Millet Frittata
INGREDIENTS:
- 50 g millet groats
- 4 eggs
- 1 small zucchini
- 1/2 red onion
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 6 dried tomatoes
- 2 handfuls spinach
-
1 tablespoon clarified butter
- a pinch of turmeric
- a pinch of sea salts
- a pinch of black pepper
- a pinch of smoked paprika
Buy Hello everyone on this after-holiday morning. Are you full? And happy? I hope you are. I have prepared this recipe especially for those who need a small change from the traditional dishes that we’ve had over the last few days. Let’s start with my favourite meal, which is breakfast. The main part belongs to millet frittata with vegetables. These nutritious and light ingredients are sure to bring some relief after heavy holiday meals.
Preparation
I rinsed the groats once or twice under cold running water, cooked them following the recipe on the packaging and left them to cool. I melted the butter in a frying pan and added the chopped onion, then stirred in the zucchini cut into halved slices and the spinach, and stewed it all for 5 minutes. I halved the cherry tomatoes and cut the dried ones into strips. Then I mixed the eggs with the spices and combined them with all the vegetables and groats. I transferred the mixture into an ovenproof dish and baked it for 30 minutes at 180°C (350°F).
The millet has to be cold
Cooking the groats and leaving them to cool is not about saving time, and it is the step to plan around. Warm millet starts setting the eggs the moment they meet, which gives you scrambled egg in lumps rather than an even custard that bakes into a sliceable frittata.
Cold also means the grains have finished absorbing. Millet cooked and used straight away keeps drinking liquid in the dish, and what it drinks is the egg, leaving the baked frittata drier than it should be. Yesterday’s leftover millet is ideal here, which makes this a good recipe for using some up.
Get the water out of the vegetables
Courgette and spinach are the two wettest things in the list, and both release their water in the oven, where it has nowhere to go. A frittata that comes out weeping at the bottom of the dish almost always failed at this step rather than in the baking.
The five minutes of stewing is what handles it, so let the liquid actually evaporate rather than stopping while the pan is still wet. Spinach in particular collapses to a fraction of its volume and gives up a surprising amount of water. Let the vegetables cool a little too, for the same reason the millet does.
The dried tomatoes go in raw and cut into strips. They are there for concentrated flavour and, unlike the cherry tomatoes, they add no liquid at all, which is why both kinds appear in one recipe.
Four eggs to 50 grams of groats
That proportion is what makes this a frittata rather than a millet bake. The eggs are the structure and the millet is the filling, and pushing the groats higher gives you something closer to a savoury cake that crumbles when you cut it.
Whisk the eggs with the spices before they meet anything else, so the turmeric and salt distribute evenly instead of sitting in streaks. Whisk them just until even, though: air beaten into the eggs makes the frittata rise in the oven and then sink as it cools.
Baking and slicing
Thirty minutes at 180 degrees suits a dish that holds the mixture about three centimetres deep. A wider dish bakes faster and a deeper one needs longer, so go by the middle: it should be set and no longer wobble when you move the dish.
Let it stand ten minutes before cutting. A frittata firms up as it cools and slices cleanly then, while cut straight from the oven it tears. It keeps three days in the fridge and is good cold, which is the other argument for making a whole dish of it. If you would rather have breakfasts like this one planned into the week with a shopping list, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.
Millet frittata with vegetables
Ingredients
Method
- Rinse the millet groats under cold running water, cook them following the packet and leave them to cool completely.
- Melt the clarified butter in a pan, add the chopped onion, then the courgette cut into halved slices and the spinach, and stew for 5 minutes until the liquid has evaporated.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes and cut the dried tomatoes into strips.
- Whisk the eggs with the spices until just even, then combine them with the vegetables and the cooled millet.
- Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes at 180 C (350 F), until the middle no longer wobbles.
- Let the frittata stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Frequently asked questions
Warm millet starts setting the eggs the moment they meet, which gives lumps of scrambled egg instead of an even custard. Cold millet has also finished absorbing; used warm it keeps drinking liquid in the dish, and what it drinks is the egg.
Yes, and it is ideal here. Cooked and chilled overnight is exactly the state this recipe wants.
Because the courgette and spinach went in still wet. Both release their water in the oven, where it has nowhere to go, so let the five minutes of stewing run until the liquid has actually evaporated rather than stopping while the pan is still wet.
They do different things. The dried ones go in raw, cut into strips, for concentrated flavour, and unlike the fresh ones they add no liquid at all.
Thirty minutes at 180 degrees suits a dish holding the mixture about three centimetres deep, and the middle should be set and no longer wobble. Let it stand ten minutes before cutting, since a frittata firms up as it cools and tears if cut straight from the oven. Breakfasts like this one come planned into the week with a shopping list in the Diet & Training by Ann app.
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