Cooking with Catherine. . Part IV (I think!)

Today, I had my mother and her BF over for brunch. I found a recipe in the Williams Sonoma catalog that I was dying to try out, so they got to be my guinea pigs!


They also brought me 2 dozen gorgeous long stemmed red roses -- So nice!

I made an Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Frittata. WOW, was it yummy! I'm not saying that it was the most dietetic thing I've ever made, but this is a great recipe for brunch, and it went down just fine. I served it with a fresh loaf of whole grain bread (I bought a parbaked loaf & popped it into the oven for 18 minutes), fruit salad and sparkling wine (shown below), with an organic lemon cake as dessert.

The ingredients (er, except the tomatoes, which I added in on a whim at the last minute)

Here is the recipe (as modified by me):

10 eggs (recipe called for 12, but I was only serving 3 people)
3 Tbs. fresh chives (finely chopped)
1/4 Tsp. fresh tarragon (finely chopped)
2 Tbs. fresh chervil (finely chopped)
2 oz prosciutto (cut into 1/4 inch strips -- I also removed the fat)
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
6 oz goat cheese (crumbled)
2 lbs. asparagus, tough ends trimmed (I just used one bunch and that was enough -- I think it was a little over one pound)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 leek, thinly sliced and rinsed well
6 petite roma tomatoes (not in the recipe, but added a nice flavor and color)


First, cut off the ends of the asparagus and steam them until they are just tender. I put them in a glass bowl (in photo above) with a little water in the bottom (about 1/2 cup) and steamed them in the microwave by cooking them for 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Then, whisk together the eggs, chives, tarragon, chervil, prosciutto, 4 oz goat cheese (save 2 oz for later), 1/2 tsp of salt and about 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper.

You just know this is going to be delicious
with all those amazing ingredients!

Next, put 1 tbs. of butter into your pan over medium heat (I used the same skillet for everything -- there is a photo below) and saute the leeks with a pinch of salt for about 4-5 minutes. Then, add in the tomatoes and cook for another 3 minutes. When they are done, put the leek and tomatoes into the bowl with the egg mixture.

You are going to want to set aside about 8 stalks of asparagus to use as decoration on the frittata. Cut the remaining asparagus into 1/4 inch pieces and add them to the egg mixture.

Put some more butter (I used a bunch -- not sure if I used the entire 2nd tbs) into your pan. I used my Calphalon 10 inch pan b/c it has a metal handle and can go in the oven. It's not non-stick, but that didn't turn out to be a problem, thankfully!

Then, pour the egg mixture into the pan. I wasn't really sure about the best way to cook this -- and had serious doubts about flipping it mid-stream -- so I cooked it on the stove top for about 5 minutes. Then, I put the asparagus on the top in a spoke pattern, as shown below.

And THEN, I cooked it in a 350 degree oven for another 20-25 minutes. When it came out, I flipped it out onto a plate (carefully!) and then used another plate to flip it over again so that the asparagus pattern showed.

Here is the finished product!

I am definitely going to make this again. Although I was nervous about how to cook it (the recipe I used called for a special $150 frittata pan. . totally unnecessary) and flipping it over, it was easy to make and everyone loved it. Bon appetit!