Tuesday 22 January 2013

A Taste of the Country

Frittata Rustica alla Campagnola
A Rustic Country Omelette


A simple but tasty supper this evening- just an omelette I guess, but with good, honest ingredients, no fancy frill- but plenty of flavor... that's my kinda food! You can't really go far wrong with a yummy omelette- it's always a crowd-pleaser and it certainly pleased me after a long days work- especially as it was done in just 20 minutes or so! my favorite reason to like any dish is if it is quick and easy as you know!

So this made use of some typical things you might find on any market in the Mediterranean... olives, mushrooms, peppers, a little pancetta and some salty cheese- in this case Feta. Combined with fresh sage to give it a subtle twist and grated with nutmeg- this was a simple but complex-tasting affair... you might want to try it yourselves...


To make this, I braced myself for a little multi-tasking and juggling in the kitchen- and jumped straight in by turning on the broiler so it would be hot and ready for later, and by starting the finely chopped bacon frying in a dry frying pan in their own fat. I quickly sliced up 4 mushrooms and 1 mini bell pepper, and finely chopped a Spring onion and a couple of leaves of sage. 


I popped the mushrooms into the pan with the bacon and stirred them well so that they got coated in fat. Within a couple of minutes they were glistening... a minute or two later they were softening... and soon after that they began to go brown. At this point I added the Spring onion and sage and sauteed them together for a further couple of minutes... then set them to one side and continued by adding the slices of pepper to the pan by themselves. These took just 2-3 minutes to begin to soften, and then I set them to one side too.

Whilst the peppers were sizzling, I quickly beat 3 eggs and crumbles a little Feta cheese in advance... busy, busy, busy! Now that the frying pan was clear, I added the eggs and seasoned them with just a little salt, pepper and nutmeg. As soon as they began to set, I sprinkled first the mushroom and bacon on top, then the peppers, and then I broke up a few Kalamata olives and set them out evenly. I sprinkled the Feta on top and again added pepper and nutmeg- not salt to the top layer as there were already the olives, cheese and bacon which were plenty salty in themselves.

Into the oven they went, under the hot broiler, for just 3-4 minutes at the most- until the eggs had set, the cheese had melted and everything had become a rich golden brown... yum! Like I said- simple good stuff- but that's good enough for me! Think it may be good enough for you too?


No comments:

Post a Comment