On Saturdays, the dealership buys us lunch so that we don’t have to try and go out on the busiest day of the week.
They have it catered for us. They get it from various restaurants in the area.
Often, they get us lunch from Chick-fil-A. It used to be a bunch of sandwiches and a couple of salads. But turns out lots of people would rather eat veggies than a fried piece of chicken on a roll.
Honestly, some Saturdays were like the Thunder Dome, with a race to the upstairs lunchroom to get one of the few salads. I can’t tell you how many Saturday lunches turned out to be just a long, hungry wait until I got home at 6:30 p.m.
So now, there are lots of their really delicious Cobb salads. And, they’ve also begun buying nuggets, either fried or grilled.
Grilled nuggets haven’t quite caught on yet — last weekend there were 11 of 12 left.
Only because I hate wasting food, and not because it was two pounds of free, well-grilled, juicy chicken nuggets, I took home a bag full.
I packaged up most of it and put in the freezer, but kept out a cup or so.
I was going to make chicken salad, but decided to make a frittata with items I already had in the house; a “found” frittata, if you will.
Normally, I use some type of starch (potatoes, rice, or pasta) inside the egg mixture.
But this time I decided to go sideways.
I grated one Yukon Gold potato I had in the pantry and put it on the bottom of the frittata to approximate a sort-of crust. I planned on flipping the hash brown cake before adding the egg, but then decided to leave it unflipped to have the crispy texture on the bottom and the creamy texture as well.
I also had a bit of sauteed spinach with caramelized onions from a terrific Middle Eastern restaurant, Neomonde, that I’m lucky enough to live right around the corner from. I decided to mix this into the eggs.
I fished out an old shard of cheddar cheese from the back of the cheese drawer and used it up, too.
I was a little worried that the potato base would turn to carbon dust before the egg cooked, but the addition of the cold eggs on top cooled the spuds enough so that at the end, the bottom was browned and crispy-ish, and the inside retained that creamy texture I was hoping for.
The only part of my dinner that was purpose bought was the toasted, buttered crumpet. It comes from a Raleigh bakery called Michael’s English Muffins. He may call it English muffins, but they are much closer to the British baked good the U.S.’s are based on.
So, I choose to call them crumpets.
The flavor is so good and so authentic, it makes me speak in a very posh English accent for the rest of the day.
So, once again, I’ve illustrated just how well a frittata plays with any old thing you may have languishing in your pantry.
It’s the perfect dish to make if you have no idea what to make.
Thanks for your time.
Contact me at dm@bullcity.mom.
Found Frittata
6 eggs, beaten until light and foamy
1 cup sauteed spinach with caramelized onions
1 ½ cup grilled chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
A handful of cheddar cheese cut into ¼ to ½-inch cubes
1 medium potato, grated
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
On medium heat, melt butter. Add grated potato and spread evenly on bottom of pan. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 8 minutes.
Whisk spinach into beaten egg and pour into skillet over the spuds. Evenly distribute chicken and gently press down with a spatula so that it is all covered by egg mixture.
Cook for about 4 minutes or so until the egg is set around the edges.
Dot with cheese pieces and place pan into oven.
Cook for 15-18 minutes or until a knife inserted into center comes out moist, but with no egg clinging to it.
Slide onto serving plate and cut into wedges.
Serves 2 as a main and four as a side.