High Desert Table

Your everyday guide to Southwestern cooking

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Mushroom, Poblano & Goat Cheese Frittata

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If you’re ever tasked with making breakfast, brunch, or lunch for a crowd, this frittata (an Italian unfolded omelet) recipe might be right up your alley. I’m not sure it gets easier than this. No eggs cooked to order. The vegetables can be easily cooked the day before, and all that’s required is a quick whisk of the eggs (not too much so there is not a deflation of air during baking), a sprinkling of vegetables and cheese before throwing it in the oven for less than a half hour and voila! 

But that’s not all. Frittatas can be served any time of the day, as a hot main course or cool added to the middle of a sandwich or sliced and served as an appetizer alongside a variety of antipasto as the women in my family would say. In fact, you can make the entire frittata in advance and reheat it the next day by placing it covered in foil, in a 350 F. oven for 15 minutes or until it’s heated all the way through. If reheating individual slices (like when you have leftovers), I like to place a splash of water in the bottom of a small baking dish before adding slices and then covering them. This creates a bit of steam during reheating and prevents the edges from drying out. Another (and opposite) popular method of reheating slices is to fry them in a skillet on the stove, embracing and encouraging the sides to crisp up.

This simple flavor combination of mushroom, red onion, poblano, goat cheese, and basil is just one combination. Whenever making a frittata I usually ask myself a couple of questions: What do I have that I need to use up that is at risk for going to waste? And, what is amazing right now because of the season we are in? In the late fall, winter, and early spring, I will rummage in the freezer looking for frozen chiles and sweet corn I’ve squirreled away. I can promise you that if I had any corn left I would have added it here. But I found poblanos in the freezer and goat cheese in the fridge, so this is where I began. Please consult the most important person when considering what veggies and things to add to your frittata (You!). What do you love? What’s in your fridge? What can you access at the grocery store or farmers market? 

The most important thing to remember is that in any baked egg dish, water causes problems. Because of this, it’s important that vegetables and meat are cooked before adding them to your egg mixture.

If you’re serving this as a main course, it pairs well with a simple green salad and fresh fruit, or you can make it a party and serve this with a decadent baked French toast (like the one I shared last week) or an assortment of pastries.

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Mushroom, Poblano & Goat Cheese Frittata

HDT - Sq - Goat Cheese Frittata - in a rustic bowl ready for brunch
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If you’re ever tasked with making breakfast, brunch, or lunch for a crowd, this frittata recipe might be right up your alley. I’m not sure it gets easier than this. No eggs cooked to order. The vegetables can be easily cooked the day before, and all that’s required is a quick whisk of the eggs, and a sprinkling of vegetables and cheese before throwing it in the oven for less than a half hour and voila!

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 6-8 servings
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: bake
  • Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Units

For the vegetables:

  • 3 T. butter
  • 1 lb. fresh cremini mushrooms (aka baby bellas), cleaned with a dry kitchen towel and sliced
  • 1 medium red onion, sliced
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 fire-roasted poblanos, peeled, seeded and diced

For the frittata:

  • 2 T. butter
  • 12 large eggs
  • 1/4 c. heavy cream
  • 1 t. Kosher or large flaked sea salt
  • 1 c. fresh goat cheese
  • torn basil leaves, for garnish

 

Instructions

The mushrooms

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add the butter. Once it’s melted, add the mushrooms and onions with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Let them cook until the water inside them releases and evaporates, at which point both mushrooms and onions will begin to caramelize. Let them cook until they are a deep, golden brown, and turn off the heat. Transfer to a small bowl and add the diced poblanos. Reserve until you are ready to bake the frittata.

Baking the frittata

To cook the frittata, preheat the oven to 375 F. In a large bowl or pitcher, whisk together the eggs, cream, and salt. Place butter in a 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet or a baking dish that’s approximately the same size. Place the skillet in the oven for around 5 minutes, or until the butter is completely melted. Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and swirl (or brush) the butter around so the bottom and sides are coated. Pour in the egg mixture in the skillet, and sprinkle in the cooked vegetables and fresh goat cheese. Bake for around 25 minutes, or until the frittata doesn’t wobble in the middle. You don’t want to overbake it, but you don’t want undercooked eggs on the inside either. You can also insert a small knife in the center. If it comes out clean you are good to go.

 

To serve, garnish with torn basil leaves and enjoy.

