Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Frittata di pasta

I've been wanting to publish a post about this very simple dish in a while, and today I finally remembered after seeing Susan's post about Spanish Tortilla de Patatas (Frittata di pasta reminds me a lot of that dish, except for the fact that I use just the amount of oil strictly necessary for preventing the frittata from sticking to the pan). Frittata di pasta is a very easy and tasty way to use pasta leftovers. Frittata means 'omelette' in italian, although usually Italian frittate are thicker than French omelettes. Anyway, you can in principle put anything in a frittata, including pasta leftovers. It turns out really well and it usually impresses Americans who never had anything like that. You can eat it hot or cold, and is thus perfect either as main dish, or as appetizer, or as party finger food.
Frittata di pasta / Pasta omelette
Ingredients:
6 eggs (you can use more or less eggs depending on your taste. The more eggs you add, the easier it is to have it stick together)
~2 cup pasta leftover (whatever sauce you had is fine)
Cheese (either 2 tbsp parmigiano or 1/2 cup any other cheese that will melt, diced into small pieces)
Salt, pepper
Olive oil (2 tbsp)
Procedure:
Beat the eggs with 2 tsp salt. Mix with the leftover pasta. Add black pepper to taste, and the cheese. Heat up 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, till quite hot (it should become less viscous than when it's cold). Spread on the bottom of the pan, then pour the pasta/egg/cheese mixture. The pan should be of a size such that the egg/pasta mixture fills it completely. Cover with a lid, and cook on medium heat for at least 7 minutes. Check, and if there's almost no more liquid egg left you're ready to flip it, otherwise let cook covered for a bit longer. If you're ready to flip, first make sure the frittata is not stuck to the bottom of the pan by passing a plastic spatula between the border of the frittata and the bottom of the pan. Then, while wearing a glove that protects your left hand from the heat, hold the lid upside down in your left hand, and with your right hand slide the frittata from the pan onto the lid, so that the uncooked side is still face up. Flip the pan and place upside down on top of the frittata. Now flip the whole pan with lid, and place back on the stove. So now you should have the uncooked side being cooked. Let cook on Med-low heat for another 5 minutes and serve hot (for example with some tomato sauce, or chutney, like in the picture below), or cold, sliced into small pieces to serve at a party (like in the picture on top).

4 comments:

Amit said...

Hi Caroline,

I found your blog through a comment you left on a blogger hack website. It's very well written and I like the pictures you took (specially the strangers section).

Cheers,

chemcookit said...

Hey, thanks a lot for your comment! I'm very happy you like my blog and my pictures! - although, if you're referring to 'strangers among us', they're not mine, it's just a link to someone else's blog that in fact I liked a lot too :)
I'm also going to update my profile and put my name directly in there - I'm Marta :) - Caroline is a friend of mine who has a nice blog :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Susan in Italy said...

Hey Chem, This is so cool! I just found your post today linking back to my tortilla de patatas post and tomorrow, I'm writing about this same frittata! Such a coincidence. I'll link to your post especially since you give interesting serving ideas like tomato sauce or chutney. Great idea!

chemcookit said...

Hey Susan!
Wow, great! This whole food blog world is such a wonderful experience.. I'd be super happy if you linked me and I'll be really interested in looking at your frittata di pasta!!!!