Summer Bounty Frittata

Each Thursday, Emily Vikre (a.k.a. fiveandspice) will be sharing a new way to love breakfast -- because breakfast isn't just the most important meal of the day. It's also the most awesome.

Today: Keep September simple by tossing all your favorite summer vegetables into a dish that works at any time of day.

Our ideal version of summer is life simplified: spacious, languid days punctuated by an excess of lounging and iced tea. Often, though, it is anything but simple. It involves scurrying from event to event, hurriedly trying to tick items off our bucket lists, and all the insanity of planning, packing, schlepping, and traveling that vacation winds up involving. For example -- this is totally hypothetical, of course -- you may even find yourself in the car at 5 AM with a screaming 11-month-old on your way to the airport to go visit family, thinking, “Vacation? Really?”

More: Pack a mess-free meal for your next road trip in this airtight container.

Happily, the food of summer, at least, obliges our urge for simplicity. The produce is so good, so abundant, so darn cornucopian. And it requires so very little thought or effort to make it a meal (a little slicing, a little salt, maybe some judicious application of flame) that it’s almost obnoxious, except that it’s so great. And while our mental conception of summer may end with August, September can actually be a very summery month, with the vestiges of August’s heat dialed down to perfectly pleasant and with the most ridiculous piles of produce yet. So why not continue to keep food simple and summery?

A frittata suits that bill perfectly: It's fast, easy, and an admirable recipient of any produce you want to throw into it. I made this frittata for a light supper using a mix of the summeriest produce I could think of: late summer cherry tomatoes, corn, peppers, and squash. The corn gives it more heartiness than many frittatas have, and all the caramelized vegetables saturate it with the savory sweetness of a September day. It was a nice supper, but the leftovers made for an even better breakfast, sandwiched between slices of bread and eaten in the car at 5 AM on the way to the airport. Vacation may not be simple, and the waning of summer may not be simple, but at least your breakfast can be!

Summer Bounty Frittata

Serves 4 to 6

2 tablepoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small zucchini sliced into 1/8 inch-thick rounds
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
A couple basil leaves, thinly sliced
6 large eggs
Salt and pepper

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Emily Vikre