Springtime Crab Frittata

Springtime is in the air and Easter is (just about) here! I love holidays because it means I get to cook, eat, and drink amazing things and it gives me an excuse to spend way more on food than I normally would. Growing up, we always went to church and then had brunch with the Easter bunny – until my mom let me start dressing up as the Easter bunny at the country club. I found it quite fun but I’m not sure if the other children did. The bunny suit was made for a person around 6 feet tall and I came in right around 5’2”. Those dumb kids probably still fell for it (hehehe).

Anyway, for this Easter brunch, I came up with a Springtime Crab Frittata. It’s chock-full of fresh veggies, crab and lots of eggs. Since we used way too many eggs, it took a bit more time than I was expecting to cook but to me, it looked beautiful when it was complete. I’d say this will serve about 8 people so you could prepare it ahead of time and pop it in the oven right when the guests arrive. After you mull over a few cocktails, or glasses of Grasshop-ah cider, you’ll be ready to feast-er!

 

 

Ingredients:

14 eggs

4-6 oz of lump crab meat (just depends how crabby you want to get)

¼ cup green onions – chopped

1 cup of fresh spinach

½ yellow onion

1 jalapeño (or 2 if you want some spice)

1 red pepper

2 garlic cloves – pressed

1 cup Parmesan cheese

pepper

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp butter

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Chop the onion, jalapeño, and red pepper into good-sized chunks. Sautee them in a deep pan with the butter and garlic on medium heat until tender

 

Give the spinach a hard chop and throw it, along with the green onions, in the pan. Let that simmer until a bit wilted and set it aside.

Now – you can cook everything in the pan, a cast iron skillet, or a very deep pie dish. Since I didn’t have a cast iron skillet and my pie dish seemed too shallow, I opted for cooking the frittata in the pan. One word of advice: remove the veggies for a second and spray down the pan with a bit of oil (I had a challenge getting the frittata out in the end). Once the pan is sprayed, put the vegetables back in and top with the crab and then the cheese. Grind pepper liberally on top of that.

 

Whisk together the eggs and pour them evenly over the top of all the other goodies.

 

Pop the whole thing in the oven until the eggs are set and the top is barely golden. Ours took 37 minutes, but I checked on it about a million times. Yours will probably take less if you don’t open the oven every 2 minutes.

 

When it is finished, take it out and slice it like a pie with a serrated knife. [We flipped ours upside down onto a plate, put another plate on top of it and then flipped it back, right side up. This seemed like the easiest way to get it out without breaking it into pieces].

 

Serve with a delicious cider, like Grasshop-ah from Colorado Cider Company because its Spring and cider makes drinking early in the day seem more reasonable.

 

Cider Pairing: Grasshop-ah from Colorado Cider Company

This isn’t the first time we’ve used a product from Colorado Cider Company and it surely won’t be the last. Every cider we’ve tasted so far from CCC has been extremely refreshing and scrumptious. If you remember, we cooked apples in Pome Mel for our Mini Apple Pie recipe and it turned out great. This time around, we paired Grasshop-ah with our frittata. When I think of cider, I usually think of huge apple flavors and nothing else. That is not the case with Grasshop-ah. It’s almost clear in color and to me, smells like a fine white wine. It is brewed with hop flowers and lemon grass which explains the floral and citrusy notes. As for the apple, it comes in subtly throughout the whole drinking experience. Overall, Grasshop-ah is a Springtime treat but I think I’ll be enjoying it year round.