recipes for city kitchens: ny deli frittata
in NY, it can be difficult to find the ingredients for an easy, healthy meal close by; or a recipe that you can make in small apartment without a lot of cooking utensils. one of our favorite standby's is this quick frittata recipe, with the ingredients easily available at most NYC delis and bodegas... you'll need butter, bread, eggs, milk, cheese, and whatever vegetables you can scrounge up at the deli.

set your oven to 375 degrees and...
1) butter a pie dish (or square pan about that size)
2) toast 1 piece of any kind of bread/roll, lightly butter it and then tear up into small pieces and scatter on bottom of pan (the bread absorbs some of the vegetable juices, helps it get nice and firm)
3) scatter layers of vegetables in pan to almost the top. we like: layer of grated zucchini, grated onion, torn up spinach, and chopped tomato. use whatever you like and is available, mushrooms, broccoli, left over chicken (sometimes it's onion, tomato, green pepper, cuz that's all they got.) 2 tricks to the veg part - squeeze most of the liquid out of the grated or chopped items before you add to the pan; and grating is much faster than chopping for vegetables like zuc, onions and peppers.
4) cut up a couple handfuls of the cheese (sharp cheddar and gruyere are awesome) and add to the top, push the chunks down into the vegetables a bit.
5) crack 10-12 eggs into a bowl (you can substitute egg whites for some or all of the eggs, but use more), add 4 tablespoons of milk, a bunch of salt and pepper and seasoning. seasoning can be crunched up herbs, a scoop of salsa, Italian dressing, hot sauce (reduce milk if you use something wet)
6) mix everything together and pour over top vegetables/cheese in dish. egg mix looks like a lot but once you start pouring almost all should fit!
7) stick in oven for about 30-45 min until it's firm through the middle (if it gets fully browned before it's firm, reduce heat to 350 degrees and cover lightly with foil) - let it cool a couple minutes, cut up and serve! (goes great with some fruit, toast, muffin, or even tortilla chips)