Mmmm.... eggs and carbs....

If there are three things that I love, they are carbs, carbs, and breakfast.  If I could have a big bowl of buttered noodles, with garlic mashed potatoes and a fried egg on top, I would be so totally down.  Unfortunately, that is not really socially acceptable.

If there's one more thing I love, it's my pink Himalayan salt bowl, which I got at the Spice House at the Milwaukee Public Market.  It's so pretty, but there aren't a lot of uses for it.  The one use I have found for it, however, is to make a fritatta.  It looks good for serving, and it gives the eggs a nice salty bite.

This recipe is an adaptation of one I've made a couple times.  I really enjoy a spaghetti fritatta, and I am sure you will see that on here sooner or later.  I had a package of rotini pasta that I wanted to use up, and this seemed like a good way to do that.  You certainly do not need a salt bowl to make this recipe.  A frying pan works fine:

Pesto Pasta Fritatta

• 1/2 cup prepared pesto (I am 99% sure that this was all local.  I made it last fall when I broke down my garden, and there was still a lot of garlic at the farmer's market then... but I can't guarantee anything.)
• 1 cup (or so) pasta - you can really use any kind you like (This was not local.  I used boxed, dry pasta.  It was in my pantry.  I'm not going to waste food here, people!)
• 6 eggs (from my chicken man)
• Splash heavy cream (or milk, if you prefer - I can find local brands of most dairy products at Pick n' Save.  One of the joys of living in WI)
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (from the winter farmer's market)
• 1/4 cup feta, cubed or crumbled.  Or substitute some other kind of cheese if you don't like feta (I was very excited to learn that Montchevre cheese is all made in WI.  This gives me a lot of options for fancy cheese.  And I LOVE cheese.)
• 1/2 tbsp (or less) butter

Cook pasta until almost done.  You want it a little harder than al dente, because it will continue to cook in the eggs.  Once pasta is done, stir in the pesto to coat the pasta and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs, and mix in cream, salt (not too much if you're using the salt bowl), and pepper.

Melt butter along the sides and bottom of whatever you're cooking the eggs in.  If you are using a salt bowl, you will have had it heating up in the oven for probably an hour before this, so the butter will melt fine. Otherwise, just heat up your frying pan on the stove.

Combine eggs, pasta with pesto, mushrooms and feta, and pour into your buttered baking vessel.  Bake in a 325 degree oven until the center is set.  How long this takes will depend entirely on how shallow your baking vessel is.  My salt bowl is pretty deep, and it cooks things slowly to begin with, so this took about 30 minutes.

I served this last night with the last of my salad from Monday night, and it was excellent.

No dinner tonight; my husband Jeff and I are going on a date!