Oh, how I love a great asparagus frittata. I have been working on perfecting my frittata for years. The first time I had frittata was when we were in Italy and ever since I have been obsessed. The dish is one that easily transitions well from one season to another as it will take on the flavors of any season. Originally the recipe was created to make the most of leftovers from the night before or whatever was fresh in the garden. I particularly love having asparagus frittatas in the spring because of how they compliment so many spring veggies. Plus, frittatas make for the easiest brunch meal. It easily feeds 4-6 people and always makes great leftovers if you have friends staying over for a long weekend for instance. If you come to our house I promise you will have this at least once.
I love the veggies that begin appearing in spring. The flavors are earthy, light, crisp and smell of fresh dirt. We still are enjoying root cellar type veggies such as onions, potatoes, and so on. Most likely the kind of leeks you will begin seeing in the coming weeks will be more of the wild variety, but they will provide even greater flavor to this dish than the larger ones you see in stores. Early in the spring season, the veggies we can make the most of are greens (especially micro), root veggies, and then early spring veggies such as asparagus and leeks. All of these make for beautiful frittatas that are perfect for an early spring brunch to celebrate the first day you can open the windows and let in that crisp earthy air, which is exactly what we did for this shoot. The best thing though is making an asparagus frittata with potatoes. We are sharing more about the gathering next week but wanted to first make sure you had a great recipe for your first weekend of March.
To make the asparagus frittata you will need the following:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream (I suggest grassfed heavy cream from the most local source. We get our’s from Shetlers here in Michigan)
8-10 eggs (I suggest pasture-raised or local eggs. They will create a rich color to your frittata)
5-6 fresh stalks of asparagus trimmed and then cut long wise in half
1/4 cup fresh goat cheese
1 tbsp butter (I suggest using grassfed butter or butter you made from your heavy cream)
1 cup precooked fried potatoes (I make our’s for dinner the night before with this recipe and then set a cup aside before serving)
1/2 a leek finely chopped
1/4 of a white onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
Salt and Pepper ( I love Maldon salt)
1 large handful of micro-greens for serving
Other supplies:
1 12-inch cast iron or steel cast iron Lodge pan (we LOVE our Lodge pan and use it multiple times of day)
A mixing bowl
Oven Mitts
A trivet or wood board
A great whisk
A serving spatula
A cooking spatula
Now let’s make this frittata:
- Obviously, you will have pre-made your potatoes the night before so warm up your oven to 400 degrees.
- Before getting your pan warm, you will want to combine the cream and eggs. Place all the eggs into a bowl. I like to lean on the 10 egg side but if you have large eggs you are most likely fine sticking with 8 eggs. Up to you. I then take a great sturdy whisk or a fork and whip the eggs by hand to make sure they not only are well mixed but also contain some air. This will help bring great fluff to your frittata.
- Once the eggs are combined add the heavy cream and hand mix again until the cream is well combined. Set the mixture aside.
- You will also want to prep your pan before beginning. I start the burner and get the pan warmed up, drop in the butter and evenly coat the whole surface of the pan, including the edges.
- Once the pan is prepped and the butter is melting, drop in the onions to cook at medium heat until they are translucent and fragrant
- Add the garlic and leeks to cook with the onions.
- Once those become fragrant you will add the potatoes to the mix and then pour in the egg mixture quickly thereafter.
- You will want to evenly spread and mix all the ingredients so the pan is filled to the edges. I lower the heat between low and medium in order to ensure the bottom doesn’t burn.
- At this point, I top the frittata with crumbled goat cheese and place the asparagus long halves cut side down so they were in a circular pattern.
- I let the pan cook and occasionally tilt pan some to move egg mixture throughout the pan. Once you are noticing the edges of the pan beginning to fluff and appear cooked I then turn off the heat and move the pan into the oven.
- Allow the pan to cook for 10-15 minutes or until the center is no longer runny. You may notice because of the veggies there is some water that does gather. Totally okay. Take it out and let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.
- Right before serving, sprinkle the crisp micro-greens and some salt and pepper on top of the frittata to finish the dish.
This is an awesome dish especially if you have friends who are not eating bread or wheat since the asparagus frittata is crustless. The edges get perfectly crisp because of the heavy cream in the egg mixture. In the past, I have tried a frittata with almond milk and I wouldn’t suggest this as a dairy-free dish. It really needs the dairy to make the dish extra great. If you have experienced otherwise I would love to hear!
We will be sharing more about the table top and gathering for this month’s Simple Evening (well…afternoon in this situation). Look for it next week on Thursday.
So tell me, have you ever made a frittata? What ingredients did you use? Have you ever made an asparagus frittata? I am always looking for great ideas.
On Monday, we have a Monday Words for you to kick off next week so see you then! We also will be releasing our March email for you this weekend in case you aren’t signed up for our emails you may want to do so now.
