In Which the Blogger Looks to Donna Hay for Breakfast Inspiration...

One loaded frittata

Say this about weekend breakfasts: you can make them as special as you want them to be in order to make up for the morning meals you either rushed through or skipped all together during the course of the work-week.  Weekend breakfasts are also a great restorative for those of you who had one drink too many on Friday night and for those of us who are just plain grateful that the bloody week is finally over.

Saturday and Sunday morning breakfasts are also an excellent way to show off one’s culinary skills or try out new recipes seen on someone else’s blog or in the pages of one’s favorite foodie reads.  For this morning’s breakfast, I took a cue from Issue #50 of Australia’s Donna Hay Magazine.  (If, like me, you collect ‘em, it’s the one with the dark blue and silver cover with a gorgeous chocolate cake out front.)

This comes from an article extolling the many ways by which potatoes can be prepared and savored.  The original recipe was called a potato, chorizo, and goat’s curd frittata, basically a baked omelet featuring – well, what else? – eggs, potatoes, chorizo, and goat’s curd.  For several reasons, my version was a bit simpler: I had no goat cheese – be it kesong puti or even a locally made chevre – and only had creamy little wedges of Laughing Cow (La Vache Qui Rit), no onion jam or store-bought caramelized onions, and I used the last of the sour cream for a second cheesecake.  But, one makes use of the ingredients on hand to the best of one’s abilities – and I am pleased to say that my shortcut frittata was really quite delicious.

Incidentally, the proper sausage to use for this dish is chorizo; the pimenton picante-spiced chorizo de Pamplona works beautifully and adds a touch of fire to the dish, though the more common chorizo de Bilbao is also a delicious choice.  Might I also suggest garlicky Vigan or Lucban longganizas or maybe even blood sausages like Spanish morcillas (always a delicious thing to have with potatoes) or German/Austrial blutwurst and British black pudding.

Potato-Chorizo Frittata

• 300 grams potatoes, peeled, and sliced a bit thickly
• 3 wedges Laughing Cow cheese, diced
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 chorizo de Pamplona or 2 chorizos de Bilbao, sliced on the bias
• salt and pepper
• 1 medium red onion, peeled, halved, and sliced thinly

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees / Gas Mark 6.  In a small frying pan over medium heat, put one tablespoon of olive oil and heat.  Once the oil is hot, drop in the sliced onion and cook, whilst stirring frequently, until softened, fragrant, and caramelized around the edges.  Set aside.

In a medium baking dish, toss together the sliced potato and chorizo  with  the remaining olive oil until well coated.  Put in oven and roast for 30 minutes.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.  Pour the egg mixture over the roasted potatoes and sausage.  Evenly scatter the diced cheese and the caramelized onions.  Return to the oven and bake an additional 15 – 20 minutes, just till the eggs have set and gone puffy.

Serve with either buttered toast or fluffy steamed rice.  A dollop of ketchup, mustard, or English brown sauce would also be nice.

Serves 4.