Birthdays are a little bit like floods. Not because of the outpouring of emotion being akin the floods of tears (we’re well hard innit) but rather because they have two distinct qualities that make them absolutely unique.
1) You know they’re coming every year.
2) You never remember how costly they were last time.
While Davey and his coalition buddies have the option of saying that money is no object (and then of course retracting the statement because who doesn’t love a good excuse to cut something somewhere) yours truly does not. So when it was time to make a pre-pub crawl brunch for Job-Seeker John’s birthday, I had no choice but to economise.
I made him frittata. (Pronounced Furrturrterrrrr if you’re of the Irish persuasion).
Now a frittata is a bit like dredging- public opinion is divided as to whether or not it should even be an option in our lives. I dare say it should be (although officially am opposed to dredging because it’s bloody useless). Here’s the recipe for my economy birthday frittata. Bubbly is optional but highly recommended.
Ingredients
14 eggs
2 peppers, grilled with skins removed.
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets and steamed
1 potato washed and cubed
6 spring onions chopped
200 grams cheddar cheese
A dollop of cream
1 tablespoon of water
knob of butter for frying
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
1) In a deep, ovenproof frying pan slowly fry the potato pieces until they soften and begin to crisp- about ten minutes. Add the peppers and the broccoli florets.
2) Beat the eggs and combine with the cream, the water and the spring onions. When well beaten add to the pan ensuring that the egg mix covers all the ingredients. Sprinkle cheese overtop, cover and continue to cook on the hob until the egg has started to set. This should take about 20 minutes.
3) Place the frying pan into a preheated oven (mine was about 200 Celsius). Keep an eye on it and remove when the frittata has set properly. It was about another 20 minutes for me. A toothpick should come out clean-ish.
4) Serve. Take both criticism and praise with grace.
Cost
The furrturrturrrr itself was incredibly cheap- it clocked in at £4.30 and fed nine people (about 47 pence per serving). But beware- you cannot legally serve such a dish on it’s own at a brunch. With bacon and sausage for everyone the meal came to £9.45, bringing the cost up to a respectable £1.05 per portion. Still pretty good value, and we didn’t have to raid the health and social care budget.
Peace out y’all
– Cutback Charlie
austerilicious 