Professional Chef's Best Frittata Recipe

They say broccoli is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. They also say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. What they don't say is that bacon's the tastiest way to start your day, especially when it arrives in a broccoli frittata. If you can scramble eggs, you can make a frittata. Because not only are eggs the most versatile ingredient in your kitchen, but frittatas are perhaps the easiest way of all to show them off. Quiches are nice too, but they're a bit finicky. Frittatas are just plain easy. Here's the best way to crack an egg. It's actually not on a rim, because when you hit an egg on the side of something, it just, it drives broken pieces into the egg. You can get around it, but you often end up with shards, and you don't want that. The best way is on a flat surface, and then you just crush it, and it's much easier. With practice, you can even do it with one hand. And don't worry, you'll get lots of practice making a frittata with 12 eggs. It's a good idea to loosen these eggs up a bit as they scramble, with a bit of moisture, milk in this case, half a cup or so. This little bit of moisture here will really help keep the eggs fluffy. I think the best thing about eggs is the way they can hold on to cheese, the way they absorb cheese while you scramble and bake them. And of course, you can use any cheese you like here, but I like cheddar with broccoli, and I love cheddar with bacon. Cheddar's traditional, a cup and a half. One thing eggs can't do though, is generate enough heat as they cook, to cook broccoli through. So it's a good idea to jumpstart this a little bit, and the best way to do that is with a splash of water in your microwave. Because every microwave is different, the best way to do this is to just keep an eye on the broccoli. When it's bright green, when it's steaming hot, it's good to go. Okay, the broccoli's ready, the eggs and cheese are ready, but the bacon's just getting started. Now for some scrambling. And this is what makes a frittata so easy. You don't have to cook it all the way on your burner. You're really only giving the eggs a jumpstart. It finishes in the oven. The key is to keep scrambling until curds start to form, until it seems like it's half cooked. The secret is then to turn up the heat a notch, and just wait a moment or so for the bottom to start to set up. It really makes it a lot easier to get it back out of the pan once it's done cooking. There are a lot of variables here. A recipe may suggest baking this for a certain amount of time, but it's really hard to know how far you've scrambled it, or how hot your burner was, or how hot the oven is. So the best thing to do is just keep an eye on things. After this puffs up, and after it doesn't jiggle anymore, it's done. And that usually takes no more than 15 minutes at 350. What a delicious way to start your day. One of the best things about eggs is that they're loaded with protein, which means they make a great substitute for meat. This would look great for dinner with just a little side salad next to it.