Emergency Frittata with Spanish Chickpea Salad

Imagine a glass case in the part of your brain that houses recipes: inside that glass case? There should be a frittata and a little sign that says, "Break in case of emergency."

A frittata is a terrific thing to know how to make because, on a weeknight where you have nothing in the house--nothing to cook at all--except eggs, a stray onion, and some butter, you can still make dinner. Throw in some chickpeas and smoked paprika, and you actually have a dinner that looks pretty good.

To start, you have to pick the right pan (oh and pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F). A cast-iron skillet is ideal, but it needs to be well-seasoned enough that you can flip your frittata out easily. If you're nervous, use a little extra fat (I used a combination of butter, about 2 tablespoons, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil). Heat that up together and use a pastry brush, if you have one, to brush it all over the sides. (Don't worry, if you can't flip it out later, you can always lift out wedges like a pie.)

Add a small onion thinly sliced, salt and pepper and cook on high heat for 30 seconds:

Turn down the heat and allow the onion to caramelize (the longer you do this, the better it'll taste; you want it really golden and brown). At that point, add a sprinkling of smoked paprika.

Meanwhile, have 6 eggs ready to go: crack them into a bowl, whisk them up until frothy with salt and pepper and then pour them into the pan.

Stir everything around and then allow it to sit on the flame until the edges start to firm up. Then pop into the oven and cook for about a minute or so, checking to see what's happening. The frittata will puff up. Put your finger in the center and if it's firm, and not wet, it's time to take it out. (You don't want to overcook your frittata, though, so err on the side of undercooking rather than overcooking).

Look at that big puff of goodness.

Now because of all the fat you used, you should be able to flip it out onto a board. If you're nervous, use an offset spatula and slide it all around and underneath to make sure it's detachable. Then flip.

From there, you can use a large knife to cut the frittata into wedges.

Oh, and while it's in the oven? You can make a quick chickpea salad by draining and rinsing a can of chickpeas and tossing them with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and some chopped parsley. Spoon that between the wedges and sprinkle everything with even more smoked paprika. Here's the Instagram:

It's a good dinner to have in your bag of tricks and goes great with a glass of red wine. So cast aside that mental fire extinguisher, and make room for this frittata. It's there to save the day.

See Also:
Raid-The-Fridge Frittata