Mexican Inspired Fritatta Made with Emu Egg, Delish!

I was wandering through the Halifax Market the other day and saw the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.  I reached out, grabbed it, paid for it and then looked in my hand and said, what am I going to cook with an emu egg.  Yep thats what it is like to be me.

I did some reading and found out that the flavor is a lot like chicken egg, maybe a little less flavorful.  The whites don’t set as fast and from a health standpoint they are free range and very nutritious.  One emu egg is equivalent to about 10 to 12 chicken eggs so  what ever I made had to be a larger dish.

Taking all of this information I decided I wanted to make a really flavorful fritatta.  Mexican flavors.  That called for some homemade chorizo sausage, fresh cheese curd and savory cilantro.  Here is how it all came together:

Ingredients:

1 Emu Eggs (10 to 12 chicken eggs)

1 Onion chopped

3/4 of a pound of Homemade Chorizo

1/2 cup Fresh Cheese Curds

1/2 handful fresh Cilantro – chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper – fresh ground

1/2 tsp paprika

2 medium potatoes boiled (until just fork tender) and chopped (1 cm dice)

2 tbs grape seed oil

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Heat an oven proof pan over medium high heat, add in 1 tsp of grapeseed oil when the

oil is hot add in the chorizo sausage and cook until it starts to brown, remove and drain on a paper towel.  Add in the potatoes and a pinch of salt and a couple turns of pepper into the pan (in the oil left by the chorizo) and fry them off until they start to brown and get crispy, then add back in the chorizo, and then onions, if need add another tsp of oil.  Cook unit the onions start to soften and get some color.  While this is cooking:

Crack your emu egg (or chicken eggs) into a large bowl and whisk until frothy,  Add in the chopped cilantro, 1/4 tsp of salt. 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp of paprika.  Whisk until combined.  Add this directly into the pan with the potatoes, chorizo and onions.  Remove from the heat and top with the fresh cheese curds.

Place in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes.  At this point the eggs should have set, if not check it every couple minutes.  It should be firm to the touch but a little runny on top.  When it reaches this stage, turn on the broiler for about 3 minutes until the top firms up and starts to get a little golden color.  You want to watch the progress of the dish and not depend on time.  Eggs should not be over cooked, you don’t want rubbery, hard brown eggs, and that can happen very quickly.  This dish builds flavours in each component and to provide an overall flavorful dish.  Each component is seasoned and this is very important in a fritatta or you can end up with some parts that are very flavorful and other parts that are bland.  I enjoyed this and hope you do as well.

Thanks to my local suppliers for making this breakfast possible:

Emu Egg :                      The Dutchman Cheese

Fresh Cheese Curd:     Fox Hill Cheese House

Onions/Potatoes :     Noggins Corner Farm Market

Cilantro:                        Riverview Herbs