FIVE O'CLOCK FOOD: Breakfast Frittata with Pancetta, Mushrooms, Spinach, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Brunch takes the award as one of my favorite meals of the week, most often enjoyed at our house on lazy Sunday mornings, where plain-old-Sunday-Breakfast turns into a form of "Sunday Funday" with the arrival of a few friends to enjoy a great meal while basking in the sun in our backyard and, of course, a few bottles of bubbly.

Cheers!

But, amidst the sea of mimosas there must be something to eat, and that is where the humble frittata comes in.

Humble, I say, because essentially it is a basic egg dish heightened by whatever ingredients you throw into it.

If you can make scrambled eggs, you can make a frittata. Quite frankly, I think it is one of the easiest egg dishes to make, because all you do is whisk together eggs with your favorite ingredients, pour it into a skillet over low heat, and then pop it in the oven to "set up" and voila, your frittata turns out to be the hit of the party. It's like a crustless quiche, and if you are needing to clean out your refrigerator, it can be a dumping ground for what you need to use up. And, you may surprise yourself at what you can create.

And on that Sunday, I took stock of what we had laying around and created a frittata fit for kings and queens (well, maybe not kings and queens - that could have been the champagne talking...) and found spinach, crimini mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, chives, and...

...pancetta.

Bacon and eggs...need I say more?

The beauty of a frittata is that there really is no need for set measurements on ingredients, just add what you want. But, for the sake of this recipe, I have listed a rough estimate of the amounts I used below.

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION click here

(serves 4 people)
Ingredients:

6-7 large eggs, preferably organic-free range
about 2 tbsp milk
about 1/4 lb (4 ounces) pancetta, cut into small chunks
1 large handful baby spinach leaves
6-8 crimini mushrooms, sliced
about 1/4 C sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
about 2oz goat cheese, crumbled
about 1/2 a small bunch of chives, minced
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325F.

Add the pancetta to a cold saute pan (that you intend to cook the frittata in) and turn on heat to medium; render out fat from pancetta as it slowly cooks and crisps up, about 7-10 minutes.

Remove pancetta from pan, reserving some of the rendered out fat, and place pancetta on a paper towel to drain and cool. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute mushrooms over medium heat until soft and slightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.

Add the spinach to the mushroom mixture and cook for about 2 minutes or until the spinach begins to wilt. Set pan aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt and pepper. Add the mushroom and spinach mix, sun dried tomatoes, pancetta, goat cheese, and chives to the eggs and whisk together to combine throughly.

In the same saute pan you used for the pancetta/mushroom/spinach, pour the egg mixture into pan and set over medium heat on the stove, just until the sides of the egg start to set. Turn off stove and place frittata, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the middle of the frittata is set (no runny eggs and firmly jiggles when you shake the pan).