White House Ranch: Enjoying the Bounty of our Homestead

All four of the chickens are now laying which means I've got quite a few eggs! We gather between two and four eggs each day which can pile up quickly with only three people in the household. Today I decided to make one of my favorite recipes which not only uses up my farm fresh eggs, but also incorporates the dozens of cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden.

Tomato, Garlic and Potato Frittata.

The light blue-green eggs are from Cleo, our Ameraucana.

Sun Gold and Isis Candy cherry tomatoes from our garden. Our sweet 100 cherries were devoured by our chickens.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com and lists it as being from Gourmet Magazine from 2001. I love Epicurious because their iPhone app is so user friendly! I can search for a recipe by putting keywords, dish types or ingredients then prop up my phone in the kitchen and not have to print a recipe. Here is the recipe:

6 whole large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 cups grape tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes (6 oz)

Preparation

Whisk together whole eggs, whites, 1/4 cup Parmesan, basil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in large bowl.

Preheat broiler.

Cook garlic in 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet (preferably nonstick and ovenproof) over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 1 minute. Transfer garlic with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Add potatoes to skillet and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring, until just tender, about 6 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to bowl with garlic.

Add 1 tablespoon oil and tomatoes to skillet and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until tomatoes brown and skins split, about 4 minutes.

Add remaining tablespoon oil and potatoes with garlic to skillet, spreading evenly, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Pour egg over vegetables and cook over moderately high heat, lifting up cooked egg around edges to let uncooked egg flow underneath, 3 minutes. Reduce heat to moderate and cook, covered, 5 minutes more (center will be moist).

Remove lid and broil frittata 5 to 7 inches from heat until set, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining 1/4 cup parmesan, then broil until cheese melts and frittata is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Slide onto a platter and cut into 4 wedges.

A couple of changes I made were that I added pancetta and only used two cloves of garlic. I just felt that 4 cloves were too much with the great flavor of the farm fresh eggs. I also reversed the order of adding the potatoes and tomatoes to the pan. It was counter intuitive to me that the tomatoes would cook longer than the potatoes.