i have 4 eggs, half a leek, stale bread, some parmesan and butter. no oven. dinner for 2 in 20 min? my gf is vegetarian
Perfect pantry combo — make a Leek, Bread & Parmesan Skillet Strata. It's basically a savoury bread-and-butter pudding / frittata, cooked entirely on the stove with a lid. Stale bread is better for this.
Ready in ~18 mins, serves 2.
You need
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 leek, thinly sliced
- Stale bread, cut into ~2cm cubes (about 3-4 slices / 3 cups)
- Parmesan, grated (a good handful, ~50g)
- Butter (a big knob, ~30g)
- Salt & black pepper
- Optional if you have them: chilli flakes, lemon zest, any soft herbs
Method
1. Prep (4 mins) Slice the leek lengthways, rinse well (they hide grit), then slice into thin half-moons. Cube the bread. Whisk the eggs in a bowl with most of the parmesan, lots of black pepper, a pinch of salt (go easy, parmesan is salty), and 2 tbsp water. That little bit of water helps it puff without milk/cream.
2. Soften the leek (5 mins) Melt half the butter in a medium non-stick or cast-iron pan with a lid over medium heat. Add the leek + a pinch of salt and cook 4-5 mins until soft and sweet, not browned.
Tip the leek into the egg bowl.
3. Toast the bread (3-4 mins) Same pan, melt the rest of the butter. Add the bread cubes and toss until golden and crisp on most sides. If the bread is rock-hard, sprinkle over 1 tbsp water first.
4. Bring it together (8 mins) Turn the heat down to the lowest setting. Pour the egg/leek mixture evenly over the bread, give it a gentle poke/shake so every cube gets coated.
Put the lid on and cook for 7-9 mins. Don't stir. It's done when the edges are set and the centre is just set with a tiny wobble.
Take off the heat, leave the lid on for 2 mins to finish steaming.
5. Serve Scatter over the remaining parmesan (and chilli flakes/herbs if using), slide onto a board, and cut into wedges like a cake.
It's rich, buttery, a bit crispy on the bottom and custardy in the middle. Eat straight away.
Quick veggie note: Eggs/dairy are fine for most vegetarians, but traditional Parmigiano-Reggiano is made with animal rennet, so strict vegetarians avoid it. If your gf usually eats cheese, you're fine — if you're not sure, just check in before you shower it on top.
No lid? A big plate or baking tray over the pan works just as well.
The catch: Parmesan is usually made with animal rennet, so many vegetarians skip it.
Run details
- Model
- meta/muse-wonder
- Route
- OpenRouter API, one user message
- Served by
- Meta
- Effort
- medium, OpenRouter's default for this model
- Limits
- 60 min · 150,000 output tokens (our $3.00 stop per request at $20/M)
- Date
- 24 Oct 2026
- Time
- 18 s
- Words
- 415
- Tokens
- 44 in, 1,656 out (984 of them thinking)
- List price
- $0.033 at today's price ($4 in / $20 out per M)
- Paid
- $0.033
- Script
- It warns that parmesan is usually made with animal rennet, so it may not suit a vegetarian.
Exact prompt
i have 4 eggs, half a leek, stale bread, some parmesan and butter. no oven. dinner for 2 in 20 min? my gf is vegetarian