Pepper & Ricotta Frittata

I have so much ricotta it’s not even funny. I bought essentially 1 kilo from my local cheese shop in Bra, Giolito Formaggi, because it’s delicious and I love buying local, and I forget that my intestines and skin will freak out if I eat too much.

Since I needed to buy ricotta for the Easter spezzat’ soup I was making, I figured, why not grab a little extra and maybe whip up some fruit compote and ricotta crostini or better yet, finally experiment a little bit and create my take on the viral TikTok feta pasta!

These were all great ideas in theory, and while I did do most of what I set out to do, I still had a teeny problem: leftover ricotta mixed with egg from my spezzat’ recipe. Initially, I added a bit too much ricotta to my egg mixture and so I had to start all over, but I did keep the mixture since I didn't want it to go to waste.

Brainstorming today, I realized that the mix could be the start of a super creamy frittata with a few more eggs! After all, don’t omelettes, frittatas, quiches and even scrambled eggs have a little bit of dairy to make the eggs more cloud-like and delicious?!

Cracking and whisking and cleaning out my fridge with all the leftover ingredients from my Easter brunch, I decided to char some peppers and onions and add those in, along with a pinch of harissa seasoning to emphasize the spice and smoke of the peppers.

The end result was a pretty airy omelette, loaded with veggies! It’s definitely something to try if you’re not crazy about an overly eggy-tasting frittata, or like in my case, you just have a ton of ricotta that you don’t know what to do with!

I recommend serving this frittata either as a light lunch option with a tossed green salad, or serving it during aperitivo alongside crostini, meats and cheeses!

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Pepper & Ricotta Frittata

* Makes 8 servings *

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Cuban pepper, sliced (these are the long peppers!)

• 1/2 onion, sliced

• 10 eggs

• 1 cup ricotta

• 1 tablespoon harissa

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon chili flakes

• A few fresh basil leaves, chopped

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven at 350° C.

2. In a grilling pan sauté onion and pepper for fifteen minutes until slightly charred. Set aside.

3. Crack and beat eggs until smooth. Whisk in ricotta.

4. Add in peppers, onions, harissa, salt, chili flakes and basil.

5. Bake for 30 mins covered in foil and then an additional 30 mins uncovered.