I got the recipe from one of the blogs I follow called Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time, and I would highly encourage all of you to go and have a look at the blog. Its fresh, straight forward and written with humour. 

I saw this recipe at the beginning of the week, and it reminded me that I had a whole log of goat’s cheese lying about in the fridge that needed to be eaten, coupled with the fact that I was going to a friend’s house on Saturday for an evening of Mexican wine tasting – I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make it.

The beauty of the recipe is that is very straightforward to make with only a handful of ingredients. However, something I failed to note when I was reading the recipe was to use an oven proof non-stick skillet – which I don’t have and turns out to be a pretty essential tool.

I used my normal skillet, and although it looked really good when it came out of the oven – there was no way I could ‘slide’ the frittata onto a plate. I tried to flip over the skillet and bang it on the counter, hoping to loosen the egg mass, which resulted in chunks of the frittata falling off – I could see this wasn’t going to be pretty.

To be honest, I was pretty close to losing my cool and just throwing the whole thing in the bin, but decided it would be far better to take a deep breath and change my game plan! Instead of a lovely round frittata (like the one shown above), I was now going to serve bite size squares of frittata – no one needs to know what it’s meant to look like, right? And in the words of Julia Child – never apologise!

I’m really glad I did, the ladies loved it, and all asked for the recipe!
So here you go :)

Leek and Goats Cheese Frittata

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large leeks (white and light-green parts only), halved lengthwise, sliced in thin strips
• Kosher salt (or use just normal salt!)
• 6 large eggs
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (I had none, so used dried Italian herbs and it worked absolutely fine)
• 85g goat cheese, crumbled

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 180°C. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in an ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the leeks and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until the leeks are tender and lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate, spread in an even layer, and let cool briefly.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with 1 teaspoon. salt and several grinds of pepper. Add the leeks, thyme, and goat cheese and gently stir to combine.

Wipe the skillet clean and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon. Heat butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted, add the egg mixture and gently shake the pan to evenly distribute the leeks and cheese. Cook until the eggs begin to set around the edges, about 5 minutes. Gently shake the pan to be sure the frittata isn’t sticking (if necessary, slide a spatula around the perimeter to release it). Transfer the pan to the oven and continue to cook until the frittata is set in the center, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit for about 2 minutes. Carefully slide the frittata onto a serving plate, cut into wedges, and serve warm or at room temperature.

I would definitely make this frittata again (hopefully by then I will have an ovenproof non-stick skillet…hmm maybe I should put that on my registry! Its great for a light lunch, or even brunch, and the way it went down last night – it is pretty good just for nibbles!