I was in charge of bringing breakfast to our weekly Tuesday morning meeting at work a few weeks ago. Typically people pick up a box of bagels. If we're lucky they pick up breakfast pastries from somewhere more exotic. And on the very rare occasion we get a homemade version of a breakfast crumble. Not being one to settle for store bought breakfast, and wanting to abandon the carb heavy trend that has been set, I decided to make something more suited to my tastes. I'm an eggs and bacon kind of girl, so a fritata seemed perfect. Though, I also made banana bread so people could have the familiar starch option to fall back on.
The fritata was the best way to serve eggs aside from bringing in a plug in skillet and making made to order omelets in the conference room. I baked it about 90% the night before, put it in the fridge, and finished it in the oven the next morning before work. This is ideal for parties or early mornings when you want as little to worry about the day of the meal.
I decided to prepare a vegetarian fritata, seeing as that would be safest. I figured feta cheese was less polarizing than goat, but the swiss chard would give it a fun kick slightly stronger than spinach.
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| a pile of stalks compared to a still intact leaf of swiss chard |
My favorite part of preparing chard is removing the stalks. You basically grab a hold of the thick end with one hand, and with your other hand, lightly cup over the same end of the stalk and slide up. The leaves will be almost entirely removed. Since the stalk is so thick, you don't want to just cut off the bottom, you want to get rid of all of it. Be sure to rinse and dry your chard, and you can either tear or chop into large pieces.
Meanwhile, slice your onion and mushrooms. I used 1/2 a yellow onion and 12 oz mushrooms. Saute in butter to soften.
I would use bacon fat had I included meat in this dish, and if you have a stronger morning palate, feel free to throw in some garlic.
Once softened, throw in the chard to wilt it. Some people may add water to wilt their greens, I found this unnecessary and didn't want to have to drain too much of the chard after cooking.
Once wilted, there will be some residual liquid from the leaves. Typically people tell you to wilt greens alone, then wring them dry, but I wanted all the flavors to infuse together, so instead I strained the entire mixture to remove excess water/butter.
Meanwhile in a large bowl I whisked 12 eggs. I added some salt and pepper, the chard/mushroom/onion mixture, and finally about 6 oz feta cheese. I combined everything well, then poured into a greased glass baking dish and baked in a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes.
Make sure the eggs aren't overcooked, remove, cover, refrigerate, and the next morning reheat in the 325 degree oven for 10 minutes.
