Chard and Ricotta Frittata

I came up with this dish when from memory I mistakenly confused a couple of Deborah Madison recipes; one for chard and ricotta lasagne and another for a chard-gruyere trouchia. Once I realized it though I though it would be worth trying out anyway.

 I made the ricotta myself the day before and got some very fresh chard from the El Cerrito Natural Grocery.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

1 cup fresh ricotta

1 bunch fresh chard stems removed and leaves chopped

1 red onion halved and thinly sliced

several branches each of fresh thyme leaves and fresh parsley leaves

3-4 cloves garlic peeled

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt 

Pepper

Directions:

Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-low heat, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and slowly sauté the red onion slices until it is quite soft but not yet colored. Meanwhile add the chard in bunches to the skillet to reduce the leaves in size. You want to allow the onion and chard to cook slowly to allow the flavors to coalesce well. Once cooked thoroughly, empty it into a mixing bowl that in turn is sitting inside of a larger mixing bowl partially filled with ice water in order to cool the mixture before adding to the eggs.

Pound the peeled garlic in a mortar with a pinch of salt, then add the herb leaves to process into a paste.

Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the herbs, salt, and pepper, then use a fork to beat the eggs making sure to break up and distribute the herb paste thoroughly in the mixture. Add the cooled chard mixture and the ricotta into the eggs, again making sure it is all mixed thoroughly. 

Prepare a broiler with a rack about 4-6 inches from the heat source.

Heat the skillet again over medium-high heat, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan with the butter then pour the egg mixture into the pan allowing it to set for about a minute. Turn down the heat to low then allow the eggs to cook for about 10 minutes or so until well set but still a tad runny on the top. Move the skillet into the broiler to brown the top which should only take a few minutes. Keep an eye on it to not burn! (I've made that mistake a few times!)

Remove the skillet from the broiler, run a butter knife around the edge in the pan to make sure the egg is separated from the pan and let it sit for a couple of minutes. You can then either serve from the pan at the table or invert onto a plate for serving. Slice into 6 even pieces.

Hey, while you're checking out this post, please feel free to drop a comment below! It would be great to know what you think about this dish, if you've tried cooking it yourself, or are planning to. A little feedback goes a long way!