheese. Even still, the calorie count is very modest (213 calories if you cut it into 6 pieces, which was plenty for the adults in our family).

For this frittata, you’re going to need 6 eggs, 2 egg whites, milk, salt, pepper or Tabasco sauce (I have a thing about black pepper in my eggs. Can’t do it.), Italian sausage, extra-virgin olive oil (I used OBB’s Extra-Virgin Garlic Olive Oil), baby kale (more about that in a minute), green onions, garlic, red bell pepper or whole grape tomatoes, and feta cheese.

Crack the eggs and egg whites into a small mixing bowl. Add the milk, salt, and Tabasco sauce and whisk to combine.

In a 9″ oven-safe skillet (a cast iron skillet is perfect), cook the sausage. Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel.

Return the pan to heat and heat the olive oil over medium heat. Now…let’s talk about kale. Kale is super cool right now. I hate it. To me, it tastes like eating weeds. I laughed and laughed when I saw this clip because I feel it on so many levels:

Anyway. Kale. I actually like kale in recipes like this because it holds up better than spinach. But eating it uncooked? I feel like it’s 1986 and I’m at a Sizzler and I accidentally ate a garnish.

Add the kale, green onions, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the kale is wilted. Add the pepper or tomatoes and cook for a few additional minutes, until the pepper starts to become tender or the tomatoes are ready to burst.

Turn the oven broiler to high.

Sprinkle the cooked sausage evenly over the veggies. Sprinkle the feta over the sausage, then carefully pour the egg mixture evenly over everything else. Cook for 5-6 minutes over medium heat, completely leaving the pan alone. Place the pan in the heated oven for 2-3 minutes or until the frittata is setting up and starting to just turn brown in a few spots on top (with the broiler, you’ll go from almost done to burned in just a few seconds, so don’t go anywhere.) You may need to turn the pan if some spots are getting too done while others aren’t quite done enough. When done, remove the pan from the oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Serves 4-6.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light