Frittata di Pasta (Pasta Frittata)

Had my fill of BBQ this weekend. After a big family party on Saturday in sweltering hot conditions (no air conditioning) and another cook-fest on Sunday I'm a bit pooped!  Now back home from the lake I don't have much in the frig and don't feel like trekking to the grocery store. On occasions like this I fall back to one of my most favorite and simplest of comfort foods, the pasta frittata. With some cooked spaghetti, a few eggs and cheese (ingredients most households have on hand) I can put together a delicious entree that everyone in my family enjoys. My mother used to make this dish on Fridays when Catholics abstained from meat, but I like to make it whenever I am in a pinch, any day of the week.

This is a delicious meatless dish, but adding sliced or crumbled pieces of cooked Italian sausage gives this dish an incredible boost of flavor. I prefer to make the frittata in its simplest form, with plain, cooked spaghetti and good Italian cheese, but if you have some leftover pasta coated in tomato sauce already sitting in the refrigerator, that's even tastier. This is a design-your-own kind of dish as any meat, vegetable, herb or spice can be added to suit your tastes. Oh, and the pasta can be spaghetti, penne or any other shape you like.

Essential to making this dish is a good, medium size, non-stick skillet or a well seasoned one that you have confidence the eggs or bits of cheese won't stick to. Like most frittatas, this one needs to be flipped in order for the eggs to cook through, but the pasta in this dish adds considerable volume, so flipping it is a bit tricky and somewhat intimidating. Though flipping and cooking both sides in the skillet produces a pasta frittata that has a nice crisp crust to it, once the eggs have fully set the balance of the cooking can be done in an oven, making sure, of course, you are using an oven-proof skillet.

The frittata is cooked in olive oil. With its larger than usual volume the cooking time is long so you must keep the heat even and not too hot. But, you want it hot enough for the surface and edges to develop a nice golden brown. This means the pasta at the surface will crisp up a bit which gives this dish great flavor and added texture. Both my husband and I think that's the best part of this dish. 

As for the cheese, my mother always used Tuma cheese which was a staple in her house.  Tuma is a cow's milk cheese that has a firm, smooth texture similar to a muenster or mozzarella but milder in taste. It was mom's default cheese. She used it in everything, grated in lasagna or stuffed pastas, sliced for sandwiches or to top an eggplant parmigiana.  Tuma is not readily available in grocery stores but can be found in most Italian specialty markets. As such, I use whatever cheese I have on hand, fresh mozzarella, muenster, provolone, or even swiss. 

In this dish the cheese is diced up into small pieces. I don't mix the cheese with the eggs and pasta mixture for fear it will adhere to the skillet and cause the frittata to stick. I add the cheese in parts as I pour the egg-pasta mixture into the skillet carefully distributing it throughout the skillet without allowing it to touch the pan.

I typically make this as a dinner entree served with a big, green tossed salad, but it is also great for lunch. It is good either hot right out of the pan, at room temperature or cold the following day.  Be sure to sprinkle generous amount of fresh grated cheese on top when serving. As usual, I prefer Grana Padano.  

What a satisfying dish, not too rich or too heavy. It has a great mix of textures, smooth and chewing in the center, with a nice crispy crust. And, depending on the cheese you pick, a nice salty, chewy, cheesy taste to balance out the blandness of the plain pasta. Delicious!

Frittata di Pasta

4-6 oz. of cooked spaghetti, well drained
4 eggs
pinch of salt and black pepper
1/2 c. cheese, diced or small slices tuma, mozzarella, muenster is best

good olive oil for frying
Grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta as directed on package. Drain well. 

In a large bowl beat eggs vigorously till well beaten. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked and well drained pasta and mix together. 

Heat a medium size, non-stick skillet. Add enough good olive oil to fully coat the bottom of the skillet, about 2 T. When oil is hot but not smoking, add enough of the pasta mixture to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with some of the cheese making sure none of it touches the bottom or sides of the pan. Continue adding more of the pasta-egg mixture and more cheese till both are in the skillet and the cheese is well distributed making sure the pasta-egg mixture covers all of the cheese. 

