Assja’s Recipe

Summer Frittata

What’s nicer than to use fresh garden produce in your daily recipes? Soon courgettes and peas will be ready to pick and eat. Here’s a quick and easy recipe – and bought veggies will do if you are not a gardener.

Ingredients:

6 baby courgettes or 3 bigger ones
1 cup freshly shelled garden peas – or you can use mange-touts or sugar snaps, chopped into pieces
1 red pepper
3 cloves of garlic
6 eggs
250 g ricotta
1 bunch fresh mint
pepper
salt
1 tb olive oil
1 lemon, zest only

Mix the eggs in a bowl, add a generous amount of pepper and set aside.

Grate the courgettes with a rough grater or cut into tiny cubes. Dice the pepper. Peel and chop the garlic. Chop the mint leaves finely. If your peas are not very young, quickly blanch them in boiling water.

In a heavy frying pan, heat the oil and roast the garlic, pepper and courgettes until the courgettes are slightly golden. Add the peas, lemon zest and mint and stir in. Season with pepper and salt then pour on the egg mixture. Crumble the drained ricotta over the contents of the pan and let simmer for about 10 minutes at low to medium heat or until the egg has almost set. Meanwhile preheat your grill at medium heat (or if you don’t have one use your oven on top heat). Put the dish under the grill until the surface has turned golden and the egg has set.

Cut the frittata into slices and serve with a big mixed salad of leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers and edible flowers. Add some garden herbs like chives, parsley, chervil and nasturtium leaves to your salad and make a light and simple dressing of lemon juice and olive oil, seasoned only with pepper and salt.