A Day In The Life With Ava Jane: Frittata

Today I decided that I was going to make a Frittata.

I wasn't actually planning to make it today ... but planning a later day to try it.

Instead ... as the day went by ... and I got hungry ... and ...

TaDa!

Today became the day!

Mine is a simple Frittata.

They can be made to include fruit and vegetables ... rice ... meat ... pretty much whatever you decide you would like to add. Or even better yet ... check out the left overs in the 'frig and see if they would work as ingredients.

For my frittata I decided to just go simple.

Eggs, sausage, cheese and some biscuits and gravy on the side.

I have to say that this made a meal that both Doug and I were very satisfied with.

It left us our bellies very full and warm.

I will share with you how I made it.

I do have to tell you though … I was taught to cook by the eyeball method … meaning you didn’t always measure your ingredients but “eyeballed” it according to what you thought looked right. There are many times that I will measure … but there are just as many times that I don’t.

Here are the ingredients that you will need:

Frittata Ingredients: 11 eggs, 1lb sausage, ¾ cup milk, ¾ cup cheese

Biscuits (we used canned biscuits today)

Gravy Ingredients: Sausage drippings, Flour , Milk, Salt, Pepper

I would like to express the joy it brings me to cook with our cast iron skillets. Pure Joy! We have five cast iron skillets in various sizes.

My large one belonged to my Grandma Williams and I know for a fact that it has fed six generations of my family. I always think of my Grandmother when I am cooking with this pan. I used it and Doug’s big cast iron pan from the fire pit to cook this meal.

I used Grandmas skillet for the Frittata and used Doug’s skillet for the gravy.

The first thing that I did was turn the oven on to 350 degrees. The next thing was to use Doug’s skillet and fry one pound of sausage. I dipped the sausage out into a bowl and Doug poured the grease out of the pan. (He did it for me because these cast iron skillets are so heavy.) Then I put just a little bit of the sausage back into the skillet and set it aside to use later to make the gravy.

I got Grandma’s cast iron skillet out and set it on the stove for making the frittata.

I got out my big mixing bowl, a whisk and the eggs.

I broke and whisked 11 eggs … added ¾ cup of milk … whisked that together. I then sprayed my cast iron skillet with non-stick cooking spray and poured the egg and milk mixture into the skillet. Then added 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese into the egg mixture putting one layer in … pressing it down into the egg mixture with a spoon … and then adding the remaining shredded cheese to the top.

I cooked this on the stove top for two to three minutes and then put it right into the oven from there.

(all empty now)

It cooked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

And here it is all done!

Now it’s time to cook the biscuits and the gravy.

I got out the flour and the milk.

On this night I did not have the energy to make biscuits from scratch so we used canned biscuits. I put them in the oven and turned my attention to making gravy.

Now we are to the part where I really don’t measure but just eyeball it. So bear with me.

I took the cast iron skillet with the little bit of sausage in it and added three spoons (big ones) of flour to the dry skillet and whisked it together.

I then poured two cups of milk.

(I ended up using three cups of milk all together)

Add just enough milk to whisk in and make a paste.

Add a little bit more milk and whisk together until smooth.

Add a little bit more milk and whisk until smooth. You can see in the picture that this time there was enough milk involved to make a smooth mixture that is no longer pasty.

At this point keep adding milk and whisking until you have added the entire remaining milk into the pan and it is smooth.

Now you’re just cooking it so it becomes gravy. Whisk it and then let it do a few bubbles then whisk again and continue doing this until it reaches the desired thickness that you like for your gravy.

Each time you whisk you can feel the thickness in the bottom of the pan and you are whisking this back into the milk gravy.