A Wonderful Fresh Farm Brunch
Meandering along the farmlands of Franklin brought me with friends to the Center of Sustainable Stewardship. Those visits took me to meet Massood for a wonderful fresh farm brunch. Watching his culinary skill and new brunch menu ideas brought me joy. The mixture of farm fresh eggs, fresh ginger, tumeric, sweet potatoes, peppers, carrots, spinach, parmesan and spices took me to another level of a fresh farm brunch.
A new take on a farm fresh brunch
I don’t know about you, but sweet potatoes in a frittata were new to me. How about you? The spices he selected were divine and gave a fresh look to brunch and breakfast offerings.
Seated on the other side of the island gave me a front row seat to this man who neither measured or read from a recipe.
That should have been my first clue to have paid closer attention!
It took a second visit and writing every detail down to make sure that I could reproduce it. Seriously!
I’m sure that you have had cooks in your life that followed no recipe. Me, too–but, to recreate this recipe was my desire which required some sort of measurements and list of ingredients.
Farm Fresh Written Recipe?
No such item.
Massood calls himself an alchemist…and alchemy and knowledge of what foods and ingredients nurture and feed the body was his expertise. The use of spices to reduce inflammation was on his radar.
Farm fresh ingredients for that frittata came out of the bags he brought with him.
- farm fresh eggs
- freshly picked spinach and carrots
- organic potatoes and sweet potatoes
- spices like tumeric, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, basil,salt and pepper
- fresh ginger and tumeric
- bell peppers
- coconut oil
He had made a vegetarian soup at home and brought a pot added to the stove to keep warm until serving time.
The brunch smells were heavenly.
He was truly in his element.
As he worked to wash, slice and chop through ingredients, I watched and listened closely.
He began with fresh ginger and tumeric that he peeled and chopped. Both were tossed into a large skillet with 2 T of coconut oil to saute before adding the vegetables.
Why was he not a fan of meat I asked?
This Syrian man came with rich stories of life growing up and one of those came with a celebration with family that involved a week of family gathering. During the week a little lamb was introduced to all of the children that became a new pet. It became evident that part of that celebration was indeed the slaughter and eating of that little lamb.
That was a moment that was etched in his memories and caused a shift from ingesting meat…poor guy!
He’s truly happier with veggies, but added those farm fresh brunch eggs into the frittata for those of us who needed them.
Next, he added those chopped potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes into the skillet and then covered them with the lid and turned it to low to cook them slowly.
Those veggies were truly farm fresh.
A visit to the greenhouse on the farm proved that some of those veggies he included in the frittata were indeed just picked.
Nothing like the sweet farm fresh taste of those carrots–oh, my!
He added his seasonings to the frittata, stirred and covered again to continue the slow softening process to that frittata.
Meantime he began the chopping of the red pepper to add to the dozen whisked eggs.
He sliced a large baguette and added that to warm in the oven.
He stirred in freshly washed torn spinach leaves, chopped bell pepper and parmesan to the egg mixture.
Then he poured that egg mixture back over the softened vegetables and returned the lid to cook the frittata.
When the eggs were done and the frittata was set, it was glorious.
He ladled the fresh vegetable soup into bowls, and added slices of the frittata to the plate with a large basket of the warmed bread.
A NEW take on a brunch for me!
Heavenly! The flavor and smells were divine!
Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try your hand at recreating Massood’s frittata.
Massood’s Farm Fresh Veggie Frittata
Equipment
- 1 large skillet with lid
- Stove
- cutting board
- chef's knife
- colander
- wooden spoons
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 fresh tumeric, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1-2 T coconut oil
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and chopped
- 1/2 t ground cumin
- 1/4 t ground oregano
- 1/4 t ground basil
- 1/4 t ground thyme
- 1 T tumeric powder
- salt and pepper, as needed, for serving
- 1 bunch fresh spinach leaves, torn into small pieces
- 1 dozen eggs
- 1/4 C grated parmesan cheese **to your taste
Instructions
- Peel and mince fresh tumeric and fresh ginger and add to 2 T coconut oil in a large skillet.
- Add spices, saute' and cover and then turn off while preparing the vegetables.
- Wash, peel, slice and cut sweet potatoes, carrots and russet potatoes into bite sized pieces and add to the sauteed tumeric and ginger in the skillet, stirring to coat the spices onto the vegetables.
- Cover the skillet with the lid and turn to medium/low to begin to soften the vegetables.
- Break eggs and add to a bowl and whisk together.
- Wash the spinach and tear into bite sized pieces and add to the eggs.
- Core and chop the red bell pepper and stir into the eggs.
- Add more spices, if desired.
- Mix in a bit of parmesan cheese–1/4 c or your desired amount to the egg mixture.
- Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables when softened–cover and continue to cook until eggs are set. Keep it at low setting to keep it from browning too much or burning.
- When set, cut into wedges and serve!
Notes
Farm fresh brunch idea at its best!
Hope you will give this one a try! For any vegetarian/vegan or gluten free guests with their feet under your table, they will thank you for this one…and frankly, ANY guests without special dietary needs will love this one! Just add lots of thick sliced bacon to your menu if there are meat lovers gathered!
Here’s a few items that make creating this recipe easier! Happy shopping!
Hope you will give this recipe a try and then share with me your experience!
2 Comments
Cindy
Oh Leslie, this sounds delicious. I can’t wait to make this recipe.
If this happened to be as a child with the lamb I’d probably be vegetarian too.
He looked so comfortable in front of the camera.
Leslie J Watkins
I love watching him create each recipe. The flavors and combinations are amazing.