Earlier this week, on a rainy Monday morning, I shuffled around the kitchen after everyone had left for work and school. It was a melancholy sort of morning and I wasn’t sure if this was because of the weather, or that my son was off to a school camp for the entire week and I wouldn’t see him until Friday or that I had done something to my sciatic nerve and was hardly able to walk. Sad face.
The idea of coffee was a comfort but a morning like this called for something more. More than a bowl of granola or a piece of toast.
A quick scan of the messy kitchen counter and my eye was drawn to the small bouquet of squash blossoms in a small water glass. I had bought the blossoms on a whim at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and had planned on stuffing them with ricotta and herbs and then frying them and serving them with a spiced tomato jam. But Saturday had been busy, and then Sunday was too. I felt guilty looking at these quickly withering flowers. I hate wasting food but it happens more than I would like to admit. What could I do to save these beauties?
I had some homemade ricotta in the fridge, and there are always eggs. There was some stale bread I could toast and top with some of my secret stash of French butter that I save for emergencies.
I set to work heating a pan, swirling in some olive oil and then a pat of butter. I whisked the eggs and seasoned them with a pinch of salt, pepper and some chilli flakes. Into the skillet and a quick stir to get the eggs cooking. The ricotta was rescued from the back of the fridge and crumbled over the custardy eggs and then on went the squash blossoms. Bread was toasted and slathered in butter and eggs were cooked.
I sat and ate and watched the rain and worried if Max had taken enough warm clothes with him but by the end of my breakfast I felt better. Much better.
I would never have thought to post such a non-recipe here. Plus I didn’t really have a proper picture to go with it. This morning, however, I got an email from a lovely woman named Roxanne from Seattle who had seen my photo of this frittata on instagram and wrote to ask me for the recipe. After I wrote it out and sent it to her it got me thinking that maybe every recipe I post here doesn’t need to be a multi-step, multi-ingredient recipe.
Maybe, sometimes, a simple frittata will do.
Squash Blossom and Ricotta Frittata
2 eggs
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of chilli flakes
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of butter
3 or 4 tablespoons of ricotta
3 medium squash blossoms, sliced in half and the stamen removed
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley (optional)
Coarse sea salt (optional)
Place the eggs in a small bowl and beat together using a small whisk or a fork. Season with the salt, pepper and chilli flakes.
Preheat the broiler in your oven.
Heat a very small cast iron skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil and the butter. Swirl to coat the pan and then add in the whisked and seasoned eggs. Using a heat-proof spatula gently move the eggs around the so that they begin to cook. When they look cooked on the bottom but still custardy on the top crumble on the goat cheese and arrange the sliced squash blossoms on the top.
Place under the preheated broiler for 1 minute or so until the eggs on top are cooked, the ricotta has started to melt and the squash blossoms are just the slightest bit brown.
Garnish with chopped fresh parsley, a sprinkle of coarse salt and maybe a grinding or two of black pepper.
Serves 1.
Very well said and simply lovely.
I love a non recipe !! I hope Max had a good time, I am sure he had lots of warm clothes although the food probably didn’t thrill him.