Tasty Spinach, Walnut and Butternut Squash Fritatta (Easy oven method)
So technically this isn’t the traditional fritatta style recipe as it skips cooking it on the stove before finishing in the oven, it just goes straight to the oven. It takes a little longer than my other recipes but you can speed up the process by cooking the ingredients in advance. This fritatta also keeps really well, is good cold or reheated and lasts for 3 days in the fridge.
The most work you have to do for this fritatta is to prep the ingredients. Start by roasting off the butternut squash and frying the onions and garlic. I use 4 large cloves of garlic in this recipe. I’m a chef so… I use an aggressive amount of garlic when cooking. You can absolutely reduce the amount of garlic but I think it’s just right for this recipe. Finely chop the herbs, defrost your spinach or wilt it by lightly cooking it on the pan for a minute and add the seasonings.
Next, lightly whisk the eggs and cream/milk together, season and add to the other ingredients. Prepare your baking tray as pictured below, I use a 10 inch round cake pan lined with parchment. Transfer all of the mix to the lined pan and use the excess parchment to fold over the fritatta. This will prevent the top from burning while in the oven.
Spinach and Butternut Squash Frittata
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking trays, including a 9 or 10 inch cake pan
- Frying pan or pot
- Bowl
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash
- 1 medium white onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 200 grams frozen spinach, defrosted, or fresh spinach wilted
- 100 grams feta crumbled into chunks
- 1/3 bunch fresh coriander (Or cilantro depending on where you land in this debate) finely chopped
- 1 tbsp chilli flakes use more or less depending on what kind of kick you want from this
- 5 whole eggs
- 500 ml milk You can substitute half or all for cream for a creamier more luxurious frittata
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°c or 170°c if fan assisted.
- Peel the butternut squash, scoop out the seeds and cut into medium sized chunks. Place onto a lined baking tray, season well and toss in a little bit of cooking oil. Roast for 20-30 minutes until soft in the middle. Leave to cool.
- Roughly chop the onion and garlic. Fry the onions until they start to caramelize and start to brown, then add in the garlic until cooked, stirring well throughout the whole process.
- When the squash is cooked and slightly cooled, throw into a large mixing bowl along with the onions, defrosted or wilted spinach, feta, coriander and chilli flakes. Season well and make sure to taste for extra seasoning, spinach and squash can take a lot of salt so make sure you have added enough.
- In a separate bowl or measuring jug, crack the eggs and pour in the milk/cream. Season well and lightly whisk, just enough to break up the eggs and mix everything together, you don't want to whip it or create air.
- Pour the egg mix onto the ingredients and mix together briefly.
- Line your cake tin by slightly greasing the sides with oil, butter or an oil spray and cut a piece of parchment paper 20cm larger than the tin so that there is a good sized overhang after you push the parchment into the sides and bottom edges.
- Pour the whole mix into the tin and push down any ingredients not covered in the egg mix. Take the edges of the parchment paper and fold them into the middle of the frittata. This will ensure that you can bake it long enough to cook the middle, but the top won't burn as easily.
- Pop it into the oven and cook for 40 minutes, checking after 20 minutes to turn it. The frittata is ready when it has risen into a nice dome and when pressure is put on the parchment paper from above, no uncooked, wet egg mix comes to the surface.
- Allow to cool for easy slicing.
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