Mini Shallot Frittatas

Six months ago, almost to the day, I had my first encounter with mini frittatas. Since then, they've become a regular in my kitchen, both as a great way to use up ingredients sitting in my fridge and as a healthy, simple meal.

This was going to be a Mini Fiddlehead Frittata recipe, except I thought to taste the fiddleheads after blanching them and before making the frittatas, and I realized that, it turns out I hate fiddleheads (good to know, right?). So the background ingredients (shallots and cheese) became the backbone of this recipe.

And, like many unexpected twists and turns in my kitchen, I ended up liking these a lot! More importantly, this recipe falls into the category of "recipes I can make anytime because I have all the ingredients all the time" -- and who doesn't love a recipe that doesn't even require a trip to the grocery store?

So sit back, have a few of these for breakfast or as a light dinner, and I'll be back in a couple of days with something much less virtuous...

Mini Shallot Frittatas

INGREDIENTS:

4 whole eggs

4 egg whites

1 tbsp olive oil

8 large shallots, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp coarse sea salt

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium sized saute pan, heat olive oil, garlic and shallots until fragrant and translucent.

3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy and approximately doubled in size.

4. Using butter or cooking spray, grease a muffin tin generously. Divide shallot mixture into eight muffin molds. Fill to 3/4 full.  Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the shallots in equal portions.  Pour egg mixture over the shallots so that each cup is nearly full.

5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until eggs are set and slightly browned on the tops.

Makes eight mini frittatas.