What's for lunch? A Refridgerator-Clearer Frittata

Frittatas are a go-to leftover clearer in my house.  Leftovers present a challenge to cooks that have finicky eaters in the house. I happen to love finding things to do with them, but I have run across finicky eaters that don't like leftovers, or anything do to with them.  Frittatas, which are essentially a baked omelet, are a great disguise for anything that you need to rid of in your fridge. 

Last night was a "Wii Kirk" at our little Presbyterian church in Arlington, VA. WE have about one a month in the cooler times of the year.   The pastor's wife, St. Cheryl of Shirlington, and I bake a total of about 20 to 30 pizzas for whoever shows up, we set up a big screen with a Nintendo Wii attached for the kids or whomever to play.  People bring things to share, like salads, dessert, wine, home brewed beer, etc.  It's a grand way to start the weekend!

Anyway, I found myself looking for something to make on Saturday for lunch.  These were the things that fell out of my 'fridge, some were left over from the Wii Kirk ...

 So above we have, clockwise from the far left in the rubbermaid plastic bowl - sauteed peppers and mushrooms, in the small container above there's about 5 cloves of roasted garlic from something I made last week, in the center is a single carrot, above that 1/2 a yellow pepper, then 10 spears of asparagus, at the top there's a small container of leftover roasted potatoes, on the right that's about a single onion, thinly sliced, 3 eggs, and finally at the bottom fresh basil.

PREHEAT YOUR BROILER WHILE YOU PREPARE THESE THINGS AND YOU WILL NEED A BROILER SAFE PAN TO PREPARE THIS DISH>
 Above are these things all prepped - from lower left, those roasted potatoes, 1 shredded carrot, those peppers and mushrooms, the green stuff next to the carrots is the basil, between the carrots and basil is that roasted garlic minced, next to that is the yellow pepper, and in the ramekin in the upper right is the asparagus.
To start I added 1 Tbls of olive oil to a saute pan and heated for a couple minutes over medium heat:

Add, and saute until the onions are translucent:
Onions
peppers
carrots


 Add, and saute for about 3 minutes, do NOT overcook the asparagus, or it will get stringy and gross [bleah]:

Asparagus
Roasted garlic
roasted potatoes
sauteed peppers and mushrooms

 At this time also add whatever herbs/spices you'd like:
I added about 1/2 tsp of salt, some freshly ground pepper and a sprinkling of Italian Seasoning.

 Break the 3 or 4 eggs into a bowl and scramble well, pour over the vegetable mixture and make sure that it's well incorporated throughout the dish.  Allow to cook on your stove top for about 2 minutes so the eggs are starting to set.

Remove from the cooktop, and place under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes. Don't let it burn, it can happen quickly, so you need to watch it.  You can't walk away or you can have a disaster on your hands.  Voice of experience here...


SO this is the finished product, this was enough for the two of us, but if you have smaller appetites you could stretch this to feed four - add a salad and some bread, maybe. That's dinner!  I served this with my Faux-oli - Mayo, dijon mustard and horseradish and a slice of my Knearly Kno-Knead Bread.  It was pretty choice, and my 'fridge is cleared of a LOT of stuff!

You can really put anything you can imagine in a frittata,

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