Spring Vegetable Egg Casserole

Five weeks in. I have been furloughed five weeks and the daycare reopening date keeps being pushed back. I am managing financially but I feel the precariousness of it in a way that takes me back to younger years, to not knowing what came next, to being dependent on whether the situation held. I remind myself: I have savings. I have unemployment. I have skills. The situation is not the same as it was then. But the feeling has a familiar quality.

I have been making a lot of bread. The sourdough loaves have been good and the bread for the hallway neighbor has become a Tuesday thing. She sometimes leaves me a note in return, small thank-you cards with her name on them: Edna. Edna has lived in this building for fourteen years. She has a cat. She told me this through the window when she came to get bread last Tuesday. She said her cat is named Clover. I said mine is named Biscuit. She said: of course it is.

I made a frittata this week, the large kind, with everything I had in the refrigerator: asparagus, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, fresh herbs. Frittata is the pantry cleaner, the we-will-eat-this-for-three-days solution. It is also genuinely delicious. Biscuit watched me make it from the refrigerator top with the air of a critic who has no notes but is reserving judgment.

Classes are going fine online. Dr. Ochoa and I have been having weekly video calls about the research, which continues remotely. She said: you are remarkably calm for someone in this situation. I said: I have been in more uncertain situations than this. She was quiet a moment. She said: I believe you. Yes.

The frittata I described — asparagus, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, herbs, everything in the crisper drawer — is really just a baked egg casserole with a fancier name, and that is exactly what this recipe is. When I need something that will hold me for several days without fuss, that uses what’s already on hand, and that feels like actual cooking rather than survival mode, a spring vegetable egg casserole is the answer every time. Biscuit approved from his perch on the refrigerator. That’s as good a review as I need.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

8 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped scallions (about 4–5 stalks)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or crumbled goat cheese
2 tablespoons fresh herbs (parsley, chives, or dill), roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or an oven-safe skillet with olive oil or nonstick spray.
Sauté the vegetables. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the asparagus and scallions and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the asparagus is just tender. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat and stir in the thawed peas.
Whisk the egg mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper until fully combined and slightly frothy.
Assemble the casserole. Spread the sautéed vegetables evenly in the prepared baking dish. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Scatter the cheese and fresh herbs over everything.
Bake. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30–35 minutes, until the eggs are set in the center and the top is lightly golden. A knife inserted in the middle should come out clean.
Rest and serve. Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, or refrigerate and reheat slices over the next two to three days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Spring Vegetable Egg Casserole — The Frittata That Fed Me for Three Days