Mushroom, poblano, and goatcCheese Frittata in a rustic bowl ready for brunch

Summer Salad Nicoise

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Sometime towards the end of the 19th century, Salade Niçoise started popping up on restaurant menus along the blue coast of Nice in southern France. The core ingredients have stayed the same— tuna or anchovies, potatoes, vegetables, and a bright and herby dressing, but a host of variations have evolved over the years. This hearty salad is not only a full meal, but it also makes wonderful leftovers. I would even go so far as to say the next day might be even more delicious than the day before because even though it might not look as pretty, all of the tuna and vegetables have had the night to soak up the vinaigrette. 

This is also a salad that can easily pivot depending on the time of year. In the summer when tomatoes are at their peak, it would be a shame to leave them out. Some might argue that tomatoes should always be included, but since it’s early spring, I swapped out the tomatoes for sliced radish and never looked back. 

This recipe calls for three soft-boiled eggs. If serving six people, this would allow everyone to have one half. If you want more eggs, cook more! Also if you want to make the whole salad but are only serving two people at a time, just cook enough eggs for the number of people you are serving. The next day before enjoying leftovers, cook a couple more eggs. 

Let’s talk real quick about the vegetables.

The vegetables in this salad are meant to be tender, but you can easily find substitutions. For example, “new potatoes” are found at farmers’ markets more than many shops because their skins are thin and their sugars have not yet been converted to starch so they are extra tender and sweet. Haricot verts are younger, longer, and skinnier than regular green beans and are more tender. If you can’t find haricot verts, no worries, just blanch regular green beans and once they are cool enough to handle, cut or split them in half lengthwise. 

Crispy potatoes make the magic

Instead of boiling potatoes, I like to roast them with slices of onion, a drizzle of olive oil, and High Desert Herbs, which feels especially appropriate because this Southwest herb blend of marjoram, sage, lavender, rosemary, chile, thyme (which you can also make yourself) is completely inspired by the French herb blend Herbes de Provence which is usually comprised of thyme, basil, rosemary, tarragon, savory, marjoram, oregano, and bay leaf. If you have this blend, by all means, use it. If you want to bring this salad a little closer to home, any of the herbs in the High Desert blend will be lovely. These little crispy beauties are the reason I make jammy eggs to go on top. Just dip a crispy potato in the soft custardy egg yolk and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

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Summer Salad Nicoise

Summer Salad Nicoise plated with sliced eggs
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The core ingredients of this French salad have stayed the same— tuna or anchovies, potatoes, vegetables, and a bright and herby dressing, but a host of variations have evolved over the years. This hearty salad is not only a full meal, but it also makes wonderful leftovers.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 45 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 4-6 servings
  • Category: Salads
  • Method: Mix
  • Cuisine: French

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. small or new potatoes
  • 1 medium onion (red or yellow), sliced
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 2 t. High desert herbs, or Herbes de Provence herb blend
  • ½ lb. Haricot Verts or green beans
  • 3 eggs
  • ½–1 seedless cucumber depending on size, thinly sliced
  • 1–3 Radishes, depending on size, thinly sliced
  • 1 c. pitted mixed olives, drained
  • 3, 5 oz. cans, wild harvested pole and line caught albacore tuna packed in oil

For the vinaigrette:

  • ¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ c.freshly squeezed lemon juice, seeds discarded
  • 2 t. dijon mustard
  • 1 T. fresh dill, roughly chopped
  • 1 T. fresh basil, roughly chopped
  • 1 t. honey
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • Salt and pepper

 

Instructions

Roasting the potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425 f. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or foil and gently toss the whole potatoes, sliced onions, olive oil, dried herbs, salt, and pepper together on the sheet tray. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Reserve.

 

Blanching the beans

Fill a medium saucepan ¾ full of water and bring to a boil. Season with salt until the water tastes like the sea. Before you blanch the beans, prepare a bowl of ice water. Drop the beans in the boiling water and cook just until they are tender, around 3 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the beans to the ice water to stop the cooking. Transfer the beans to a clean kitchen towel and reserve.

 

Soft boiling the eggs

In this same pot of boiling water, gently drop the eggs into the boiling water and gently simmer for 7 minutes. Transfer the eggs to the leftover ice water bath until cooked enough to handle. Peel the eggs and reserve.

 

Make the vinaigrette

In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, dill, basil, honey, shallot, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Salad Nicoise Prepping the vinaigrette ingredients

Prepare the salad for serving

On a large platter, arrange the potatoes, green beans, cucumber, radish, olives, and tuna. Spoon the vinaigrette generously over the vegetables and tuna. Slice eggs in half and arrange on top. Serve immediately.