Ingredients:
1 lb fairytale eggplants, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped chives
10 eggs
1/4 lb thin sliced lean capicola, cut into slightly less than 1/4-inch strips
salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

Directions:

Note: This part can be made one day ahead and refrigerated.

Preheat oven to 350. Place the eggplant on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet, skin-side-down. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, saute the onion and garlic, in a medium pan using olive oil, until the onion is soft and translucent. Allow the eggplant and onion/garlic to cool. Refrigerate if making ahead then bring to room temperature prior to the next step.

For the next step/next day:
Preheat oven to 350. Beat together the eggs, milk, Parmesan, chives, salt and pepper until fluffy*. Fold in the room temperature eggplant, onions/garlic and capicola. Oil an 8×8-inch baking dish. Pour the mixture into the dish and bake for 40 minutes or until fully set in the middle. Allow to cool 5 minutes. Slice into 9 squares and serve.

*I love my egg beater for this task.

My thoughts:

This is one of my favorite dishes of the summer. It uses chives from my garden and my favorite fairytale eggplant in a way that is even easier than a regular frittata because there is zero stove-top time. Fairytale eggplant is my favorite eggplant variety because it is a. cute b. has tiny seeds c. doesn’t require much work to become delicious and d. zero bitterness. Adding to the vaguely Italian theme is capicola, one of my favorites of the Italian deli meats. I get sweet capicola which is well, sweet and has a light, hammy flavor. The version we buy at our local Italian market has no visible fat so if your capicola does, feel free to cut the extra fat off before adding it to the frittata.

The frittata is great reheated, as well. We like having extra for lunches the next day.  I normally bake mine because I am home but a toaster oven or even microwave works just fine.