This recipe, and therefore this post, is a bit random, being completely out of season as it is. Even while I watch the bumblebees and the sparrows fight – not one another, there are no inter-species fisticuffs in my yard, but bee-on-bee and bird-on-bird aggression there is plenty of, and, quite honestly, I am a bit taken aback at the severity of it just in the short time I observe it while having my coffee each morning. I can only imagine how it goes all the rest of the day.
Ahhh, but I digress, even while I, um, enjoy spring in all its manifestations, I have been roasting butternut squash to test recipes for the cookbook. Truth be told, it’s a bit disconcerting to buy Waltham Butternut that has been imported from Honduras at my local market – particularly when I live a mere 40 miles or so from Waltham, where said butternut was developed – but I do have to test, so for a short while, I leave my seasonal sensibilities behind. Therefore, I’m not recommending that you make this frittata now, while there are so many gorgeous spring vegetables available, but perhaps tuck this one away for a crisp October Sunday when you have some leftover roasted butternut – grown nearby your home, ideally – and a fistful of leftover pasta from last night’s dinner.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (I am out of olive oil after rustling up the 2 tablespoons, thus the use of butter - oh, but it is good with butter, too, believe you me.)
- 1 medium shallot, diced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh (new-growth thyme is amazing. sigh.)
- 2 cups (or so - these are leftovers from an autumn meal in the ideal scenario) roasted butternut squash, cubed
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups (again, leftovers, people. Use your discretion.) cooked pasta, any size or shape will do
- 12 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large, oven-proof saute pan over medium heat, combine the olive oil and butter and heat until the butter is melted. Add the shallot and saute until softened and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme. Toss those butternut cubes into the mix, spreading them around the pan so that no one can complain that they were robbed of their fair share of butternut squash. Which could result in their fighting like bees and sparrows. I'm telling you, lose the cats and dogs cliché, bumblebees and sparrows fight far more than any dog and/or cat fighting I've ever witnessed. And now back to the frittata. Add the pasta, also being judicious in its even distribution. Pour the eggs over the whole pile, give it a stir to better distribute those eggs, and cook on the stovetop on medium-low heat until the eggs begin to set. Sprinkle the Pecorino-Romano over the surface, and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the frittata is golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve it forth. But do remember, that handle is hot. Like, burn your hand hot. You might want to cover it with a mitt, is all I'm saying.
- As with all varieties of frittata, this also makes a fantastic take-away lunch option, particularly with a nice salad full of springtime's baby greens. Mmmmmm. Oh, and hey, me, what I am talking about - I'd like to remind us all that, lucky for us, there are lots of baby greens available in the fall when you should be making this. Therefore sparing yourself any out-of-season self-loathing. Not that I'd know anything about that, mind you.
Dinner tonight: This very frittata and a Caesar salad with Romaine from the garden. Estimated cost for two: $5.55. The out-of-season butternut squash cost $1.49/pound. I need not remind you that it costs a mere 79-cents per pound in season. These particular leftovers were right around a pound, so we’ll just call it that, ok? The pasta was also leftover, but if we were to estimate its cost rather than looking at it as having avoided food waste, it was about 1/4 of a 1-pound box of pasta I purchased on sale for $1.00, so that’s 25-cents. The olive oil was 22-cents. The butter was 36-cents at 9-cents per tablespoon. The thyme was 10-cents, and the dozen eggs came from our laying hens, but if you were to buy some free range large eggs from Whole Foods – the store brand type – that would be $3.19. You have to use 4 more eggs for this frittata than I would normally in order to envelop this quantity of squash and pasta. The Pecorino Romano, at 1/4-cup is roughly 1-ounce, so at $7.99/pound, that’s 50-cents. The frittata will yield 8 good-sized slices for $6.11, so each slice costs just over 76-cents. JR will have two slices, I will have one, so our frittata total is $2.30. The rest will be lunches for both of us for the rest of the week, or so long as they shall last. The Romaine for the salad is coming from the garden, but if you were to purchase a head of Romaine, it would be in the area of $1.49. I am making a dressing for the salad, which is intended for the book, and haven’t quite sorted it out yet, but let’s say that the dressing costs $2.00 until I do actually make it, but the lettuce and dressing are enough for four, so another $1.75 for the salad, and then I may sprinkle some cheese on the salad as well, so we’ll tack on another 50-cents, and the croutons are made from stale bakery bread that would have otherwise gone to waste, but we’ll add another dollar for those, although deep down, I believe they should be free for I salvaged them for another use. Our total for the salad with cheese and croutons, then, is $3.25. But really, it’s a bit less because the lettuce seed starts cost only 44-cents per plant, and I will not kill the plant, I will harvest the outer leaves from all 6 of the plants. It’s not too late. Get yourself a lettuce plant or six – they’ll do well even in containers if you don’t have a garden in which to grow them. Now here’s a question for you: does having a fresh-from-the-garden salad offset the wrong of eating out-of-season butternut squash? I’m kind of hoping they just cancel one another out.Tomorrow is another day, after all.
I’m tucking the recipe away. I wish I could stray from this plan, however, as I like a frittata anytime…Love the photo BTW.
(Jen/palatetopen.com)
Pasta in a frittata!? That has never occurred to me! I like your style. This sounds right up my alley.
Frittata is delicious any time of year! One time I did a Spaghetti Frittata and it was magnificent! Thanks for sharing your recipe. If you don’t mind I’d love to direct Foodista readers to your blog. Just add your choice of widget to this post and you’re all set!
Hi ladies!
Jen, thanks so much – I dug out the marble pastry board for this and it’s quickly becoming my go-to shooting surface. Can’t wait until we’re all bored of that!
Laura – the pasta is great because it gives the frittata a little extra heft, and you can use leftovers from any pasta dish in frittata, so the options are virtually endless. I particularly like the