Italian Fritatta – Potato & Onion Recipe

Laura Vitale in the Kitchen

Frittata is an egg-based Italian dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche or scrambled eggs, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses or vegetables. The word frittata is Italian and roughly translates to “fried.”

The Italian word frittata derives from friggere and roughly means fried. This was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet.  Including anything from a fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato. Outside Italy, frittata was seen as equivalent to “omelette” until at least the mid-1950s.

In the last fifty years, frittata has become a term for a distinct variation that Delia Smith describes as “Italy’s version of an open-face omelette”. When used in this sense, there are four key differences from a conventional omelette.

There is always at least one optional ingredient. Such ingredients are combined with the beaten egg mixture while the eggs are still raw rather than being laid over the mostly cooked egg mixture. This is done before it is folded, as in a conventional omelette.

Eggs may be beaten vigorously, to incorporate more air than traditional savory omelettes, to allow a deeper filling and a fluffier result.

The mixture is cooked over a very low heat, more slowly than an omelette. Should be cooked for five to 15 minutes until the underside is set but the top is still runny.

The partly cooked frittata is not folded to enclose its contents, like an omelette. It is instead either turned over in full, or grilled briefly under an intense salamander to set the top layer, or baked for around five minutes.