The Modern Art Oxford Café boasts some delicious food and now you can try making their frittata at home. Or cheat and pop into the café for a ready made one…
Makes 6 portions
For the roasted veg:-
1 aubergine (slice down the centre and then cut into slices about 1cm thick)
3 carrots with the skin left on (topped and tailed then cut in half and sliced into strips)
2 red peppers (cut into slices)
1-2 courgettes (topped and tailed then sliced thinly)
1 small onion (cut into quarters, not sliced or diced)
1-2 leeks (sliced into 1cm pieces)
20g mixed herbs (rosemary, parsley, coriander mixed well)
Olive oil
Equipment:-
Large, shallow baking tray
Place in a large and shallow baking tray. A good dollop of olive oil, add the herbs and season generously. Cook in the top of an oven at 190 degrees c and turn the veg for two 20 min cook times. After the second give it 10 mins and you’re done. Total cooking time is approx. 50 mins.
For the frittata:-
10 large eggs
10 fl oz of double cream
20g mixed herbs
7g salt
Brie (optional)
Equipment:-
Hand whisk
Frittata pan or deep ceramic dish
Baking parchment
Put the eggs into a mixing bowl and give them a good beating. Do not use an electric whisk: hand whisking is always better. After a few minutes of whisking when your arm is giving up add the cream, mixed herbs and salt. You can add pepper if you like but we prefer it without and it also darkens the frittata and affects the presentation. By now your arm has recovered and you’re ready for another minute of hand whisking. By now it should look like a lovely milkshake and is ready to go. Have a frittata pan ready or you can use a deep ceramic dish for this. Even with a non-stick pan you will still need to cover the base with baking parchment so that the paper comes up above the dish and encompasses the whole frittata mix. Place the roasted veg into the pan or dish and spread it out evenly. We also like to add Brie cheese on the top (cut into slices). Ok, we now pour in the egg mix. Make sure as much of the filling is covered by the mix as possible. Place into the bottom of the oven (important it goes at the bottom – it will cook evenly and thoroughly this way). Close the door and leave to cook for about 1hr and 20 mins.
After an hour check how the frittata is cooking. It will start to brown at this stage and when you see the top looking a deep golden brown you can test how well it is cooked by firstly giving the dish a slight wobble with your hand (with oven gloves on we hope!) or with a wooden spoon. If the frittata wobbles a bit then it needs more time in the oven. When the Frittata is quite firm when given a wobble take it out of the oven and, if you have one, pierce it with a skewer. If there is no egg on the skewer when you pull it out then it’s ready to take out of the oven and cool. It will need about an hour to cool before you eat as the frittata will still be soft inside and you want it nice and firm.
When it has cooled you can flip the frittata over onto a serving platter (as we do) or you can serve it straight from the dish depending on how dark the frittata is after cooking. To finish we like to add some tomatoes and a bit of rocket salad to garnish. And there you have it. Easy! Enjoy!