A Delicious Breakfast (Brunch, Lunch, or Dinner)

Whenever I visit Manhattan to see my friend Susan, we often have breakfast at Pret a Manger. One of my favorite menu items at Pret is their Ham and Spinach Frittata. I also love their “Pret’s Famous Ham & Cheese” sandwich. I judge a sandwich by its bread, and Pret’s baguettes have a perfect crisp crust and chewy center. However, I have had their Ham and Spinach Frittata more often than I have had their ham and cheese sandwich. It’s been over a year since I was last in Manhattan, and I have been having a bit of a craving for their frittata.

I have an app on my iPhone called AnyList, which I use to collect recipes. AnyList helps me organize my recipes and quickly add recipes from other sources, like email messages, websites, and blogs.  I used to copy and paste all my recipes into a Word document, but then I found it wasn’t easy to find a recipe when I needed it. AnyList also allows me to tap on ingredients to add them to my shopping list, and I can plan an entire week or month of meals with the meal planning calendar.

Every day, I get an email from Taste of Home, and if there are recipes I want to save, I can easily do so with the AnyList app. I clicked on the link in Monday’s email for the “Recipe of the Month.” Clicking on the link was the only way to see the recipe they described as a “spring dish can be served for breakfast, brunch or dinner.” The email described the dish as pretty, colorful, and absolutely delicious. They also said it always wins compliments. How could I resist checking out this recipe? It turned out to be a recipe for a Bacon and Asparagus Frittata, which looked easy enough and reminded me of Pret’s ham and spinach frittata. So, I did a Google search for ham and spinach frittata and found one for a “Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus Frittata” at The Rustic Foodie. It’s actually a ham, cheese, asparagus, and spinach frittata, and I made it for breakfast on Tuesday, halving the original recipe.  It was delicious, and the addition of the asparagus was perfect. My cast iron skillet was too small, so I finished it in an 8″ x 8″ cake pan (a very versatile piece of cookware). Even at half the recipe, it was a lot of food for just me. Yesterday, I made the recipe again but omitted the asparagus and made a quarter of the original recipe so that it would fit in my cast iron skillet. It tasted just like the Pret version.

I had never tried to make a frittata before making this recipe. I always thought it was a little too involved. However, it turns out to be exceedingly simple and easy to make. I prepped the ingredients the night before so that they were ready to go when I got up in the morning. In just twenty minutes, I had a lovely breakfast with minimal effort. It beat my usual breakfast of a sausage and cheese English muffin, my version of a McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin, except that mine is better. I use English muffins from the Vermont Bread Company, which makes all the difference (I’ve tried numerous different English muffins brands, and I have found that the Vermont Bread Company makes the best.) As I said before, without good bread, a sandwich is just mediocre.

I hope y’all will enjoy this recipe.

Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus Frittata

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped ham steak (make sure ham is precooked)
• 2 cups chopped asparagus
• 2 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 10 eggs
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup grated cheese (any variety—I used Cabot’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar)
• salt (adjust to taste)
• pepper (adjust to taste)
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions or chives (optional, but I used some chopped chives)

Preparation Steps

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop all of your ingredients – ham, asparagus, and spinach and then grate the cheese.
3. Heat cast iron skillet and add cooking oil of choice.
4. Add chopped ham steak and cook for 3-4 minutes or until lightly caramelized.
5. Add chopped asparagus and sauté for 4-6 minutes or until slightly tender.
6. Deglaze with cooking stock if necessary.
7. Mix eggs, heavy whipping cream, grated cheese, and generous pinch of kosher salt and pepper.
8. Add the egg mixture to the pan and then toss in spinach. Gently fold spinach into the egg mixture.
9. Cook for 2-3 minutes on stove top until the edges start to set.
10. Top with chopped green onions or chopped chives.
11. Transfer skillet to oven and cook for 10-14 minutes.

Notes
This Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus Frittata recipe is easy and makes a healthy breakfast. This baked vegetable frittata is great for brunch or a quick dinner!