Sunday, May 23, 2010

Caramelized Onion, Zucchini and Goat Cheese Frittata

I have been dying to make a frittata for a while now.  The pots and pans I bought are all oven-safe, so nothing was stopping me.  I bought a basket of mini zucchinis (I should have taken a picture, they were so cute!) at the farmers market last week, and wanted to use them.  I found a recipe that was perfect - zucchini, onions and goat cheese.  I figured I would throw in some fresh rosemary as well.
This turned out pretty well.  I made some changes - I wanted to have more of an egg base to it, so I added more eggs.  I used more zucchini and less onions than the recipe called for.
Now that I've made it, there are a few changes I would make the next time I would make it.  I definitely recommend salting the zucchini and letting it sit in a colander for a while.  I cooked it for a pretty long time, but a lot of water was still retained, so the frittata was soggy on the bottom.  The salt would also give it some flavor.  I've never caramelized onions before, and I had a hard time actually getting them to caramelize.  They got nice and soft and sweet, but didn't turn golden brown.  Another thing I would do is grate some parmesan on top - it would give it a nice golden crust.  And I would probably add more rosemary than I did, to give some extra flavor.  But I think the recipe was pretty good, and very filling.

Recipe: Caramelized Onion, Zucchini and Goat Cheese Frittata (adapted from My Kitchen Addiction)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, halved and sliced
1 tbsp sugar
6 mini zucchini
2 egg whites
5 eggs
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup goat cheese, plus extra to sprinkle on top

Directions:
Heat the olive oil and sliced onions in a skillet over medium-low heat.  Sprinkle with sugar and stir occasionally, cooking the onions until they are golden and caramelized.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites, eggs, cream, 1/4 cup of goat cheese, and rosemary.  Set aside.
Use a vegetable peeler to cut the zucchini into long thin ribbons.
Once the onions are just about done, spray a 10-inch nonstick oven-safe skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.  Saute the zucchini ribbons until they are tender.  Add the caramelized onions, and toss to combine in the skillet.
Pour the egg mixture over the zucchini and caramelized onions.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.  Uncover the skillet, sprinkle with some additional goat cheese, and broil for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the top is set and the frittata is cooked through.  Serve immediately.

2 comments:

katidyd said...

The frittata sounds great!! Caramelizing onions definitely takes a while but it's totally worth it! Caramelized red onions are the best. This is the recipe that introduced me to them: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/portobello_paillards_with_spinach_white_beans_caramelized_onions.html
It's absolutely delicious!!

jonathan said...

This frittata looks great! I think i'm going to steal your recipe, but try it in pie dough to make a quiche!