Veggie Patch Frittata
Our veggie patch is currently out of control. Everything just happens to be ready at the same time and there is PLENTY of absolutely everything. Silverbeet, spinach, broccolini, parsley, basil, coriander, thyme, three types of lettuce, kale, beans and snowpeas.
A little bit of the lush greens growing in the veggie patch out the back of my dads lovely home.
The giant terracotta pot is home to a beautiful carpet of oregano and some Thai purple basil.
Snowpeas are showing themselves!
The dwarf lemon, beginning to blossom with teeny tiny citrus fruit starting to grow.
Luckily there’s nothing I love more than being creative with similar ingredients and letting what’s around me inspire my next meal, while experimenting with cuisines and flavours. If that wasn’t the case, I’d be bored out of my brain eating the same meal over and over again just trying to eat through the quantities of produce we have at the moment!
Being a lover of brunch, the plan for a beautiful “Veggie Patch” Frittata with a heap of mushrooms and goats cheese is planned. Using a variety of the greens at breakfast time won’t only be delicious, but it will be a great opportunity to use the produce at a meal time that usually gets forgotten in the greens department.
Funnily enough, the morning I made this meal the power in our entire area went off right as I went to begin. Thankfully we have a gas stove and with a bit of thought as to how the Frittata could be finished off in the usual ‘baked style’, we turned to the trusty BBQ. Essentially this dish just proved that, given you have a gas burner at the side of your BBQ, this gorgeous frittata could be created completely kitchen free! What could be better than that?
Feel free to play with flavours when making your frittata. They’re such a versatile meal and really need to become your best friend in terms of using produce up at the end of a week to avoid unessesary wastage of food.
The next three images are of another frittata I have made recently which used a delish combination of bacon, greens, herbs, roasted pumpkin, feta and pinenuts. The flavour combinations are endless! Get creative.
There’s nothing that upsets me more than excess food waste, so when you have this recipe up your sleeve you can pull it out at any time with anything you like from the fridge: leftover roasted vegetables, herbs, chillies, sausages, cheeses, fish... you name it.
It’s so good you can even serve it to guests for a brunch or lunch as something special!
VEGGIE PATCH FRITTATA
Serves 6-8
You will need a heavy based frypan that can also withstand being placed in the oven for this recipe. Alternatively, a frypan that you could place under a low grill heat with the handle covered and not able to melt or become damaged would also work.
INGREDIENTS
10 eggs
1/4 cup thickened cream
Olive oil
1 heaped teaspoon butter
Salt and pepper
1/2 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 and a half cups of standard cup or portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 punnet (or cup) of enoki mushrooms, separated
1 bunch of asparagus, sliced lengthways into quarters (see images below)
1 cup English spinach, thinly sliced
1 cup silverbeet, thinly sliced
1 cup kale, thinly sliced with stems removed (keep a few spare leave aside)
1 cup of herbs roughly chopped (a mix of thyme, parsley and basil)
Goats curd, sliced
To Serve toasted sourdough, extra fresh herbs and edible flowers (I used a mix of violas, lemon and basil blossoms from our family veggie patch).
METHOD
1. Preheat a fan forced oven to 180 degrees celcius (or your BBQ if you have a hooded BBQ with a temperature gauge). Crack eggs into a large bowl and loosely whisk until almost combined. Pour in the cream and lightly whisk into the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Heat frypan over the stove on a medium high heat. Pour olive oil into the pan and add the butter to melt.
Add the onion and cook for a minute until just aromatic.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until they are softened.
Add the asparagus and toss through the mushrooms until they slightly wilt.
Next, add the English Spinach, silverbeet and kale. Stir together with the onion and mushrooms, cooking for a minute or two.
They will shrink down as they cook. Allow any juices to cook off if the mixture looks too ‘wet’.
4. Reduce the heat and pour in the eggs.
Instead of ‘stirring’, agitate the egg mixture through the veggie mix, ensuring it gets to the bottom.
Be gentle, but make sure everything moves around to allow the egg to 'fall' to the base of the pan.
Allow it to cook for 2-3 minutes at the lower heat to ensure the base of the frittata is cooked, but top is still more of a liquid and uncooked, before moving it to the oven (or BBQ if you’re using that option as we ended up having to die to our electricity issue!). Turn stove off and remove from heat.
5. Place the slices of goats curd over the top of the egg mixture.
Sprinkle to herbs over the top of the frittata and again agitate down into the top part of the egg mixture.
Arrange any spare kale leaves into the surface of the frittata.
6. Place the pan into the oven (or BBQ) and bake for 20mins or until cooked through, just firm to touch in the centre and going lightly golden on top.
Remove and allow to cool slightly.
7. Sprinkle with extra fresh herbs, edible flowers and serve with some toasted sourdough. Beautiful and delicious!
NOTE: You can source edible flower seeds online or from local gardening stores.
They're easy to grow and add a little extra 'cute' to your meals.
As with all garnishes though, you can and should ensure the flavour of them works
with whatever you're serving. Make sure they're edible and give them a little nibble!
WINE SUGGESTION
As part of a special brunch, why now serve the Veggie Patch Fritatta, or any alternative you end up creating, with a bright bubbly prosecco? Sounds like the perfect breakfast celebration to me.
If all the celebrating may have happened prior to your brunch, you might need to consider some homemade Bloody Mary’s!
For a deliciously simple classic recipe, look no further than this recipe by Cookie and Kate: Homemade Bloody Mary Recipe. The perfectly balanced Bloody Mary would be great made in a pitcher for guests to help themselves.
CREDIT: Image and recipe by Cookie and Kate. Follow links above to this recipe and
more beautiful food inspiration.
If you've got a crowd coming over for brunch, consider this brilliant Bloody Mary Bar concept by Sugar and Charm: Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar.
CREDIT: Image and recipe by Sugar and Charm. Follow links above their their
AMAZING blog and recipe.
Not only does it look cute, but everyone gets to make EXACTLY what they like. Perfection for a large crowd.
Whatever your poison, choose something delicious and make it a brekkie to remember.
Yummo!
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