Mollie Katzen's Winter Frittata

The breakfast cook who enjoys feeding people with an unending variety of delicious and wholesome meals to start the day can hardly do better than to have a copy of Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Café on her cookbook shelf. Filled with over 350 recipes for everything from eggs, cheese, potatoes, mushrooms, vegetables, fruit and grains in an incredible assortment of methods, dishes and cuisines, I doubt that I will ever get tired of looking through her book for amazing and original breakfast ideas. Apart from the fact that most of the recipes are simple and fast enough for almost any cook to use, the best part of Mollie's breakfast ideas are that almost every one of them is easily adaptable for whatever variations anyone might like to make to suit their own tastes.

This "Autumn or Winter Frittata" is filled with the earthy goodness of late-season vegetables, and is easily my favourite Mollie Katzen egg breakfast… or at least until I try the next one! If you can, do as she suggests and use red chard and red onions in addition to red potatoes to give the frittata an inviting ruddy hue. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have any red onions and the red chard at the market had a sickly appearance that made me move on to the traditional green or Swiss chard, but the frittata was just as delicious without the added colour.

This is my submission to Weekend Breakfast Blogging, hosted this time by Mansi of Fun and Food. The theme this month is Balanced Vegetarian Breakfasts.

Mollie Katzen's winter frittata

1 lb. red or Swiss chard
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 medium red potatoes, thinly slicked
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 large eggs
4 oz. goat's cheese
fresh ground black pepper
grated parmesan cheese

Separate the chard stalks and leaves, and chop two of the stalks into 1/2-inch pieces. Coarsely chop the leaves and set aside separately from the chopped stalk pieces.

Heat a large wok over medium heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, wait a few seconds, then swirl around to coat the pan. Toss in the onions, potatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and the dried rosemary. Sauté for 5 minutes, then cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the potato slices are tender.

Add the pieces of chard stalk and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in the garlic followed by the chard leaves, then cover again and cook for about 3 minutes more, or until the chard is wilted but still bright green. Remove the pan from the heat.

Break the eggs into a large bowl, add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and grind in black pepper to taste, and beat well with a whisk. Crumble in the goat's cheese and add the sautéed vegetables, and mix.

Preheat an oven to 350°. Meanwhile, heat a 10-inch frying pan with straight sides over medium heat. When hot, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, wait a few seconds, then swirl around to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Pour in the egg mixture and let cook undisturbed for 4 minutes to let the bottom set.

Transfer the frying pan to the preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the eggs are set in the centre, which you can test with a cake tester. As soon as the frittata is set, turn on the broiler and move the oven rack up to the top level. Broil for 2-3 minutes or until the top is browning nicely. Remove from the oven, sprinkle grated parmesan cheese to taste over the top (about 1/4 cup), and return the pan under the broiler for another couple of minutes until the parmesan cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown.

Remove the pan from the oven. Run a rubber spatula around the edges of the pan to loosen the sides, then slide onto a large serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot. Serves 4-6.

Wrap any leftovers in aluminum foil and reheat later at 350° for 12-15 minutes.