Christmas is never too early and always at least one month ahead of the actual day in my calendar. This is also what happens in the commercial world – shops can be seen taking down their Halloween decorations and then immediately replacing them with Christmas lights and holly. Somehow, having this festive season at the end of the year makes a world of a difference. It feels like a long-awaited break that’s finally arriving – a time that allows everyone to be able to let their hair down and let go. This is perhaps the reason for stretching this festive season to as long as is possible so that Christmas doesn’t end as soon as it comes.
This year, I decided to start the Christmas season off with a light-hearted frittata dish. Frittata is an Italian word meaning ‘fried‘ and which refers to an open-faced omelette (not folded over) that is cooked together with one or more ingredients. It is almost like the filling inside a quiche in terms of its texture and taste – fluffy and thick, yet soft and creamy and airy. The best thing of all is that you could make a frittata within an hour!
Ingredients:
- Olive oil: 2 tbsp
- Garlic: 2 cloves, finely chopped
- Cherry tomato: 1.5 cups, halved
- Egg: 10
- Milk: 1/3 cup
- Salt: 1/2 tsp
- Ground blackpepper: 1/2 tsp
- Basil leaf: 1 cup, finely chopped, with extra for garnishing
- Cheddar cheese: 1 cup, grated
Method:
- Heat oil in a shallow pan.
- Add garlic and tomatoes. Stir-fry on medium heat till fragrant and tomatoes are just starting to turn soft and juicy, about 3-4min. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat together egg, milk, salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray.
- Fill the base of tray with the stir-fry of tomatoes. Leave the remaining portion (about half) in the pan.
- Distribute basil and cheese equally in the tray and pan. Then pour in the egg mix with the same proportion.
- Bake 25 – 30min till golden brown.
- Cool for 10 min before slicing or removing from muffin tray.
- Serve with remaining basil leaves and arugula salad.
Serving:
6 frittata muffins and 1 medium-sized frittata omelette
