The Frittata

I've loved this style of breakfast food whenever I've had a chance to try it. It kind of works out to be an omelet that you scoop out of a pan. My first foray into creating my own turned out to be delicious even though it didn't come out like a traditional frittata.

Ingredients are subject to personal preference just like with an omelet so I'll just discussed what I used.

2 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic minced
1 cup of mushrooms
half a bag of spinach
1 large zucchini chopped
6 eggs
shot of milk
goat cheese
asiago
feta

Ideally you would have a cast iron skillet for this task, I did not so I used a skillet that isn't oven safe. Melt the butter in the skillet at medium low heat and add the garlic and the mushrooms. The mushrooms will absorb the flavor and some of the butter after a few minutes of being sauteed. Saute them until the look totally moist. I also through in a shot of white wine into the mix to add a little more flavor for the mushrooms to sponge up.

Add the spinach and the zucchini. I used frozen, chopped spinach, and too much of the water that came from the melting process diluted things and may have caused some trouble with the final stage of cooking. If you use spinach from a bag there won't be that problem. It may look like a lot at first but it will wilt down quite a bit. Continue the saute until the spinach has wilted and the zucchini begins to brown.

Whisk eggs, the shot of milk, some garlic power, ground sea salt, and cracked pepper in a bowl. The whisk puts air into the egg mixture and makes for fluffier eggs, which is key with frittatas, but should be done with any egg mixture. Pour mixture over top the vegetables in the skillet.

Let this cook, just using a spatula to pull back cooked egg, and allow the runny stuff to find the bottom of the pan so it can cook quickly and evenly. Cook until all the egg is solid, but still is very moist.

If you have a cast iron skillet you can skip this step, if not transfer it to a oven safe dish.

Preheat the oven to broil.

Top the frittata with an evenly spread combination of the cheeses. Goat cheese is perfect for this type of thing because when it is melted it essentially turns into a highly flavored cream. The asiago and feta just add some different flavors to the mix, but can be used more sparingly than the goat cheese.

Place skillet/dish in the oven and let it cook until all the cheese is melted and the eggs begin to brown a little bit. Under the intense and direct heat of the broiler the egg should begin to rise like with a souffle. This didn't quite work for me and I suspect that it may have to do with the excess water from the spinach, the skillet to dish transfer, or using milk instead of cream. Next time I'll use dry spinach, I may invest in a cast iron skillet, but I'm probably not going to get heavy cream for this or many other recipes. We don't cook with it enough, and there are health concerns with using it at all, let alone enough to make it worth the purchase. Next time I'll see if I can get it to rise, but even without that added extra, this was one of the best meals I've ever made.