Frittatas: Delicious but Dangerous

Yep, burned myself again making this delicious spinach and sorrel frittata - another Sarah Raven adaptation - and even after chilling my hand to the core under the tap, spent most of the evening periodically stroking ice cubes over my fingers. I was using an oven glove this time, but somehow managed to get the fingers of one hand onto the metal pan handle anyway while I was trying to wrestle the thing out of the pan. Maybe I need a better oven glove. Or maybe I should try making them in a cake tin - no thick handle to hold heat and they'd be easier to turn out, too...

Anyway, here it is. I changed the quantities for my own purposes, used ordinary bacon instead of pancetta, omitted the creme fraiche, and added some pine nuts.

Spinach and Sorrel Frittata
(serves 2)

• Chop spinach and sorrel leaves roughly. I used about 150g spinach and about 50g sorrel (would have used more sorrel but the plant has gone to flower and doesn't have many decent leaves at the moment).
• Beat five eggs with a few tbsps milk, 50g parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
• Chop 4 rashers of bacon and fry in 1 tsp oil until cooked and cripsy.
• Add 2 or 3 chopped cloves of garlic and soften for a moment. Then add the spinach and sorrel and allow to wilt (they'll reduce massively in size as they cook so don't panic if the pan is overflowing to start with!).
• Add 2-3 tbsps pine nuts, toasted first in a dry pan or under the grill.
• Add the egg mixture and stir in, then allow to cook on a low heat for 5-8 minutes.
• When the edges are starting to set, put the pan under a hot grill for a further 5-8 minutes, until completely set. (When you stick a knife in, it should come out clean.)
• Serve with buttered toast, or new potatoes, and salad.

I spent a lot of time in the home garden again this week, sorting things out and tidying things up. The snail population seems to be booming out there (and on the plot) and the organic slug pellets don't seem to be doing the job anymore. I have lost a few salad seedlings, herbs and marigolds, and have some damage to the brassica seedlings and tomatoes too. I have set beer traps for tonight - let's see if that makes any difference...

The cucumbers are getting on really well now and have lots of flowers - even thought they're not very big yet - but they seem a bit reluctant to climb up the supports I have given them. They are undersown with radishes.

The tomatoes are showing their very first buds, and will be planted into their growbags this week I expect. I have given them their first pruning too, taking off the lower leaves to prevent soil splashback which may cause blight, and pinching out the side shoots.

And the peppers and chillies are growing really well now too. I sowed them rather late, so I'm really hoping we have a long summer so they can reach full maturity!

A friend recently told me he has peppers on his plants already - on last year's plants! He keeps them indoors and, though they sulked during the short, dark days, they have sprung back and are producing again! I will definitely have to try this - we eat loads of peppers - so I have planted my last pepper seedling in a pot on the kitchen windowsill. I won't get my hopes up too much though - he keeps his plants under a south-facing velux window, and my kitchen windowsill only gets a few hours of sunlight in the afternoons...