John Nettles’ Mediterranean Frittata

Pepperoni in a frittata?  Yes!  I wasn’t sure how this would turn out but as the only other recipe I have for John Nettles involves pigs trotters I thought I would give it a whirl.

I’ve been writing about John this week for the forthcoming Cooking the Detectives book.  For a while I thought the ONLY recipe out there for the star of Bergerac and the original Midsomer Murders was his aforementioned piggy-feet one (Un Piot et des Pois au Fou) but I did some rooting around the internet (like a piggy searching for truffles) and was delighted to discover this…

Brilliant!  Especially with a glass of Bergerac – haha!

I’d already featured one of these most excellent advertisements in the Murder, She Cooked book. 

Ian McShane’s “very simple, very tasty” salmon steak.

That was a goodie too! I love these ads. They are so sumptuous and sexy.

I made John’s omelette for myself and my chum Julie who was visiting for our annual TENTACOLI night.

We have been having watch parties in our pyjamas since the Covid-19 lockdowns, but this was the first time we had had one in person rather than remotely in our own bedrooms.  Tentacoli was the first film we watched and it is so GOOD/BAD that we now watch it once a year.  

It’s an excuse for us to wear big sombreros (in my case)

or tiny sombreros in Julie’s case (please note the mini-tentacoli wearing a sombrero in the background).

The big sombrero hasn’t surfaced in the unpacking yet, so this year we both wore tiny ones.

Julie brought lots of paper fish from her teaching days to decorate my kitchen and we had a blast.

Naturally, we drank Bergerac wine.

Quite a lot of Bergerac wine actually, so it was lucky that John’s recipe was simple.

Just as we were polishing off the whole omelette we had this conversation.

Me: “This is quite large – do you think it was meant for four?

Julie (laughing): “I think it could have been!”

So if you are feeling greedy, this serves 2, if not 3-4!  `I’ve transcribed the recipe for the book and as John’s measurements were in ounces, I’ve given rough translations to grams.

We were too drunk on Bergerac wine to get the projector going so we watched Tentacoli on the laptop on the kitchen table – suitably decorated.

John Nettles’ Mediterraenan Frittata

100g small white mushrooms, sliced

½ bunch salad/spring onions, finely chopped

Small amount of olive oil

100g sliced pepperoni sausage

6 large eggs, beaten

100g mature cheddar cheese, grated

Chopped parsley to taste

Heat olive oil in an omelette pan or frying pan. Pop in the mushrooms and onions.  Add the pepperoni.  Cook for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.  Add the cheese and parsley to the beaten eggs.  Pour this mixture into the pan and cook until the eggs firm up.  Place the pan under the grill to brown the top.  

Serve with a green salad, and of course, a good Sainsbury’s Bergerac.