Ham and Cheese Frittata (Aged Parmesan, Mozzarella, Cheddar)

Just when I was about to pull together all the ingredients, wait, do I have the right pan to make frittata?

The pan with decent depth and perfect size happened to be non-ovenproof. Luckily, there's one other option, just bigger and shallower. Well, I guess that means I'll end up with a big round frittata in the end. As long as it tastes good, I can deal with it. 

Ham and cheese frittata -

Ingredients (can break into 10 big triangular pieces)?

• 8 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups smoked and pepper crusted ham (cubed)
• 1 cup red and yellow bell peppers (pitted and cubed)
• 1 cup button mushrooms (quartered)
• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1 cup mixed mozzarella and Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup aged Parmesan cheese 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How? 

Preheat the oven with high heat.

Cube the ham, peel and cube the onion, remove pits from bell peppers and cube them too. Trim off the very bottom of the mushrooms and cut into four sections (quartered). Finely chop the parsley. Grate the aged Parmesan first, it's the most straining part to me, require tremendous amount of muscle work. 

Take a big container, crack the eggs inside and beat together with chopped parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream, and all three kinds of cheese.

Add the butter to oven-proof pan. Turn to medium heat and wait till melted.

Transfer cubed onion over along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Give it a quick stir, cook till the onion turns translucent. 

Add in bell pepper and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Transfer cubed ham and quartered button mushrooms over, mix a little and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Pour in egg mixture and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. 

The bottom should be slightly set at the moment. Transfer the whole thing to the oven to finish cooking. If uncertain, poke through the center with a chopstick or a fork see if it comes out clean, that means the frittata is ready.

Based on the bigger pan I used, it took about 5 minutes in the oven. The top and the edges of the frittata can also give out signs when it's ready. The frittata is good to go once the top and the sides turned slightly browned. That's an indication showing that the cheese has been further heated up, browned with concentrated umami.

Once ready, turn off the oven and let the frittata rest inside for another 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, slice and serve.

On a side note, when grating Parmesan cheese, do not discard the tough rind. I actually diced them into mini cubes and used in fried rice. It's a wee bit like biting into Chinese ham, still enjoyable. 


Other egg recipes:

• Soft scrambled eggs with onion and tomato
• Buttery scrambled shiso eggs
• Softly scrambled eggs with caramelized balsamic onions