Frittata With a Sweet Potato Crust

I found a fab recipe for a frittata (via my friend and nutrition coach/personal trainer, Izzy). When I first made it, I made it as directed, but added some quartered cherry tomatoes (color your plate and all that). I decided it could do without the parmesean called for in the original. I’ve made it twice now, the second time without the parm and changing up the veg, and I think any veggies will do. This has become my go-to breakfast or lunch every day for the past couple of weeks. It’s healthy, balanced, and just enough food to keep me from going hungry. Note: The sweet potato doesn’t harden and get “crusty,” but it’s a nice balance to the flavors.

Here’s my version of the recipe, but feel free to vary the veg:

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato Crust

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 large sweet potato
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Frittata Filling

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 5 medium mushrooms (the ubiquitous white kind)
• 7 cherry (plumb, what ever bitty) tomatoes
• sea salt, to taste
• 10 large eggs
• ½ cup frozen spinach, thawed (or 2 cups fresh spinach)
• ½ teaspoon italian seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425ºf.
2. Scrub, but don’t peel the sweet potato – vitamins, yo!
3. Shred the sweet potato. A food processor makes easy work of this task.
4. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with 1 teaspoon olive oil.
5. Add the shredded sweet potato, and lightly season with sea salt and black pepper.
6. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for 30 minutes.
7. While the sweet potatoes are baking, thinly slice the onion, and add it to a frying pan with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened. Set aside when the onions are very soft and caramelized.
8. Slice the mushrooms. Egg slicers are da bomb for this.
9. Quarter the cherry tomatoes.
10. Beat the eggs, and combine with spinach and spices.
11. When the sweet potatoes have finished cooking, remove the baking dish, and let cool for 5 or 10 minutes.
12. After it’s cooled down a bit, loosen the foil. Use a dish towel or oven mitt to protect your hand from the heat, and press down on the foil to compress the sweet potatoes to form a crust. You can even form the sweet potato up the side of your dish, like a pie crust. If some comes off on the foil, just use a utensil to put it back into place.
13. Once the crust has been formed, add the egg mixture. Top the egg mixture with caramelized onions, sliced mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes.
14. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and bake at 425ºf for another 20 minutes.
15. Remove the foil, and lower the oven temperature to 320ºf. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven, until the eggs are firm in the center and the top is lightly browned.

For added yum, add some diced avocado on the side. Next time, I’m going to add asparagus.