Breakfast of Champions: Fiesty Frittata

Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omelette or quiche, either simple or enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta. It may be flavored with herbs.

When I had a 1.5 hour commute last summer, I had to leave the house by 7:15 am to get into the city on time. Getting up extra early means you run out of steam much earlier than lunchtime and you ed up regretting not eating something before hopping in the car! That's where this super frittata comes in - its like a protein brownie, filled with all my favorite things and sealed together with an egg. You can replace the ingredients for anything you like, so feel free to wing it. But DO have everything chopped and prepped before you turn the skillet onto the stove - trust me, there isn't enough time to chop or wash in between.

You will need one special tool - a non-stick oven safe skillet or saucepan with 2 inch (at least) tall sides. And a spatula that won't scratch up the pan!

Feisty Frittata
one hour - includes ALL prep and 20 minutes of baking
One nine inch skillet = 6 large breakfast portions

1 small onion, diced.
3 italian sausages. Squeeze the meat from the casing so you get ground sausage.
3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups frozen spinach, microwaved and pressed out so there's no extra water
1.5 cups diced mushrooms (1/2 inch cubes)
1 tsp tomato paste
1 cup cheese

6 large eggs (8 small ones) , cracked in a large bowl and beaten (ie for scrambled)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp sriracha - optional
1 tbsp freshly minced parsley

1. Prep all your ingredients. Everything must be chopped, minced, squeezed and cracked before moving on. This takes the longest, but I guarantee its worth it!
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Heat up your skillet on high. Add 1 tbsp of oil (canola in my case) and coat the pan AND the sides generously. everything goes in this pan and you do not want to be scraping egg off the pan at the end of the meal! Don't skimp here.
4. When the pan and oil are hot, add the sausage. Use the spatula and a spoon or something to break the sausage up so it crumbles like ground beef. This takes work. If you use bacon or diced chicken, its not as bad, but make sure the pieces are tiny - 1/2 inch cubes are good.
5. The sausage will take a while to cook through and things will start to stick. Add the onions and garlic here to deglaze the pan while you keep working at cooking the sausage through.
6. When sausage is cooked mostly through (no visible pink) add the mushrooms and spinach. Make sure the spinach is as dry as possible! Mushrooms and spinach give off a lot of water and you have to cook off all the water before adding the egg.
7. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and hot sauce (if applicable). Keep cooking off more water. The contents of the pan will significantly diminish as the water evaporates. Lower heat to medium.
8. While you're cooking off water, beat the eggs in a large bowl and then add the milk. The milk helps make eggs fluffy! And we like fluffy :)
9. When you've cooked off all the water (the bottom of the pan should appear dry) you can mix in the cheese and parsley slowly, one handful at a time. Check the amount of stuff in the pan. The pan should be no more than 50% full (to the rim of the pan.) If you have more than that, scoop it out and serve that over rice or something. Scrape down the stuff from the edge of the pan to the bottom. If you leave stuff on the sides of the pan, it may burn when you bake the frittata.
10. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the sausage-spinach mix. The egg will fill the spaces between the mixture. Do not fill the pan past 75% up the side of the skillet! (The egg will rise cuz they're fluffy). Mix the contents of the pan gently - you don't want all the yummy stuff to be on the bottom of the pan, you want it to be incorporated throughout. Help some of the stuff get suspended in the egg. Let this cook on medium for about five minutes and make sure your oven has reached 350.
11. Pop the whole thing in the oven on the middle rack. If you don't have a oven-safe skillet, you can make everything in the pan first, transfer the stuff to a baking pan, and then top with the egg mix. Cook for 20 minutes until top is slightly browned and the whole frittata is cooked solid. Let the frittata rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.
12. Cut with a spatula that won't hurt your pan. Serve warm or cold, with a side of bread or salad.

Brunching in Style: Poached Egg over Collard Greens with Bacon

Weekend mornings are special times. You wake up late and want something rich and decadent, not too much, but enough to last you until dinner. This is how brunch was made, my friends.

Today's brunch is rich and full of color. Its sure to impress if you had a midnight guest and will be filling enough to last you through the afternoon.

The collard greens can be replaced with spinach or green beans or practically anything. But the richness of the egg yolk and bacon complement the slight bitterness in leafy greens. The bacon renders a lot of fat so you should not need any oil (unless you replaced it with turkey bacon or ham).

Serve with toast triangles, a mimosa, and follow with coffee and a piece of chocolate.

Poached Egg over Collard Greens with Bacon
Serves one. 30 minutes

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, halved, then thinly sliced (julienned if you will)
5 big leaves collard greens. Separate leaves from stems. Leaves should be sliced in ribbons, stems diced. (It looks like a lot but it shrinks)
1 1/2 slices bacon, diced 1/3rd of an inch squares (I like thick cut canada bacon, and try to get the leanest one. We like fat, but not enough to kill you)
1 egg, as fresh as possible.

1. Heat a pot of water to boil. Put a drop of oil in a ladle and spread around. Put you egg on the counter so its room temperature.
2. Meanwhile, heat up your skillet to high. Wait several minutes so you know its sizzling hot (a drop of water should hiss and evaporate)
3. Drop in the bacon and let cook in a single layer. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, so they're cooked through but not crispy yet.
4. Turn heat down to medium, add garlic, and onions. Stir to deglaze the pan, pulling all the flavor from the bacon on the bottom of the pan.
5. Add collard green stems, cook for two minutes before adding leaves. Try to push the greens to the bottom of the pan and layering the bacon garlic onion compote on top. Add salt and pepper to taste and reduce to low heat while you poach your egg.
6. Crack the egg into the pre-oiled ladle. Hold it in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Don't submerge it until the egg white starts to turn solidify. You'll lose some white but just make sure to not puncture the yolk. Cook as desired - I like my yolk thick but a little runny.
7. Plate the greens and bacon into a little mound on the plate, creating a hollow in the middle for the egg to sit. Drain all the water from the ladle before separating out the egg. Drop egg carefully in center of collard green nest.

Enjoy!