Tartes Simples  

 with Suzanne Dunaway

(MORE RECIPES FROM SUZANNE.…Local, national, international….)

We eat tartes all the time of every make and description, a frittata in Italy but they really are the same anywhere, and I love the winter vegetables I find here in our markets…sweet onions from Cevennes, blette, spinach, beet tops, red endive, zucchine, you name it.
Hope this works for you.

These are called frittata in Italy, which also means “blunder.” But I think of them as tartes here in France, and they are definitely not blunders, but lovely egg and vegetable combinations to have a quick lunch or dinner and use up leftovers from 2025, haha.

Almost anything can go into a tarte, but it is best to keep it simple, as with all recipes. The idea of a tarte is to make a quick, ingenious dish out of whatever you find leftover in the fridge, but almost all of all my tartes contain cooked pasta or rice from other dishes.

And there are so many good winter vegetables now. A very good vegetable tarte may be made without either, but I am a pasta and rice lover and so I use them often, also for body, and leftover pasta or rice is also something one can add quickly to a recipe when three or four new guests show up! Along with and extra egg or two….

BASIC FRITTA

Begin every tarte in a stick-proof skillet with a good dash of olive oil (or butter, if you wish), add chopped or sliced onion or shallot, a chopped garlic or two and whatever you like to make a soft mirepoix.

Then sauté whatever additional vegetables you are using—leftover cooked carrot, fennel, celery, spinach, ,blette, artichoke hearts, potato, all chopped or sliced thin, plus a little tomato sauce or very drained chopped tomatoes and cook for a minute or two.

In the skillet, add the leftover pasta or cooked rice and stir them into vegetables.

Beat the eggs well, 1 or 2 for each person (depending on their size and appetite, the person, not the eggs) adding, if you wish, a little beer or cream (a French friend says that beer is the secret to all good omelets so why not use a dash here?

Pour the eggs over the sautéed mixture evenly, shaking the pan a bit for the first few seconds to distribute the eggs throughout the mix.

Heat up your oven broiler.  Let the tarte cook for about 3 minutes on the stovetop, covered, depending on its girth and depth, just until the eggs are set but still wet and shiny on top.

Sprinkle the tarte with Parmigiano or whatever shredded cheese (if any) you wish to use on top.

Sprinkle the whole thing with sweet paprika and pop the tarte under the broiler for a minute to brown, and to melt the cheese, “fix” the eggs and set the tarte so that it can be cut easily. Let it sit for a minute before serving.

Serve with tomato slices or a nice green salad.