Home cooked breakfast to start off the day… fluffy, cheesy, herb scented frittata. 

Easy lunch outdoors…fresh baguettes stuffed with favourite fillings and served up in the autumn sunshine – simply satisfying. 


And dinner…flash fry sliced spicy chorizo with Australian prawns in olive oil. Throw in a cup of roughly chopped flat leaf parsley, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sea salt and just cooked pasta and you have a family meal on the table within 20 minutes. 


I woke up this morning feeling ravenous. This was most likely due to the energy I had burned up during last night’s Nike She Runs 10k event in Sydney’s Centennial Park. Cereal was simply not going to fill the void in my stomach, neither was sourdough toast with chunky marmalade and strong tea, or even my favourite combination of Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit and maple syrup. Maple syrup by  the way is an incredibly versatile ingredient that I like to use liberally over salmon, bacon, porridge, chicken, in  muffins and…the list goes on. 

Since my little ones were also rubbing their tummies and padding about in flannel pj’s after a lovely sleep in, I decided to make a cafe style breakfast selection featuring Frittata. Until this morning I had never made a frittata. I had eaten something resembling frittata in a Sydney cafe but was so disappointed by the rubbery textured eggy mass on the plate before me that I think that put me off for quite a while. I am so glad that I decided to give this dish a go today because everyone in my family was pleasantly surprised by the result. 

Now my frittata may not look fancy, but the taste was incredible! The combination of caramelised shallots, dried herbs and bubbly vintage cheddar crust really hit the spot. It was fluffy and light in texture and utterly delightful. So much better than the version served up to me in a crowded cafe years ago. 

Sliced into 8 wedges, my frittata was served up alongside smoked bacon sliced into finger sized lengths and panfried with little beef chipolata sausages. Crusty toasted sourdough topped with sautéed mushrooms and spinach was added with our favourite Canadian maple syrup drizzled onto a small space at the side of everyone’s plate. 

Fluffy Frittata  to serve 6 to 8 people as part of a breakfast feast

Ingredients
3 – 4 French shallots or 1 medium brown onion finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
30 grams unsalted butter
8 organic or free range eggs
200 ml pure cream
1 level teaspoon mixed dried herbs – I used a combination of thyme, rosemary and sage
sea salt and black pepper to taste
About a cup of grated vintage cheddar or similar sharp tasting cheese

Put the oven grill on to preheat at a moderate setting. 

Melt the butter and olive oil over a medium head and add the shallots, herbs and a little salt. Cook this mixture for about 5 – 7 minutes until the onions become a lovely deep caramel brown colour. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and cream and grind in some salt and pepper. 

Once the onions are ready, reduce the heat to low and pour in the creamy egg mixture. Cook until the top of the frittata is almost set. Almost. Don’t overcook it. 

Remove the pan from the heat and grate over the vintage cheddar. Place the pan under the grill for 5 minutes. Take care when you remove the pan from the grill because the handle will be hot, hot, hot! Keep this away from little ones, preferably wrap the handle in a tea-towel. Slice into eighths and serve. 


I also made another “test cake” in preparation for that school fair I mentioned earlier in the week. This time it was a Lemon and Raspberry Buttermilk Tea Cake. Dense, moist and delicious, I sliced up wedges for my children’s lunch boxes tomorrow and shared around the rest after dinner. All that’s left on the cake stand are crumbs. Definitely an addition for the school fair cake stall next Saturday.