red onion & smoked provola frittata

A few weeks ago we went down to Ravello. Among the goodies I brought back was a braid of red onions and a big hunk of smoked provola that I intended to use to make Pasta with Zucchini. Which I did.

But I still had quite a huge chunk-o-cheese to use up. Which was a good thing, because as always, come Sunday night, I thought I didn’t have much in the way of ingredients for dinner. Usually my back up is pasta. I always have pasta in the house. But through some horrific mistake on my part we had NO PASTA in the house. The shame! I am sure to get points taken of my casalinga license for that one.

Lucky I had the smoked provola. And double lucky I still had the dozen eggs I had gotten up in Umbria. Actually, those eggs had only one day of shelf life left (again, points taken off casalinga license).  From all points of view a frittata  was calling my name.

You know from this blog I’m a big frittata fan. I’ve shared them with nettles and wild apsaragus, leftover pasta and agretti. But my favorite frittata by far is Frittata di Cipolla. The trick is to use loads of onions, as many as you have. And then let them cook slowly, so that they stay very sweet.

This time I also threw in the smoked provola, but really the onions can fly on their own. Or you can add something else: cubes of pancetta (cooked first); prosciutto; or any other cheese.
 
I have to say that the addition of smoked cheese was a pretty good idea. Of course it made it more filling, but it also gave the entire dish an almost meaty savouriness. And while I almost always use basil in my onion frittata, this time I threw in some thyme as well since I wanted something a bit stronger to stand up to the smoky cheese.

So, even if my family thinks a day without pasta is like a day without sunshine, in the end they weren’t complaining. Much. Just about the fact that the frittata kind of stuck to the pan and wasn’t as pretty as usual. I blame it on the cheese. Being the perfect casalinga  that I am, it certainly wasn’t my fault.




 
Red Onion and Smoked Cheese Frittata
(serves 4)

2 cups chopped onions
2 Tablespoons olive oil
5 eggs
3/4 cup cubed smoked provola (or any other firm smoked cheese)

3 Tablespoons fresh thyme

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
salt & pepper

Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a 10 inch non-stick frying pan.
Add onions and thyme and season with salt and pepper and let cook slowly for about a half hour, until they are very soft. Don’t let them brown.

Beat eggs in a bowl and add the cheese, onions and basil. Add salt and pepper and stir well.

Using the same frying pan, add the rest of the oil, let heat and add egg mixture. Cover with a lid and let cook until set.

The frittata should slip out of the pan beautifully onto a plate. Unless it sticks. Which mine did. In which case it will still taste good, but just doen’t look picture perfect.