Eggs, asparagus, goat cheese, oh my!

Eggs are such a versatile ingredient and an excellent staple to have in your refrigerator. I buy our eggs from our Farmer's Market, at the Jack's Farm stand.  These eggs are awesome! I will never forget the first time I cracked a farm-raised egg.  I noticed that the yolk was so much brighter than the supermarket eggs I was so used to buying.  Those supermarket eggs, like so many other products, have a variety of labels or claims on them--free range, antibiotic-free, organic, natural, pastured. How do you make sense of it all? Rodale.com  had an excellent article earlier this week, The Truth About Your Eggs, that deciphers the many words you will find on grocery store eggs.  Take a quick read and learn some info! 

We have been purchasing Jack's eggs for several years now and really enjoy them. A great dinner that I've made with eggs is a frittata.  Just Google "frittata," and you'll find so many different recipes. Frittatas can be made in advance, served warm or cold, and are suitable for any meal (hint, hint, MOTHER'S DAY IS SUNDAY!). They are also a great opportunity to use leftover greens.  This week, I made one with eggs, asparagus, quinoa, and goat cheese.  I wanted to add some cherry tomatoes, but I forgot...oh well!

Here's the assembly (again, amounts are just rough estimates)

• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, at room temp
• 1 1/2 cups sauteed asparagus (approximately 12 stalks, cut in half)
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 oz. crumbled goat cheese
• salt, pepper, dill

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. While I was waiting for the oven to warm up, I sauteed my asparagus in olive oil, garlic, and scallions. Once they were cooked, I turned off the heat on the stove top.  In a large bowl, I combined the eggs and milk, give them a good scramble; add some salt, pepper and dill.

Fold the quinoa into the egg/milk mixture and pour into a greased glass baking dish (I use olive oil to grease the dish). Gently add the asparagus and shake the goat cheese on top. You may want to take a rubber spatula to push the asparagus and goat cheese into the egg mixture, so it is not floating on top.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes and finish with the broiler on high for 5 minutes.  Your frittata will be bubbling, but should not be runny liquid.  Allow to cool slightly before eating, but as I said before, you can eat this cold.  It is great to have as a leftover lunch, as I did this week.