Ingredients

• A big pillow bag of supermarket spinach, or a similar amount of chard, washed and shredded.
• 1 leek
• 1 large clove garlic
• 6 eggs
• parmesan or another cheese of your choice
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Steam the spinach in a pan with a lid, over a low heat, with a little added water until reduced in size, about 2-3 minutes. If using chard, this stage will take longer, 4-5 minutes.
2. Drain the greens and leave to cool. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out any excess water and set aside. This stops the frittata being too wet to cook properly.
3. Chop the leek widthways and rinse under the tap to clean.
4. Chop the garlic
5. Put a knob of butter into a frying pan, under a low heat and sweat the chopped leek and garlic until soft, stirring from time to time, without browning.
6. Beat together 6 eggs and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
7. Lightly oil a non stick shallow baking dish – doesn’t really matter what shape or kind of tin, but it should be wide and deep enough to hold the uncooked frittata with a bit of room for expansion.
8. Add your cooked greens to the baking dish, spreading out to cover the bottom of the dish.
9. Add the leeks, then half the cheese, then the beaten eggs, then the rest of the cheese on top, flattening down with a spoon so it’s level.
10. Bake in a medium oven, about 175 C Fan, 195 C regular or Gas mark 5-6 for about half an hour until the top of the frittata is set.
11. The frittata is a good vehicle for using up veg so feel free to experiment with anything you need to use up – peppers, potatoes, onions would all be good. The onions and potatoes should be cooked beforehand. Any cheese you have lying around is good too – grated cheddar, soft goats cheese or feta would all be good. I have made a good frittata with frozen peas, cooked for a few minutes, plus feta and chopped mint, or try a Spanish style potato and onion one with a pinch of smoky paprika. It’s good for making in advance for lunchboxes or picnics too.