Leek and Mushroom Fritatta Breakfast Sandwiches

After eating fritatta breakfast sandwiches every weekday for three weeks, hubby and I were ready for a little change.  We still wanted a tasty breakfast that was full of good things, so I grabbed some leeks and mushrooms, used a couple of chicken thighs, and came up with a new recipe.

This is brunch on a bun.  It’s all the gorgeous flavor of leeks and mushrooms that you can find in my leek and mushroom tart (and most of the same ingredients), in a cute little easy-to-eat package.  It’s savory and feels like you’re eating a meal, but it’s not heavy.  We’ve been shopping a lot at Trader Joe’s and this recipe was scaled up to accomodate two packages of leeks and a package of goat cheese…  As a result it’s going to make more than my original breakfast sandwich recipe does.  But that’s okay…  More leftovers!

It takes a little time to prep (especially since leeks are so difficult to clean), but the results are stellar.

Leek and Mushroom Fritatta Breakfast Sandwiches

• 4 medium leeks, cleaned well and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4-6 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dry thyme)
• 8 oz mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 small chicken thighs, poached and shredded (or leftover chicken from another application; about half a pound)
• 2 oz crumbled goat cheese
• 12 eggs
• 2 tbsp half and half, cream, or milk
• salt and pepper, to taste

In a large sautee pan, cook leeks and garlic in olive oil on medium-low until softened.  Add mushrooms and thyme and cook through.  Season.  Drain off excess water (the mushrooms always give off lots) and place in large bowl with shredded chicken.  Allow to cool thoroughly before adding eggs, milk, and goat cheese and scrambling well.  Pour into two pans (I used a 9×13″ and an 8″ square) and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until set.  I found that this takes a little more time than the spinach and mushroom fritatta to cook; just be sure that the center doesn’t jiggle when you take it out of the oven!  Cool and cut into 16 pieces (if you’re using English muffins, as we are this week, and you cut these according to their size, you’ll actually get “edge” pieces too – I think we have a total of 20 servings).  As with the original, simply let the fritatta cool complete and wedge it between halves of a bun or English muffin before freezing your sandwich.  When you’re ready to eat it, microwave it until it’s warm.

Now, you may be wondering why I don’t have any photos of this…  And there’s a very simple reason.  It looks ugly.  Lots of lumpy white bits, between the chicken, the goat cheese, the mushrooms (I used white button mushrooms this time, since that’s what they had at our local Trader Joe’s), and the leeks (which start off green but usually end up greyish when they’re cooked).  I thought the original wasn’t pretty – but I couldn’t even bring myself to take a photo of this incarnation of the breakfast fritatta.  I wish it looked more visually appealing – but regardless of visuals, you will want to try this, because it tastes amazing!!!

Leek and Mushroom Tart

I saw a package of gorgeous leeks at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and knew I just had to get it.  They were green and tender, and totally cleaned already (I still split them in half and rinsed them well, since leeks have a tendency to be very sandy!).  So easy to use!

I happened to still have quite a few of the ingredients around from my goat cheese pizza (bet you didn’t know how well goat cheese and dried figs freeze!) and sort of played off the flavors in that recipe.  I wanted to make a tart, so I thought I’d just use a store-bought pie crust.  I will never make that mistake again – the pie crust was entirely too greasy and didn’t really hold up to all of the ingredients.  The topping, though?  Pure awesomeness.  I think I’d even venture to say it was as good as the pizza – and you could probably make it as a pizza just as easily.

Leek and Mushroom Tart

• 1 tart shell, baked almost completely (I have a 10-inch tart pan, but if you have a smaller one your toppings will probably be better distributed)
• 4-6 oz goat cheese
• 2 tsp olive oil
• a dash of each: lemon pepper, dry basil, dry parsley
• 2 leeks, cleaned, halved, and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped mushrooms (I used dried and rehydrated chanterelles, but I wish I could have found fresh!)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 chicken thighs, cut very small (you could do this with one chicken breast too, but I like the chicken-ness…  you could probably do this without chicken, if you prefer)
• 1 small yellow potato, sliced extremely thin and cut into pieces
• 4 oz dried figs (yes, that’s the rest of the package!), cut into very small pieces
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

In a small bowl, mix together cheese, olive oil, and herbs until smooth.  Set aside.

In a large sautee pan, heat a small amount of oil on medium heat until it shimmers.  Add leeks and garlic.  Cook 2-4 minutes to soften.  Add mushrooms and cook 3-5 minutes more.  Remove from heat into a bowl.  Add fig and potato pieces.

Add chicken pieces to sautee pan and place back on heat until the chicken is almost done (it still should be pink in the center – if you cook it all the way through in the pan it will be overcooked in the oven!).  Add to bowl with leeks, mushrooms, figs, and potatoes.  Mix to combine well.

Layer your tart shell (my pie crust shrunk - hence, no sides)

Layer your tart shell, spreading goat cheese thinly on the bottom, then adding the leek mixture, and topping the whole thing with mozzarella cheese (I was second-guessing this, though – do you have any better ideas for giving it some structure and meltyness?  I really had a picnic in mind when I made this – so we could eat slices of it without worrying that it was all going to come apart – which is why I topped it with anything at all).

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and golden.  You’ll have a thin, but extremely flavorful, tart.  We served it with a beautiful green salad and it was soooo satisfying!

Okay, I recognize that this doesn't really look all that pretty. But it tastes fantastic!