Eggs – Brain Food

Healthy breakfasts have been on my mind a lot lately. I have been working on quite a few new breakfast recipes for the blog. I have also been trying to shake things up at home with some new breakfast ideas since the new school year started. I even talked with Mark Forrest on BBC Radio about healthy breakfasts a few days ago.

I would love to hear from you about how you keep breakfast healthy and interesting – please do speak up in the comments section.

In the meantime, these muffin breakfast frittatas were a hit at home. I made these with some (leftover) roasted courgette and pancetta but any vegetable, meat or fish would work (as well as cheese for those of you who eat dairy). My kids brainstormed some combinations they would like, so next up will be peas + spinach and potatoes + salmon. I made them for breakfast but they would also work well in a lunchbox or as a snack on the go.

Breakfast Muffin Frittatas

8 eggs

salt and pepper

whatever fillings you fancy – I recommend about 2 cups of vegetables and 1 cup of meat or fish – prepped and chopped

ghee or oil

Makes 12 muffin frittatas

Preheat your oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Grease a muffin tin or silicone muffin tray with a bit of ghee or oil.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy and season with salt and pepper. Mix in your chosen fillings, then distribute into the muffin tin sections.

Bake for 20 minutes, then allow to cool for a few minutes before removing the frittata muffins from the muffin tin.

This recipe will change your life.

Vegetarian friends coming over for dinner? Spanish tortilla. Planning a picnic? Spanish tortilla. Your GFCF child is invited to a pizza party? Spanish tortilla.

All of your food dilemmas solved with just one simple recipe.

For a relaxed tapas feast, serve with a selection of Spanish treats such as bellota ham, olives, cherry tomatoes, grilled sardines, chorizo and pan con tomate (toasted bread – GF or regular – rubbed with garlic and tomato).

Just be sure to save some tortilla for tomorrow’s lunchboxes.

Spanish tortilla (adapted from 1080 Recipes by Simone Ortega)

4 large potatoes (such as baking potatoes), around 1kg total

8 large eggs

500ml sunflower oil

salt

Serves 8 or more

Peel the potatoes and slice very thinly. I use the slicing disk of the food processor to do this. A mandolin would also do the trick. Otherwise, time to show off those knife skills.

Heat the oil in a deep-sided, heavy-bottomed 26 cm skillet (or something along those lines). Don’t worry about the vast quantities of oil – most of it will be drained off later.

Carefully tip the potatoes into the hot oil and cook at medium heat, stirring frequently, until soft and very lightly browned – about 15 minutes – then drain in a colander reserving about 3 tablespoons of the oil.

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until frothy, then add the cooked potatoes and a generous pinch of salt. Stir well to combine.

Heat the 3 tablespoons of reserved oil in the skillet, then tip the egg and potato mixture back into the skillet. Cook on medium heat, running a spatula around the edges from time to time to prevent sticking, until the bottom of the tortilla is set – about five minutes. Tip the tortilla out of the skillet onto a large plate, then slide back into the skillet to cook the other side – about five more minutes. Slide or flip onto a plate when it is cooked.

Eat immediately or refrigerate and enjoy within 24 hours.