Can’t say I was looking forward to this dish. I just couldn’t wrap myself around the idea of adding spaghetti with my much loved frittata. Maybe that kind of thinking sabotaged the recipe right from the start.
I thought about subbing rice for the pasta but I didn’t. It was “go right by the book” (well, almost) this week. So I stayed true to Ellie and made the dish as written with one exception: I used diced tomatoes with green chilies in place of the marinara sauce because I didn’t have any marinara sauce. A minor over sight while grocery shopping. Ted wasn’t home for dinner on this particular night so the recipe review is limited to my opinion.
This week’s pick was chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights. A fitting name for such a delightful blog site. The second part of the dinner was Salad Presto. Skipped that and simply added mixed field greens with cherry tomatoes drizzled with a little zesty Italian dressing. Truth be told, I didn’t even notice there was salad recipe to go with the frittata until I was writing this post. Must have left my head in Florida.
Ellie’s recipe for Spaghetti Frittata – serves 6 *The recipe below is with my very minor adjustments.
Ingredients
- 3 whole eggs beaten with 5 egg whites (Ellie used 10 eggs, 1/2 whites and 1/2 whole eggs)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, sliced thinly into half moons
- 1 bunch fresh spinach (about 1/2 a bag) washed and dried
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in boiling water for 10 minutes, chopped
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup cooked whole-wheat spaghetti tossed with 1, 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
- Directions
In a medium bowl mix the eggs and set aside.
Heat the oil in large oven-proof, nonstick skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 1 minute. Add the pasta to the pan and stir to combine. Pour the eggs evenly over the pasta and vegetables. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until eggs are set on the edges but not in the middle.
Preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the top of the frittata with the Parmesan and place under the broiler. Cook until the top is set and golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Cut into 6 wedges and serve.
I wasn’t thrilled with this recipe. It had a bitter taste to it. Could it have been the spinach? or maybe the whole wheat pasta? Not sure but I think I’ll stick to my old faithful way of enjoying frittata.
Marthe, even though we weren’t head over heels for the spaghetti frittata, you did pick one of our favorite easy meals with tons of healthy goodness and flavor. We just love frittata and will continue trying new ways to enjoy it. Thanks for picking this one and the opportunity to experiment.
Joanne
Good for you for sticking it out and trying something new! This recipe might not have been a winner, but the next one might!
I’m always up for trying something new. We don’t usually waste the dish since Ted loves leftovers and I like to give the recipe a chance for flavor to develop if that’s the initial problem. This dish…it just didn’t work for me either way.
This is quite interesting…does this have a crispy crust on the bottom? of pasta…wow such a hearty looking piece of delish heaven! Looks like a keeper here!
No crispy crust. You mix the pasta right in and ..well, mine didn’t sink to the bottom.
Yours looks absolutely colorful and beautiful. That said, I could not get into this dish either, something about spaghetti and eggs just didn’t appeal to us. For some reason, I thought we were going to be making pesto with the salad greens, so when I read the directions and saw what we were really doing, I just didn’t see the point in that either as it really didn’t taste like pesto to me…was it supposed to? It was good, but not really like pesto. I must have missed the point. I ate the salad and ditched the frittata this week. Next week’s pick looks like a good one!
Not sure about the pesto thing. I missed the salad completely.
Bummer that this wasn’t a hit for you. It looks great, though! I admit, the whole spaghetti and eggs together thing? It does sound odd at first. For some reason, though, I felt like it really worked, so this turned out to be a big hit here. Hopefully next week’s recipe will be more your speed.
I hoped to make this weekend, but from the reviews I am reading, now I am not sure. Doesn’t seem like it was a big hit, and yet yours looks so delicious. A slice for my lunch would be good today. 🙂 Halloween stuff at work going on has put me a bit behind schedule this week.
so glad to discover your site! i tried making pasta frittata once – here was my recipe:
http://theactorsdiet.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/quickfire-challenge/
I liked mine. I forgot to include the sauce but I think that is a positive. I grew up on a similar dish so it did not sound strange to me.
Yours is beautiful, whether you love it or not. I couldn’t bake mine which also takes away from the “pretty” factor.
My post is not the first one on my blog page and I am guessing you missed it. Nothing really to miss. On the other hand, we are the only ones who really like it.
I like trying out new things, even though they do not always turn out to be good. At least you tried! it looks tasty though.
Looks very yummy.
I’m sorry this one wasn’t a hit for you guys! I was pretty hesitant going into it as well, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised. Yours looks really good, and I think I’ll follow your substitutions for the egg quantities next time I make this. And I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one who completely missed the salad recipe.