Embrace Fall with a Farmers’ Market Frittata

Fall is finally here, and the farmers markets are full of amazing seasonal produce. Blue Plate Cafe Executive Chef shares a fun, autumn activity and recipe.

One of my favorite, Sunday activities is making a run to a local market and picking out whatever mushrooms, greens, cheeses and eggs I can find to make a huge frittata for brunch. For a great frittata, all you need is great ingredients. Start with selecting some nice, cage-free pasture-raised eggs; they make a difference. The deep orange hue of the egg yolks are a tell-tale sign of a healthy, well-raised chicken with a proper diet. The next step is finding your fillings. Mushrooms are a staple in my kitchen; I usually go for lion’s head, oyster and miatake—but quality is always more important than the actual type. The following recipe is my personal favorite and consists of mixed mushrooms, Swiss chard, fresh farmer’s cheese and herbs.

Yield: 1 large frittata

6 eggs
2 pints mixed fresh mushrooms (oyster, lion’s head, miatake, button, chanterelle)
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 cup fresh farmer’s cheese (substitute ricotta if not available)
1 onion
1 cup micro-greens (use any small, petite green available)
2 Tbsp heavy cream
Salt
Pepper
1 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 350℉
2. Grease a cast-iron skillet with butter and set aside
3. Slice mushrooms and sauté them until most of the moisture has left them. Finish mushrooms by sautéing with butter and seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. Heat pan. Pull off the heat and add ½ Tbsp butter and cleaned, chopped, swiss chard. Toss until wilted and set aside.
5. Julienne 1 small white onion and sauté until caramelized. Set aside.
6. Scramble eggs in a bowl with heavy cream, salt and pepper. Set aside.
7. Arrange mushrooms and Swiss chard evenly in skillet.
8. Pour eggs over vegetables.
9. Top with pieces of fresh cheese.
10. Bake for 25 minutes or until middle of frittata is set.
11. Let sit for 5 minutes, and remove frittata from skillet.
12. Top with micro-greens and enjoy.

Serve the frittata with a toasted sourdough boule (French bread) and accompany with your favorite, sliced charcuterie and preserves for an delicious, rustic, brunch spread. Enjoy this recipe and find ways to make it your own. Remember, the quality of ingredients you select are more important than the ingredients themselves. Simply pick whatever looks best when you go to the farmers’ market, and you will have great results.