Portuguese Frittata

Thursday afternoon: I'm leaving my dentist and I catch sight of the Portuguese restaurant next door. Even though my tongue is numb with Novocaine, the sight makes me long for linguica. I seem to recall there may be one currently sitting in my freezer.

Thursday night after Chinese takeout:

"Chris, what do you want to do with this leftover rice?"

"I don't know. Maybe make rice pudding?"

"We have so much ice cream in the freezer. Maybe another dessert isn't the way to go."

"Let's think on it.

Friday: I'm still thinking about that linguica, but I'm also thinking about a nice sunny early spring weekend with no plans, and my mind turns toward breakfast menus.

Saturday morning:

"Can you make a frittata with rice? That might be fun."

"You can make a frittata however you want. The fun will be watching you make your first frittata." (Chris is the frittata maker in our house.)

"Well, get ready then.

While Chris had a shower, I set to work creating my beautiful Portuguese frittata, hoping it would be edible. In the end, it was quite edible, but definitely not beautiful. The eggs were nice and fluffy, the rice added texture, and the linguica imparted a spicy, smoky flavor that Chris and I both loved. It actually tasted really good. It wasn't pretty though. I had a sticking-to-the-pan issue and the very center was not completely set, so it sort of fell apart a bit when we tried to flip it. It was such as mess that I didn't want to take a picture. So perhaps I lost points on presentation, but, as watched Chris greedily eat his third helping, I didn't mind so much.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1/2 pound linguica, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 cup cooked white rice

1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup shredded Mexican-cheese blend

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet and saute onions until they become translucent. Add the linguica and cook until browned. Add the rice and tomatoes, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for five minutes. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and milk together. Season the egg mixture with salt and pepper to taste, then pour into the skillet. Add 1/2 of the cheese and gently stir to blend everything together. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and cook over medium heat for five more minute. Then place the entire skillet in the oven and cook at 400 until it is set - about 20 minutes. Carefully "flip" onto a large plate and serve.