Zucchini Frittata

Here’s another great recipe for zucchini.   I have served this for both lunch and for dinner.   It’s a perfect end-of-summer recipe when zucchini and basil are plentiful.   Every now and then I feel like having a meatless dinner, and this is a perfect dish for times like that.    It’s filling and delicious.  I serve it with a side salad.    

When you’re choosing your zucchini, you want to make sure that the skin is firm without any wrinkles or soft spots, and you want the zucchini to be slender (about 2 inches in diameter) and about 6 to 8 inches in length.     You should use the zucchini within a couple of days of buying it.   It won’t stay much longer than that.   If you are storing it for a couple of days, put it in a sealed plastic bag in the vegetable drawer in your refrigerator.   Don’t wash it until just before you’re going to use it.

I always think of zucchini as a vegetable, but I just learned that botanically, zucchini is actually an immature fruit!  Who knew?

Zucchini Frittata
Recipe by Michael Chiarello

2 small cloves garlic
Olive oil, for sauteing
1 medium zucchini
1/2 bunch basil
8 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the broiler.Start by crushing some garlic and heating it in some olive oil in a medium nonstick saute pan on the stove. While that is heating up, very thinly slice the zucchini on a mandoline. When the oil and garlic are heated, tear some basil into the pan and add all the sliced zucchini. Cook until the zucchini is tender, but not cooked through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Blend eggs in a blender with a little bit of milk and some salt and pepper. Blend on the highest speed.

Pour the egg mixture into saute pan and let it sit for 1 minute (Diane’s note:   I let the eggs cook for several minutes on the stove). When there isn’t much loose egg left in the pan, grate some Parmesan on top and place pan in the broiler for 1 minute or until golden brown and cooked through.

Take pan out of broiler, let it cool and set in pan for 5 minutes. When cool invert a plate on top of pan and turn over. Slice and serve.