Market dinner, take two.

On the way home I realized that it was already Thursday and I had a crisper full of vegetables from last weekend that hadn't even been touched yet. Usually at this point in the week I start getting frantic and just throw everything into a big frittata that I eat with some steamed rice (white or brown, usually brown). Tonight was no exception. I found onions, potatoes, kale, a bag of carrots. The first task was to cook the rice; it takes a while, but you can just dump everything in the rice cooker and forget about it. Only then do I start chopping vegetables, cracking eggs into a bowl, arranging ingredients next to the stove.

The carrots are little purple ones, their dark skins almost shocking against the orange flesh inside. I leave them unpeeled, loving the contrasting colors as I slice them into sticks. The kale and onions I chop fairly small, the potatoes fall away from my knife into neat half-moons, still with their pearly pink skins. I am lazy. I don't peel anything unless I absolutely have to. The onions go into the pan first, into hot olive oil flavored with a little butter. Once translucent, in go the other vegetables, kale, carrots, potatoes. C. arrives. The rice is not ready, but oh well. There are potatoes in the frittata. We'll do without rice tonight.

Actually, it is not exactly a frittata. I have not put enough eggs in, and it refuses to come together in a solid cake, spilling all over the stove when I try to flip it with a complicated maneuver involving a large dinner plate. I regret making fun of D. when she said she wanted the frittata pan from Williams-Sonoma, two interlocking frying pans that make it child's play to flip your frittate in one smooth motion. I could really use one right now. Still, I couldn't justify the expense, especially since my non-frittata is perfectly delicious in its scrambled state, all wilted greens and sweet carrots and caramelized onions and tender coins of potatoes, bound together with egg into tasty nuggets of vegetables. Another satisfying weeknight meal.