Delicious bites of tender asparagus, sizzling fried potatoes, shavings of scallions, mixed with eggs and topped with cheese makes your mouth water.
This medley of tender asparagus, sizzling fried potatoes, and scallion bits is mixed with eggs, topped with cheese, and is more mounded onto your plate when you enjoy it for breakfast or brunch. I call this an "almost frittata" because frittatas usually contain more eggs, and form the shape of the frying pan that you make them in.
There is a lot of leeway with this dish. One of my favorite preparation points is that you can pre-boil your potatoes and steam or boil your asparagus the day before to cut down on the final assembly time when you want to enjoy it right away. There are no "wrong" measurements here. If you add one more asparagus spear than I do, or on a whim use anywhere from 6-8 eggs, you can't go wrong. A bunch of scallions is exactly that. Non one is counting here. If you like it cheesier, go for it. Feel free to customize the cheeses, too, by mixing and altering the measurements for how much you add.
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Half a dozen eggs is all it takes, but if you want to throw in an extra egg or two, be my guest!
Ingredients:
6-8 eggs (TheLadyinRed uses 6, but it won't hurt if you add 1 or 2 more)
1 bunch scallions
1 bunch asparagus
2 large red potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks (if you don't have red potatoes, any old potatoes will work just fine!)
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or you can use Gruyere, American, Monterey Jack, Colby, Swiss)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (this gives it the luscious "gooey" effect where that hot melted cheese is a little stretchy)
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground pepper
I used purple asparagus here. Purple, green, white... it doesn't matter. Use what you like!
1. Cut the asparagus into 1" pieces. Place them into a large saucepan with about 3 inches of water and bring the water to a boil. Once the water reaches a boil, cook the asparagus for 3 - 4 minutes until barely fork tender. (You can steam your asparagus, too, if you prefer.)
You can boil or stem the asparagus up to 1 day before you make the recipe to cut down on prep time.
I think there are 6 scallions in this bunch. It doesn't matter if you've got a little more or a little less.
2. While your asparagus is cooking, chop the scallions into 1 inch pieces and set aside.
Chop! Chop! Chop!
3. Drain the cooked asparagus and set it aside. (You can cook the asparagus up to 1 day ahead for an easier to assemble dish.)
4. Place the potato chunks in the same saucepan (Less dirty dishes! Hurray! :) ) Cover them with water so they are about 1" submerged. Add 1/2 tsp salt.
5. Cover the saucepan and bring the potatoes to a boil. After about 15 minutes of boiling they will be fork tender. Test it out and give 1 or 2 pieces a stab. If your fork goes into it easily, it's done. Drain them. (You can boil the potatoes a day before, too, if you want to cut down on last minute prep-time.)
Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a deep, large frying pan, or a frittata pan if you have one.
6. Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a large, deep frying pan, or a frittata pan, if you have one.
 Add the potatoes, the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, and ground pepper to the melted butter. |  Gently spread the potatoes out in the frying pan but don't keep moving them or they will break apart. |
7. Add the potatoes, the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, and the ground pepper to the melted butter. You want to cook the potatoes until they develop a tiny bit of browning and/or crispness on the edges for that melt-in-your-mouth buttery, caramelized taste. We're not going for home fries here, but we want a little classic breakfast potato feel.
Add the cooked asparagus to the potatoes.
8. Now it's time to add the cooked asparagus to the potatoes - just to heat them through - about 2 - 3 minutes, tops.
Lookin' pretty! Red, white, and green! :)
9. Finally, add the scallions to the pan and give them a stir to heat them through.
Add 6 - 8 eggs, depending on how "eggy" you like things.
10. Add 6 - 8 eggs, depending on how "eggy" you like things. (A regular frittata will take approximately 12 eggs, so we're scaling this back a bit.) Just crack them right on top of the veggies in the pan.
Mix in the eggs.
11. Mix in the eggs. Go ahead, break those yolks. Stir it up well. There's no need to scramble the eggs before you add them in. Why create more dirty dishes, right? :)
Add the cheese and don't move it around too much! You just want to melt it in.
12. Add the cheese to the top of the mixture. Don't move it around too much! You just want to melt it in, so it permeates the dish with ooey-gooey goodness.
Oh my! Now that's what I call breakfast done right! Serious yum!
13. Scoop and serve!
Special Notes:
Serves 3 - 4, for breakfast or brunch.
You can cook the asparagus and potatoes a day ahead for easier assembly. It's a time-saver.
Adjust the amount of eggs to your liking. I use 6, but feel free to bump it up to 7 or 8.
A bunch is a bunch is a bunch. Eyeball the amount of scallions or asparagus that you use.
You can sub out yellow potatoes, or other potatoes if you don't have red potatoes on hand. I've even used fingerling potatoes that approximate the same amount of potato used in this recipe.
You can refrigerate any leftovers for up to 2 days and then reheat portions in the microwave.
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