blt frittata

by Bella Black

All summer long I make (vegan) BLT’s because fresh tomatoes in a sandwich really are EVERYTHING. I had just a few cherry tomatoes leftover from this years harvest and plenty of greens growing, so I decided to try a spin on the classic with a frittata.

If you’ve never had a frittata… it’s kind of like an omelet- you just bake it in the oven and slice it in quarters. Or it’s kind of like a crust-less quiche. Whatever… it’s awesome. I’ve been trying to find new ways to use JUST egg- a vegan egg alternative. This seemed like the perfect experiment instead of the typical scramble. This product is made from mung bean protein and I really love it as a treat every once in awhile. Here’s how I made the BLT frittata:

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle of JUST egg (12 oz)

4-6 strips of vegan bacon (I love the Soy Boy brand)

1/2 Tbsp oil

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, whole

1 shallot, sliced thin

1 cup of chopped greens (I used spinach and swiss chard)

whatever seasonings you dig (salt/pepper/thyme/basil… you do you)

METHOD OF PREP

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Cook bacon according to directions on the package and crumble (or chop into bite sized pieces).

2. Add oil to a medium size non-stick skillet and heat on medium. Add shallots and sauté for about 3 minutes until they start to get fragrant, translucent and even start to brown a little.

3. Toss in your whole tomatoes and let them blister. Let them cook until they start to burst and release some juices, you can push down with the back of a spoon to help this along.

4. Add your chopped greens and stir for just 30 seconds to 1 minute, enough to wilt everything a bit but not cook completely.

5. Turn off the heat and add your entire bottle of JUST egg, sprinkle with seasonings of your choice, and add bacon pieces. Give everything a little stir so that the veggies are evenly dispersed.

6. Put the entire pan into the oven on the middle rack and cook for 40 minutes.

   ***IMPORTANT*** Some pans have handles that cannot go inside the oven. If it has a plastic handle please be cautious. What I do is wrap the handle in a few layers of wet paper towel and wrap that in aluminum foil, this protects the handle from burning. You can also do this recipe in a cast iron skillet, but you’ll need to use more oil to keep things from sticking.

7. Once cooked remove the pan from the oven and slide your frittata out onto a cutting board. It will look like a big round omelet. Let cool for a few minutes, then slice into wedges.

SERVE IT

I really like to serve this with toast and a little side salad of dressed greens. With the greens it’s cool to use a creamy dressing… then you kind of have your crisp green/creamy mayo component going on to really round out this dish.

I also like just take the wedges of frittata and put them between two slices of bread to make an AWESOME breakfast sandwich. You can make these ahead for the week and have a nice grab-and-go meal.