I love frittata 💗
Frittata was the very first recipe, that wasn't just combining different food items, that I've ever cooked for Georgia when she was only 1.
A lot of kids with physical disabilities can have difficulties with chewing and swallowing, so frittata was my natural choice because it was:
easy to make
naturally more inclined to be keto, being egg based
soft
delicious
The only challenge, as a beginner keto chef-mom, was to make it fluffy and high fat without making it too oily or have it crumble easily.
And sure enough, it took a few tries before I perfected it, and had to familiarise myself with ingredients that I have never used before.
Once I started cooking keto, I did some research on alternatives to cornflour that would help me binding the food. After a couple of trips to different supermarkets, I came home with 3 different new ingredients.
Quantity per 100g of product
Protein - 4.7 g
Fat - 0.3 g
Carbohydrate, available - 0.5 g
sugars, total - 0.5 g
And the third one is Agar Agar (Mrs Rogers) which I quickly canned because it's a gelatine substitute, and I prefer unsweetened and unflavoured gelatine - that's pure protein and it's from animal source. If you are also vegetarian (and on keto? next level!) you might want to look into Agar Agar more.
I quickly realised Xanthan Gum was best used with sauces and homemade ice cream. It gives a... gummy (I know, shocking) texture that I did not want in my frittata.
Also, for the love of all the gods in all the pantheons, be extremely mindful when using Xanthan Gum. It's basically pure fibre, and DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LOAD UP WITH FIBRE? 💩 do not f*ck around and find out, especially if you are preparing food for your children. Just trust me. You only need a tiny pinch anyway.
Guar Gum was the winner.
Again, you only need a pinch, and these days I can more easily add things spontaneously without worrying about the spreadsheet too much - but it took me a couple of years before getting to that point.
Now, for our 2:1 frittata!
Reminder: 2:1 ratio means that for every 2 grams of fat, there can only be 1 gram of protein + carbs combined.
Since frittata is so versatile, I made a baseline version with 3g of wholemeal flour to add to the batter (gasp! pure carbs!). The reason why I did that is so that I had a clean "building block" of carbs that I could easily substitute with another source of carbs, without touching the quantity of any of the other ingredients. Nerd.
Did I print out sheets with an empty table so I could create a little cookbook for the things that were on constant rotation in our kitchen?
Yes, yes I did.
Please note - the cookbook in the above picture is almost 2 years old by now, and nutritional values of produce change every year so some of the new quantities might vary a little. If you stick to the above quantities though, the ratio won't be off by a significant amount so you will still be fine.
Georgia's Keto Frittata Recipe
makes 1 toddler serving
Nutritional values per serving (of the base recipe)
Protein: 4.69g
Fat: 14.19g
Carbs: 2.40g
2:1 ratio
Base Recipe Ingredients
23g egg (roughly 1/2 a size 6 egg)
10g Fresh Cream (Anchor)
7g butter
5g Almond Meal (Cinderella)
3g Wholemeal Flour (Edmonds)
Swap out the Wholemeal Flour for one of the following for a veggie frittata
14g low carb potatoes (Sunlite), grated
28g carrots, grated
31g brown onion, chopped finely
12g orange kumara, grated
38g broccoli, chopped finely - this will create a higher protein and lower carb result
3g Chickpea Flour (Fresh Life)
Cooking Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and fresh cream until well combined. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.
If you are using the base recipe, combine the two flours together and then add them to the mix. Whisk well, ensuring there are no lumps.
if you are using one of the vegetables, add them to the mix. Whisk well.
IMPORTANT melt the butter and add it to the mix, do not use it for cooking. Cooking fat will not get significantly absorbed and you will lose fat in the dish ratio.
Now it's time to cook on the stovetop. Frittata really wants a non-stick pan, and a good quality one at that (this is my favourite). You can add a little butter to the frying pan, I add 2 or 3 grams, and wait until it's hot enough.
Cook for 2 minutes on each side, medium heat - remember this is a tiny 1-egg frittata so it won't take long - flipping it will be easy and fun!
Once cooked, removed the frying pan from the stove and let the frittata cool for a few minutes before serving.
ENJOY
this makes 2 portions, it keeps well in the fridge for 4-5 days with no issues.
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