Steak and Potatoes Frittata

I think I’ve mentioned before about how I often get the question of “When are you going to cook for me?”, whose frequency has only increased since I actually started culinary school. Of course I would love to cook for everyone that I could, but I currently have the least amount of free time in my schedule ever. Enter the holidays… I went home to Chicago for Christmas this past year and by being free of both school and work I had no excuse not to share my food. The lucky recipient of my culinary acumen was one of my best friends from high school who is like a brother to me (and later two more friends that got the leftovers as we picked them up form the airport). In fact, I think I sometimes spend more time with him than my actual brother when I go home to visit (sorry David). We’ve accumulated countless fond memories over the years and have learned so much from one another. In the dorms during high school (I went to a boarding school) we would always overhear him speaking “Chin-glish” (Chinese-English) with his parents and he would teach us various words and phrases – some of them more practical than others. Thanks to him I can say “My name is butt dragon” if I ever find myself in a situation when it would be useful. I’ll be sure to let you know when that happens…

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 2-3 good size potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 red pepper, seeded and deiced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 lb steak, cut into small pieces
• 12 eggs
• a splash of milk
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• salt and pepper
• grated Gruyere cheese

Procedure:

1. In a large skillet with a thin layer of oil, begin sauteing the potatoes with the peppers and onions until tender.
2. Add the steak and season with salt and pepper.
3. Separately, crack all of the eggs into a bowl, add a splash or two of milk, season with salt, pepper and parsley.
4. When the steak is almost cooked through, reducing the burner to low and add in your eggs. You don’t want the pan to be too hot when you do this or you’ll end up with rubbery eggs.
5. Stir the pan so that everything gets mixed together and as the eggs slowly begin to coagulate you can fold in about a cup or so of grated cheese. 
6. Once the eggs are about halfway done cooking, stop stirring, sprinkling more cheese on top, and place in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
7. Garnish with some fresh chopped parsley (if you have any), cut into wedges and serve (from experience a mimosa is a good accompaniment).
8. In theory this should be able to feed up to four people, but in reality it was just enough for two very hungry ones with a small wedge leftover.

I decided to wait until after he said he liked it to tell him that I had actually never made a frittata before…