Caerphilly cheese, leek and sweet potato frittata

If you want to see what a really good frittata looks like, or maybe get some ideas as to what to throw in yours, then you should follow Elly Curshen on Twitter and Instagram (@pearcafe and @ellypear respectively). She has a habit of uploading a photo of her Bristol based café’s frittata of the day, well, daily. The frittatas themselves have their own habit of looking delicious.

In the meantime, you’ll need to make do with mine: a Caerphilly cheese, leek and sweet potato one, which was part of my latest post for Borough Market. My deeply engaging*, occasionally humourous**, and sort-of informative*** article extolled the virtues of the rather excellent Gorwydd Caerphilly. And included a few pictures of cheese. To read it in all its glory, click through this here link.

Or scroll beyond the following picture to just see the recipe.

* Not true

** ‘Rarely’ is probably a more appropriate adverb

*** I think this one might actually be a fair claim

Caerphilly cheese, leek and sweet potato frittata

(Serves 8 people)

• 600g sweet potato
• 2 large leeks
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 9 large eggs
• Salt and pepper
• 150g Caerphilly cheese
• Butter

You will need a 28 or 30cm frying pan for this. Preferably non-stick and with a heat resistant or removable handle. Reduce quantities by 1/3 if using a 24/26cm pan.

Wash the sweet potato and cut into wedges. There’s no need to peel them. Roast in an oven at 180C with a little oil and salt for 35-45 minutes – until soft and slightly brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Chop the leeks in half lengthways and then slice into 1cm strips. Wash thoroughly and cook for 4 minutes over a low heat with a bit of butter and a good pinch of salt. Slice the cloves of garlic thinly and add to the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes longer until the leeks are soft and sweet. Season with pepper and a little more salt (if needed). Allow to cool a little.

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly with a fork or balloon whisk. Add the vegetables to this mix so long as they’re not too hot to touch (we don’t want to cook the egg). Allow the mix to sit for 30 minutes for flavours and seasoning to infuse.

Turn your grill on and ensure there’s shelf space for a frying pan around 4cm from the heat source.

Place a large 28/30cm frying pan on a medium flame and allow to warm. Add a knob of butter. When this is frothing, swirl the fat around the pan and gently pour in the frittata mix. Quickly move the sweet potatoes and leeks around so there’s an even spread. After 30 seconds or so, crumble the Caerphilly cheese into gaps between sweet potato wedges. Poke the cheese just below the egg surface. Cook gently for about 3 minutes, until you see the base is fairly cooked, move the pan to below the grill to cook for 1-2 minutes longer – until the top of the frittata is golden brown and the contents just set. Take care not to melt your pan handle. Remove from the grill and allow to cool for a few minutes before sliding the frittata out of the pan and portioning up. Eat warm or cold.