Great Brunch or Light Dinner Idea: Ina’s Pasta Frittata

Highland Park native Amelia Levin, author of the new cookbook “Chicago Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Windy City,” grew up in the kitchen.

Her mom, Karen, a freelance recipe developer, informed Amelia’s palate and her love of food from an early age.

So after stints at the Chicago Trib’s City News Service and various publishing and trade magazines, Amelia returned to her first love: cooking. Combined with her journalism talents, freelance food writing was a natural choice.

Amelia is an unabashed fan of Chicago’s restaurant scene and the infinite variety to be found there. So she compiled the cookbook, which brings together many of Chicago’s best restaurant chefs and their recipes, to provide home cooks with the opportunity to recreate these fabulous dishes in their own kitchens.

As a bonus, she got to work with her mom to test the recipes! Here, we’ve selected a fabulous Pasta Frittata from Ina Pinckney, doyenne of Ina’s on West Randolph Street. If you buy the book, you’ll also get her incredible, award-winning Fried Chicken recipe. Just sayin’.

Pair this with a fruit salad and some sautéed chicken-apple sausages at lunch; for dinner, opt for an arugula, shaved celery and apple salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette. Don’t forget the wine… a crisp white would be best!

Ina’s Pasta Frittata

Serves 8-10

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¾ cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
• 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 ½ cups sliced zucchini, ½” thick
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 10 extra-large eggs
• ¾ cup whole milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ cups shredded white Cheddar cheese
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 pound cream cheese, pulled into bite-size bits
• 3 cups cooked spaghetti, drained and cooled

1. Heat oven to 350F. Brush a 10” cake pan or leak-proof, spring-form pan lightly with oil. Line bottom with parchment, brush with more oil.
2. In large pan, heat olive oil and sauté onion and garlic until softened. Add red pepper mushrooms and zucchini; sauté until soft. Stir in oregano and season to taste. Pour off extra liquid.
3. In large bowl of electric mixer, beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper on low speed. Add cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. When combined, with machine running, add cream cheese. Set aside.
4. Place cooked spaghetti into prepared pan. Spoon cooked veggies over pasta. Pour in egg mixture. Mix with your hands to evenly distribute ingredients in pan. Pat down so that solids are covered with liquid as much as possible.
5. Bake 30-40 minutes until firm to touch and lightly brown. Frittata will puff up, and then settle when cool. Remove from pan. Cut and serve, or refrigerate and cut into portions the next day. Serve with your favorite tomato sauce and some Parmesan cheese.

Ina’s
1235 West Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60607
312-226-8227
http://breakfastqueen.com/

Click here to find cook book: Chicago Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Windy City