Jackie Middleton's quick and easy caprese-inspired frittata recipe

Supermarkets’ year-round tomato options aren’t always the most inspiring. But now tomatoes have come into season.

We eat a lot of cherry tomatoes, either from the garden – if the possums have spared us a few – or from our local fruit and veg shop. We are always selecting new colours and shapes as they become available through the season.

Related: Jackie Middleton's midweek recipe: hummus bowl with salmon and avocado

Caprese salad can be a standby staple with some bocconcini or pesto at hand, or a special treat with well-seasoned tomatoes, excellent Australian mozzarella, olive oil and torn basil. Using the classic salad as the basis for a frittata turns it into a full meal.

Caprese salad frittata with prosciutto

I make frittata from a ratio-based recipe, using one egg to one-third volume of cream, so 16g of cream for every 50g of egg (yolk and white). It sounds complicated in theory, but once you have the hang of it, it makes the process more flexible and streamlined. Once you’re across this way of thinking, you can make this for a quick two-egg snack, or a 50-egg school bake sale, knowing the ratio is always correct.

Bake into muffin trays, a quiche base or this frittata, it just works.

In this recipe, you can add the anchovies and prosciutto for an extra flavour bang, or leave them out to keep it vegetarian.

Prep 15 mins
Cook 25 mins
Serves 4

7 eggs (makes approximately 350g of egg whites and yolks)
155g 35%-fat cream
5g sea salt, or a large pinch
300g broccoli, rough chopped, no thicker than 1cm stalks
30g butter or olive oil
2-3 pieces of anchovies
1 1/2 punnets of cherry tomatoes
1 tub bocconcini, drained (approximately 200g)
50g prosciutto (optional)
Black pepper
Basil leaves
Watercress or rocket leaves

Heat the oven to 160C.

Halve the cherry tomatoes and slice the bocconcini to a similar size. Reserve about one third to garnish the top of the dish.

Blitz or whisk the eggs, cream and salt in a jug. On medium heat, sauté the broccoli, oil or butter and anchovies in a 25cm non-stick frypan with an oven-proof handle. Brown and slightly soften the broccoli, mixing to break up and “melt” the anchovy. Add the egg mixture and, without stirring, cook gently for three minutes until the edges start to set.

Arrange two thirds of the cherry tomatoes and bocconcini into the top of the frittata, and poke in pieces of prosciutto and basil leaves. Generously grind with pepper.

Bake until just set, about 15 minutes. The edges will start to be puffy, but the frittata will still be slightly jiggly in the centre.

Remove from the oven and rest for 5-10 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edge and slide onto a plate or board, pretty side up.

Dress the remaining tomatoes and bocconcini with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Top the frittata with handfuls of watercress or rocket, more basil and the dressed tomatoes and bocconcini.

Serve warm, cut into large wedges.

This dish is great with simple steamed corn wheels, some new potatoes or a wedge of buttered sourdough.

For later in the week ...

Blitz extra frittata mix and stash in the fridge to make fast breakfast omelettes, excellent scrambled eggs, or pour into a hot soup.

While dinner cooks, you can also bake mini frittatas into muffin papers for lunchbox snacks the next day. Leftover cooked frittata is easily heated up in a sandwich press at work.

For impressive finger food, wrap pieces of frittata into softened rice paper with crunchy veggies.