Cranberry Sausage Frittata

Cranberry Sausage FrittataYield: one 12-inch skillet, about 6-8 servings.Frittata method and proportions come from this very helpful post on Cookie and Kate. Ingredient combination is a blend of various recipes from a "cranberry quiche" Google search.

Ingredients
12 eggs
3 Tbsp. full-fat dairy (I used 2% plain Greek yogurt)
4 oz. pepper jack cheese, grated
1 lb. ground pork sage sausage (I used this one from HEB)
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (generous 2 cups; about a 1/2-inch dice)
1 cup fresh cranberries, halved

Directions
Prep the butternut squash first since that takes the longest. Grate the cheese.* Preheat oven to 475.

Crack your eggs into a bowl or 4-cup measuring cup; whisk well. Add dairy and whisk again. Add about half the grated cheese. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet over high to medium-high heat. Brown the sausage, breaking it up into fairly small clumps as it browns. When the sausage is almost done, add the butternut squash to the skillet, and continue cooking until the squash is tender. Add the cranberries and cook for about another minute. Remove pan from the heat for a few minutes.**

Return pan to high heat; give it a minute or two to heat up, especially if you're using cast iron. Give your egg mixture another whisk and pour it in. Stir/jiggle everything just enough to get the egg mixture well distributed throughout the sausage-butternut mixture. Then let it cook for about a minute, undisturbed, until the edges start to lighten in color. During this minute(ish) sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

Transfer skillet to oven and cook 7-14 minutes, until egg is puffed and the center jiggles just a little when you jiggle the pan. (I would just like to point out that I've now used the word jiggle three times in two paragraphs.) Check it after 6-7 minutes. Then keep checking regularly. Mine took 9 minutes, and my oven was a little overly ambitious at 450 rather than 425.

Remove to a wire rack to cool. Optionally, drive through the snow to your friend's house. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Notes

*You get a better texture if you buy a block of cheese and grate it, since the pre-shredded stuff coated with anti-clumping stuff which can make for a slightly gritty texture.

**I don't know if this step is crucial. It was in the Cookie and Kate recipe. And I did it because it gave me a good chance to hurriedly get dressed.

If the sausage release quite a bit of fat or water while you brown it, drain some of it off before adding the butternut squash.

An alternate flavor profile I think would be yummy: use swiss, gruyere, or gouda cheese instead of pepper jack, and add some fresh thyme to the mix. I love cranberry and thyme together but wasn't sure how it would play with the pepper jack.