I had some left over boiled potatoes and carrots from a bollit, and a lot of leeks, so I turned them into a comforting fritatta.
I was feeling quite creative so I decided to add a spicy twist to this by concocting a sort of “spicy soya topping”, using dehydrated soya mince, chilli oil and paprika. After baking in the oven, the texture became crispy and super interesting—nothing to do with the boring soggy soya bits you get just after rehydrating.
It provided a good counterpart to the soft, comforting fritatta flavours. Something to experiment with!
Ingredients (for four portions)
- Boiled carrots
- Boiled potatoes
- Leeks
- Butter
- 4 eggs
- Optional, for the spicy soya topping:
- dehydrated soya mince
- paprika
- chilli flakes (or chilli oil)
Preparation
If you want the spicy soya topping, begin by rehydrating the soya mince: put as much as you want to use in a pot with hot water (I don’t remember how much I used!). Let it rest for a few minutes. Then drain with a sieve, and squeeze out the excess water (we don’t want it to be dehydrated but we don’t want it to be soggy either).
Add about a teaspoon of chilli oil (or a dash of oil and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes) to a smaller pan, and bring to a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the rehydrated soya, and stir to encourage it to absorb the chilli oil. Then do the same with paprika, except you can be more generous as it won’t be spicy (in my case I waited until the soya was getting quite red). Then turn the heat off for this pan and leave for later.
Turn the oven to 180ºC.
Slice the leeks and wash them to remove dirt.
Fry them on the iron cast pan on a medium heat with some oil, butter and a sprinkle of salt, until soft and somewhat translucent.
Add the carrot and potatoes, diced into cubes, and stir, trying to give them a bit of a char (but not burning them!).
Beat the eggs on a separate bowl.
When they’ve acquired a bit of colour, add the eggs and mix well to get the components to bind to each other.
Finally add the spicy soya topping that we prepared earlier.
Place in the oven until the top looks almost all set—I think it was about 30 minutes. Don’t overcook it or it’ll be too dry. No one likes dry fritattas!
Leave it to rest for a bit before serving.
