I don’t usually tout the recipes I create, but this time, I think I will.

Yesterday, our local farmers, Elena and Karl, had a pop-up farmstand where they were selling spinach, Swiss Chard, scallions, and cilantro from their high tunnel growing tent.  I really miss good, fresh greens this time of year, so I was at the farmstand 3 minutes before they opened to make my purchases.  They were all gorgeous.

After stripping the leaves from the chard plants, the remaining stems looked young, tender and juicy, so I decided to chop them up and save for dinner tonight.  I wilted the spinach and chard in the remaining water that adhered to the washed leaves.  Then I sautéed some large, thinly-sliced white mushrooms in olive oil.  Removing them from the pan, I added one leek sliced crosswise and the chopped chard ribs, cooking them over moderate heat with salt and pepper.  Then I chopped up and added a moderate amount (1-1.5 cups?) of both the wilted chard and spinach leaves.  I added chopped scallions just at the end.

Now that the vegetables were prepared, I let them rest in a bowl while I shredded the cheeses (Jarlsberg, a Basque Brique de Brebis, and a pecorino) and put them in a bowl to combine later.  The last step in prep was to beat 5 eggs with a little salt and pepper.  To the eggs, I added all the cooked vegetables plus the cheeses, and let them all absorb the eggs for about 20 minutes.

I took my best heavy steel skillet, heated it on medium flame with 2-3 Tbs. of olive oil, and then poured in the vegetable/cheese/egg mixture.  As the filling solidified, but while the eggs in the center and on top were still loose, I placed the skillet in a preheated oven with the broiler on high.  That browned the top, melted the cheese perfectly, and finished the frittata to perfection.

In the meantime Barbara made a salad of sliced avocado, fresh orange and blood orange segments, and topped it all off with chopped cilantro.  Colors and flavors were exciting, and the 2003 Barbera d’Asti complemented everything nicely.