Cookbook Review Recipe - Chorizo and Tomato Frittata

At the end of a busy workday I pick up my kids, pull out my hair because they are already driving me nuts, and try to muster up the energy to put some delicious food on the table. Since most of this is done while also having one of them directly underfoot and/or pulling on my pant leg and the other one is barking orders and requests at me, I can really use a meal that requires little brain power and energy. I love hands off meals; the kind that you put very little effort into and yet they still knock your tastebuds around a bit.

Jamie Oliver's cookbook Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook has a great chapter called "5 Minute Wonders" in which he pulls off a meal for one in five minutes or less. I spotted a recipe for a Chorizo and Tomato Omelette and the chorizo was beckoning me. Since this recipe is only for one person, I adapted the omelette into a frittata in order to feed my whole family. It's a meal that can be prepped in 5 minutes and you'll be sitting down to eat 15 minutes later. I can definitely handle that.

Recipe adapted slightly from Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook
__________________________________________________________________________________

Serves 4

125 g (4.4 oz) hot Spanish chorizo, sliced
2 green onions, sliced (whites and greens separated)
2 roma tomatoes, deseeded and sliced
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
6 eggs
1 red chili, chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

If you have an oven proof skillet use it, if not wrap some tinfoil around the handle of your skillet. I think non-stick works best.

Set your skillet over medium high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Saute the chorizo and whites of onions for 2-3 minutes until the sausage is starting to brown. Add the tomato and parsley and saute another 1-2 minutes.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the chili and season with salt and pepper. Pour the beaten egg mixture over everything in the pan and sprinkle with greens of onions. Turn the heat down to medium low and let cook for another 5-8 minutes until the bottom of your frittata sets. Then place it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes until the top of the frittata is set and your eggs are golden.

Remove from oven, cut into wedges and serve.

Click here for printable version of Chorizo and Tomato Frittata
_____________________________________________________________________________________

THE RESULTS?
The flavor of chorizo is fabulous and all the spices and garlic and paprika kind of melt into the oil when you saute it, which give the entire frittata a nice smokey spicy flavor. Studded with the bits of juicy tomato this meal will surely win you over. The combo is fabulous and the meal is effortless.

If I am being honest about the recipe as written in the book, the process is quite vague. Jamie doesn't give a clear set of directions for actually cooking the omelette, saying only "continue to fry until the eggs set, giving you a lovely little omelette." Ummm...how do you cook an omelette? No seriously. Had I actually cooked an omelette I would have had to google that first, then proceeded accordingly. But the flavors are smashing and lovely and wonderful, so I can't fault him for that :)

Meal Ideas: