Egg frittata with wild herbs Istrian Recipe

Egg frittata with wild herbs is a very simple and rustic dish, quick to make and a perfect recipe choice for an easy and uncomplicated midweek or weekend lunch, dinner, brunch or breakfast.

It is delicious when eaten hot, but equally very tasty at room temperature or cold, it can be made ahead, providing a great picnic solution, and frittata cut into small bite size pieces will make a brilliant finger food feeding larger groups served together with some drinks.

This humble frittata is a very traditional dish in the Slovenian Istra where I grew up, it is similar to an omelette, it is Italian in origin (Italian word frittata roughly translates to “fried”) and to me, is more than just a quick meal solution.

This type of frittata together with other two most common variations (frittata with dry sausage and frittata with wild asparagus and pancetta) represent a real speciality in Slovenian Istra which, due to close geographical proximity to Italy, made this dish very popular and is referred by locals as Fritaia de erbe, Fritaja, Fritata or Frtalja, Fritaia, and all of these words derive from the Venetian word fritaia, given Venice's domination of the region.

Both my paternal and maternal grandfathers loved all variations of frittata and would have them for merenda (a dialect word, from Italian meaning snack) indicating in the past a quite substantial late morning breakfast (a slightly less sophisticated version of a “modern” brunch) for pheasants, farmers, fishermen and workers. They all started work at dawn, so by mid morning, when they finished working, and before returning home for lunch, they were all quite hungry, and more than ready to have some food to replenish the energy. Nowadays, merenda indicates a light mid morning or mid afternoon snack, that can be savoury or sweet, and of course, children always push for a sweet option...

Both my grandfathers would pick up wild herbs (spring providing the widest range) when returning home from spending a morning working in their vegetable gardens, orchards or olive groves, in which case egg frittata with wild herbs would be prepared for lunch or dinner.

Wild herbs frittata and other types of frittata were for a long time considered a dish for only the poorest people, but thanks to new gastronomic traditions, they are very proudly back on the menus of many homes and restaurants, and given the true dignity they deserve. They are quick and cheap to prepare, have low caloric intake, and are abundant with nutrients from freshly picked herbs in the local area.

I am sharing here a very easy family recipe for this modest frittata. All you need to do is take a nice walk in the natural world around you - forests, meadows etc., and pick some seasonal wild herbs. What can be easier than that?

Well, if you are mainly in an urban area, you can skip the walk and use store bought baby spinach, wild rocket, some fresh basil and flat leaf parsley and you are ready to go...

Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 100g-150g (about 4 full handfuls) fresh mixed wild herbs, washed and finely chopped

    In this recipe I used wild garlic leaves, wild fennel, stinging nettle, dandelion leaves, mint, chives, lemon balm, sage, marjoram, flat leaf parsley, basil.

    You can also use store bought baby spinach, wild rocket, any combination, proportion does not really matter as long as you have more or less the total amount of fresh herbs stated in the ingredients list.

  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  • 8 medium sized eggs (in this recipe I calculated 2 eggs per person)

  • sea salt

  • black pepper

Method

Wash thoroughly fresh mixed herbs, dry them using a salad spinner, if you have one.

Finely chop the herbs and set aside.

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk well, add sea salt and black pepper.

Add finely chopped herbs into a mixing bowl and mix well with the egg mixture.

Put extra virgin olive oil in a fairly large non stick frying pan (28cm or 30cm) and heat it up a bit.

Pour the egg and wild herbs mixture into a pan, cover with a lid (glass lid with steam hole works very well if you have it) and cook on a gentle heat.

The frittata is ready and cooked when the underside is set and the egg mixture on the surface no longer has “runny and raw” consistency.

Hold a plate upside-down over the pan and turn the two over together so that the frittata inverts on to the plate. Slide the frittata back into the pan and cook for a further minute or so.

Fresh herbs frittata can be eaten and enjoyed warm, room temperature or cold and will make a complete meal accompanied by some salad, fresh crunchy bread, soft cooked or grilled polenta and it also makes a great sandwich filler.

If you want to enjoy it Istrian style, pour yourself a small glass of red wine.

Just a thought

This type of frittata will keep in the fridge in an air tight container for about two days and is not suitable for freezing.

In this recipe, I have chosen to cook the frittata in a traditional way, on the stove with a lid, as my family has always used this method. However, if you are familiar cooking the frittata in the oven, and that is your preferred method, it is perfectly fine to do so.

Wine suggestion

Friuli Colli Orientali Ribolla Gialla DOC 2021 - Torre Rosazza