Frittata Non-Fritta

Frittata di Peperone Miste al Forno

Oven Baked Bell Pepper Frittata

It is not without a little self-hatred that I called this dish a "frittata"- because I hate it when other oven-baked egg dishes call themselves the same thing. As far as I am concerned, a frittata, is only such when it has been fried- not baked. That is what the name/word means after all!

And yet... for want of a better word, here is MY oven-bake frittata, with bell peppers and spice for a summer evening. Easy, cheap, satisfying and plain good, this is the kind of everyday dish that makes sense when you are pinching the pennies as well as watching your waistline!

The method is simple- clean and slice your peppers and pop them into the oven on a tray. I used 3 halves of each color red, green and yellow, and baked them for 10-15 minutes whilst the oven heated up. This gave them time to soften-up and pre cook enough to make the rest of this recipe a lot easier.

Once the oven was hot and the peppers were halfway there, I sprinkled them with salt, pepper and a tiny hint of sugar and then I returned them, in a small baking dish, for just a couple of minutes to get seasoned and lightly caramelized, whilst I prepared the eggs.

For the eggs, I simply chopped a spring onion, and a little parsley and mint up nice and finely. I added this to 3 eggs, seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg and stirred everything together really well with a fork, keeping it easy and not fussing around.

I poured this mixture over the peppers, which were by now steaming hot and then baked everything at 300°F for around 15 minutes. After that time, I added a light sprinkle of grated scamorza cheese and a good sprinkle of caraway seeds- yum! Caraway seeds go perfectly with peppers or eggs, as they are great ingredients that aid your digestion and reduce bloating or any other unpleasant side effects- but that's enough negative talk about a positive thing!

I only used a little cheese, as I personally do not like cheese once it is melted, soft and runny- that's just a personal preference of course and you can feel free to add more. I like to use a very small amount as it will then become golden brown and crispy- which is much more my kinda thing!

Piping hot and straight from the oven, or cooled down and served with a salad, this is great Summer fare... all I can say is- try it! You'll like it!