Easy Frittata, featuring PYO produce!

Over the summer we are excited to bring you recipes featuring produce from our PYO (Pick Your Own) patch! Each recipe will be easy, delicious, nutritious, and budget friendly. There is no better feeling than picking your own food from the dirt it was grown in and preparing a meal from scratch with it. We look forward to having you visit our farm and try these dishes yourself, using your harvest. The whole experience can be a great activity to enjoy with family or friends.

Please tag us on Instagram (@thamesrivermelons) if you try any of our PYO recipes – we would love to see them!

The first recipe in this series is a breakfast (or brunch) frittata, perfect for hosting on summer weekends, as you can feed a crowd or just a few folks by easily adjusting the recipe up or down. This is also a host-friendly meal because it’s easy to whip up while guests are gathered, or the frittata can also be made ahead of time. The best part: this recipe uses almost exclusively ingredients from our farm! Right now, our PYO patch is full of kale and zucchini for picking. Our chickens have been busy laying, and you can purchase fresh eggs in our farm shop. We also sell a variety of local cheeses from Gunn’s Hill.

Kale and zucchini are sources of dietary fibre, as well as an abundance of important vitamins and minerals.

Kale contains 2.4 grams of fibre/100 grams. This recipe contains 7.2 grams of fibre in total, from the kale. Kale also contains vitamin C (120 mg/100g), important for immune health, and calcium (150 mg/100g), important for healthy bones and teeth (1).

Zucchini contains 1 gram of fibre /100 grams, and is a good source of potassium (261 mg/100g) and phosphorus (38 mg/100g), both important electrolytes (1). This recipe contains 3.6 grams of fibre from the zucchini.

Eggs are a complete protein (meaning they contain all 9 essential amino acids that our bodies cannot produce by themselves), helping to keep our bodies functioning optimally, and keep us satiated, with approximately 6-7 grams in a large egg.

Finally, herbs are an excellent way to provide flavour without the need to add too much salt, plus they add to the visual appeal of a dish.

Ingredients

Serves 7-8, and can be adjusted up or down as needed. Keep in mind that if you adjust, you will need to adjust the number of eggs and vegetables, to ensure they are proportioned well.

4-5 cloves Thames River Melons garlic, minced (garlic is available for PYO or for purchase at our farm shop)

1/2 cup Spanish onion, chopped (these aren’t ready for picking on our farm just yet, but they will be available in late July)

8 Thames River Melons eggs

1/3 cup whole milk or heavy cream (using a dairy-free milk alternative is also an option here!)

2 large stalks (300 grams) of Thames River Melons kale, chopped

1 medium (360 grams) Thames River Melons zucchini, chopped into quarter inch pieces

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh herbs of your choice (we used Thames River Melons dill and basil)

Cheese of your choice (we used shredded mozzarella).

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. In an oven-safe 12” pan or cast-iron skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat.

3. Prepare vegetables: wash, then chop kale and zucchini, dice onion, and mince garlic.

Although you can eat the entire kale stalk, it is preferable to ‘devein’ it. Fold the stalk in half to make this more efficient. Slice along the inside edge, from bottom to top. For a demonstration, see video below.

4. In a large bowl, crack eggs, add milk or cream, and whisk gently to combine. The key to get a silky-smooth texture is to avoid over-whisking, which creates bubbles. Set aside. Add salt and pepper to taste if you would like.

5. Add onion to the warm skillet, and stir occasionally, until translucent and beginning to caramelize.

6. Add chopped vegetables, and minced garlic. Sauté on medium for approximately 10 minutes, or until tender but still crisp.

Pre-cooking the vegetables ensures your frittata will not be soggy as some moisture in them will have had a chance to evaporate.

7. Remove from the element and pour the egg mixture into the skillet (you may need to tilt the pan to evenly distribute the egg). Do not mix or you will end up with scrambled eggs!

8. Sprinkle cheese and herbs of your choice over the top (we sell Gunns Hill cheese in our farm shop). You can use gouda, feta, cheddar, anything you like!

9. Cook on medium heat until the edges begin to set (this should not take long; you want to do the majority of the cooking in the oven), and then transfer to the oven to bake for 8 minutes.

10. Remove the finished frittata from the oven and add a sprinkling of fresh herbs and more cheese to the top if you like. Allow to cool before slicing and serving.

Cost

In total the PYO herbs, zucchini, and kale purchased on the farm cost $3.21 . In general PYO prices are half-price of our pre-picked produce.

A dozen of our eggs costs $6.00, bringing the total to $9.21. We only used 8 eggs, so $7.21 is actually more accurate.

Storage

This dish will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator, so for a smaller household this is an excellent make-ahead-of-time meal to take for an on-the-go breakfast throughout the week.

Modifications

Other vegetables you can use include bell pepper (available soon in our PYO patch), spinach, asparagus (available in our farm shop, and PYO in the Spring) or Swiss chard.

We used a 12” pan but you can certainly size down and just use less eggs, cream, and vegetables. Another idea is to divide the frittata mixture in a muffin pan for littles, or for using on breakfast sandwiches between an english muffin.

Recipe and blog post developed and photographed by dietetic intern Lise Wolyniuk and reviewed by Alex Chesney, RD

Reference:

Health Canada. (2023). Canadian Nutrient File. Government of Canada. Retrieved July 12, 2024, from https://food-nutrition.canada.ca/cnf-fce/newSearch .