Easy Brunch Dish: Kitchen-Sink Frittata

Sunday breakfast was always observed in my house growing up. My mom made eggs (fried or scrambled with herbs), my dad toasted bagels, and fresh orange and grapefruit juice was squeezed. With the New York Times and the Oregonian scattered across the table, we read and ate and enjoyed the sunlight streaming through the dining room window.

Brunch in our apartment is a more haphazard affair. Sometimes it's just us, but sometimes we invite a whole crowd, and (shhh—don't tell my mom) drinking is involved. I've tried many different brunch recipes, but the best ones come from Marc Meyer's Five Points brunch cookbook. (I've just added the book to our Amazon widget on the right side of this page.) Brunch at Five Points is a real treat, but these recipes allow you to churn out pretty much the same thing at home for a fraction of the price.


Marc Meyer's frittatas are crisp and quite thin. The basic recipe has you sauté your fillings, then add eggs and cook on the stovetop until the underside solidifies. Then throw in the broiler or oven to cook through and crisp the top—it's really easy. Most importantly, frittatas are an easy way to use up whatever's in your fridge—greens, mushrooms, cheese...you can add herbs or olives, etc, etc. To lighten it up a bit, I sometimes use egg whites for some of the eggs—it's important that there are enough eggs to wrap your fillings a bit, so a few extra egg whites can help with the volume without the dish leaving you comatose on the couch all day (those mimosas may be another story.) These multiply well—use a bigger pan, more eggs, more veggies, etc. Keep it thin, though—the final product should be less than an inch high.


Kitchen-Sink Frittata
Adapted from Marc Meyer

Olive Oil
About 2 cups greens or veggies (today I used onions and kale, but mushrooms, tomatoes, really anything will work.) You can also add fresh or dried herbs.
Meat (optional—half a sliced sausage, a chopped up piece of proscuitto, bacon, etc.)
about 1 cup cheese, grated or crumbled (I did a mix of asiago and goat cheese, but the sky's the limit)
Eggs (for two people, I used 2 eggs and 4 egg whites, but it depends on the size of your pan and the amount of your vegetables. Be ready to use 8-10 eggs if you're feeding 4 people.)
handful of panko
freshly ground pepper

In a cast-iron pan, sauté meat if using (though for proscuitto I would leave it as is and add later.) Add vegetables, cook through. Beat eggs lightly with cheese. Preheat broiler. Pour eggs into pan and smooth around so it's evenly distributed and there are no areas without eggs. Cook on medium heat for a minute or two until the bottom is slightly set. Sprinkle panko (or parmesan) on top, broil for 4 minutes or so, moving around to brown evenly. Top should be golden. Slice and serve.