Frittata

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Sautéed mushrooms and warm crusty rolls are excellent with the frittata. Finish with ripe pears, chocolate biscotti and espresso.

This frittata makes a perfect brunch or lunch — it works especially well for a picnic. And on a steamy summer night, it may be all you need for dinner. Adding a green salad and a nice piece of bread is an easy way to round out the plate.

Of course, you must have toasted bagels with this. Spinach salad with apple cider dressing would be nice on the side, and warm cherry strudel is a fine finish.

Jennifer Martin of Portland, Oregon, writes: "I am not formally trained in cooking but grew up working in food service, from chopping vegetables at food festivals to catering parties for a little extra income. Today I own Epicure Custom Cooking, a gourmet takeout shop and catering company with a few tables for dining. Our specials change weekly and are geared toward what I like to cook and eat. I simply love the business, even with my 12-hour days. At home when I'm not working, I'm usually cooking just for myself, and I don't have a lot of time. I love a good breakfast — when I have Saturday and Sunday mornings off — so that's why I came up with the frittata."

Tortilla à la Basquaise au Thon et à la Tapenade Use a deep 12-inch-diameter nonstick skillet to make this Spanish-style frittata.

Serve with: Sourdough toast and a mixed green salad. Dessert: Oversize brownies.

María de los Angeles Rodr‭guez Artacho, co-owner with her husband of Bar Jordi, was kind enough to share her recipe.

Flat omelets known as frittatas are popular throughout mainland Italy. In Apulia, this version is made to celebrate the harvest of spring onions.

Aurelia C. Scott of Portland, Maine, writes: "I would love to know how to make the red pepper frittata on the breakfast menu at the fabulous Five Gables Inn, in East Boothbay, Maine."

This frittata is a marriage of ideas gleaned from two similar dishes tasted in the Piedmont: a delicious zucchini and herb "frittela" at the restaurant Guido in Costiglioli d'Asti and a spinach "frittatini" (both were miniature frittate) at the humble but superb Osteria dell'Unione in Treiso.

Silky Japanese eggplant and fiery serrano chile unite in this no-fuss frittata that’s brunch-ready, dinner-worthy, and wildly good.

The star of this potato frittata is the golden strips of shallow-fried russets suspended in the creamy, peppery, quiche-like filling. 

You can put whatever you want in it, and you don’t even need to turn on your oven.