Lutong Bahay: Potato, Bacon & Bell Pepper Frittata

Lutong Bahay is a short tag on the title which I use to feature home-cooked food, either in our own home or at a friend's house, either my own cooking or not.

While I'm not really talented or even skilled when it comes to cooking, I can proudly say that I try. So a month ago, when my friends from The Foodies Circle and I went to have an overnight and cook-out session at Tagaytay, I gladly accepted the challenge. No, it's not the cooking part which was the challenge, but the part where I'll have to serve my food to my foodie friends. (Only my family and the beau usually get to taste my cooking.)

At first, I wasn't sure of what dishes to cook. But eventually, I came up with my line-up of dishes which included my take on Chef John's (foodwishes) frittata recipe. Basically, a frittata is an Italian egg-based dish which is most commonly described as an open-faced omelette. Personally though, I find it more similar to quiche, just without the pastry crust. And while traditionally, frittatas are cooked by flipping the omelette to finish cooking the other side, I decided to make a no-flip frittata 'cause I was scared of ruining it.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 10 pieces of large eggs
• 2 cups of cubed, cooked potatoes
• 6 strips of bacon (cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 2 cups of sliced bell peppers (green, red or both)
• 1/2 cup of sliced yellow onions
• Salt and pepper
• As much Parmesan cheese as you want

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and about a tbsp. or more of the Parmesan cheese. Add a dash of salt and pepper, and set aside.
2. In a skillet, heat the olive oil and cook the onions, bacon and bell peppers. When the veggies are cooked and the bacon pieces are in your desired doneness, turn off the heat and wipe off the excess oil from the pan.
3. Turn on the heat and add the potatoes until they're heated through.
4. Pour in the egg mixture and cook as if you're making scrambled eggs -- pull in the set eggs from the side of the pan and fold it over. Let it cook until it becomes a very soft scrambled egg.
5. Turn off the heat and add as much Parmesan cheese as you like. Pop it under the broiler on high (or bake it at 400/500 degrees) until the top becomes golden brown and the eggs set. When done, cut and serve.

I know my Potato, Bacon & Bell Pepper Frittata doesn't have a beautiful golden brown top, but that's because the oven we were using was very problematic. I just had to take it out of the oven as I prefer to have a non-golden brown top than risk burning the bottom of the frittata. In the end though, it tasted quite good and that's what ultimately matters.

Anyway, I still haven't tried making another frittata after this one. Maybe next time I'll try making a ham, bacon and spinach frittata, and maybe add milk in the egg mixture.