Zucchini and Herb Frittata

with Eggs from Robyn's Happy Chooks

Whenever my lovely country friend and neighbour, Robyn Goodwin (author/illustrator of the ‘Backyard Tales’ series of children’s books) gives me a carton of eggs she’s collected from her happy, free-ranging chooks, I start planning special things to make with them.  

This time I decided on a Devon honey cake and a zucchini frittata and had enough eggs left over for WGH* to make one of his yummy omelettes. He’s incredibly secretive about the method and won’t let me watch him cooking them so I have no idea what he does, but I have to tell you they’re the best omelettes I’ve ever tasted.

Since I can’t share the details of WGH’s omelette with you, here’s my frittata recipe instead  – if you can call it a recipe – I tend to cook by taste, smell, texture and appearance, which means the quantities are rather inexact and the instructions a tad vague. So treat this as a guide and vary it to suit yourself.

You’ll need:

• About half a block of your favourite vintage Cheddar cheese, grated – I use Mersey Valley from Tassie. Use more if you love cheese and don’t have a cholesterol problem!
• 2 zucchini, peeled and grated
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• The white section of a leek, very finely chopped
• Chives, oregano leaves, thyme leaves, parsley – whatever you have in your herb garden – chopped
• 1 ½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
• ½ cup rice bran oil/grape seed oil. You could use olive oil but it has a stronger taste.
• 5 free range and/or organic eggs, beaten lightly with a fork. Sometimes I add an extra egg just for good luck.
• Salt and pepper

Line a lamington tin with baking paper cut larger than the size of the tin if its sides were flattened out. I always make diagonal cuts at the corners to help the paper sit neatly in the tin.

Gently mix the self-raising flour, eggs and oil in a bowl.

Carefully fold in the carrots, zucchini, leeks, herbs and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t overmix or you’ll make it tough.

Pour the mix into the tin and spread out neatly.

Now for the fun part. Push halved heritage tomatoes into the top in a geometric pattern.

Bake at 190° C (fan-forced 175 ° C) at least 30 minutes and check to make sure the top isn’t burning. My oven tends to cook things more on one side so I just turn the tin around at the halfway mark.

Once your frittata is set and browned, remove from the oven and serve with a delicious salad. Mine consists of mixed leaves from my organic garden with avocado and pine nuts. 

*WGH = World's Greatest Husband - it says so on his coffee mug!

Deborah O'Brien

November 17, 2014