While cooking, gently lift (without mixing or disturbing) the frittata from time to time to distribute the egg mixture, make sure the bottom is not burning or sticking to the bottom or sides of the pan. 

When the frittata appears generally well set (center is still runny but sides are beginning to firm up), place a dinner plate over the frittata (dish should be slightly larger than the skillet diameter). With your right hand, firmly hold the skillet handle. Place your left hand onto the center of the dinner plate. In unison, gripping the handle firmly and securing the plate onto the skillet, lift the pan off the heat and turn the pan 180 degrees so that the frittata is resting on the dinner plate. Lift the pan off the frittata and place it back on the stove. Now slide the frittata into the skillet runny side down, cooked side up, to finish cooking.

When fully cooked (center will be firm to the touch) slide onto a clean dinner plate. Sprinkle with a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese. Cut into 6-8 pie wedges and serve.
 

Broccoli Rabe with Orecchietti Pasta

I am a big fan of greens and make them often. While many people object to the bitter taste of some greens I like all varieties and so does my family. Most greens are relatively cheap in price and a good value with great health benefits to boot. They are great as a simple side dish gently sauteed in olive oil and garlic. I also like to add them to soups, especially hearty bean soups for added texture and taste. 

Among my favorite type of greens is broccoli rabe, or "rapini" as I came to know them when growing up.  Not so readily available back then, when my mother got her hands on a nice bunch she would saute them in olive oil, garlic and cut-up cooked potatoes. I make all types of greens in this way today, so easy and a good way to spark up a simply grilled meat or fish entree.  

Today, broccoli rabe is a standard vegetable in most grocery stores but tends to cost more per pound than most greens. When they go down to about $1.99 a pound its time to buy. 

Broccoli rabe falls into the bitter category of greens. To cut some of the bitterness most recipes suggest cooking the greens in some salted water for a few minutes. I don't think that's necessary and frankly why boil away some of its nutrients. One way to balance the bitter taste is to prepared the greens with other ingredients. Potatoes, like my mother used to do, is a good option. One of my favorite ways to prepare them is to saute the greens with Italian sausage, lots of garlic and a dash of pepperoncini flakes. Add in some cooked orecchietti pasta and you have a marvelous entree or satisfying primi piatti course. Take out the Italian sausage and you have a flavorful side vegetable and starch all in one like the recipe I am presenting today. 
 
Broccoli Rabe with Orecchietti Pasta

1 bunch broccoli rabe
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp. pepperoncini flakes
1/2 lb. orecchietti pasta
olive oil
salt, to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated

Trim broccoli rabe cutting off the thicker stalks. Rinse well with cool water and drain well or spin dry.  Stalks can be either left whole (my preference) or chopped. 

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Cook only till almost al dente (a minute or two less than directions).  No more as pasta will finish cooking when added to the broccoli rabe.When done, remove a 1/2-1 cup of pasta water and then drain the pasta.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet and add about 2-3 T. olive oil. When hot, add the garlic and pepperoncini flakes making sure not to burn the garlic. When garlic has begun to soften and is quite fragrant add the broccoli rabe.

Turn down the heat slightly, season with salt and stir mixture. Add about 2 T. water, cover pan and cook till broccoli rabe is almost done (stalks are tender but not soft).  

Add the orecchietti to the pan along with some of the reserved pasta water. Continue to saute the mixture till all ingredients are well combined and most of the water has evaporated. 

Serve with a generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese. 













   

Love Pasta!

Who doesn’t love pasta? No one I know. Along with bread and potatoes it completes the trifecta of my favorite foods. When I think of comfort food a plate of good penne with homemade tomato sauce flavored with fresh basil is at the top of my list. Having parents who emigrated to the U.S. from southern Italy, pasta dishes were commonplace dinner time entrees and continue today as mainstay items on our holiday and family get-together buffets. 

This classic Penne with Tomato Sauce recipe I am sharing with you today marks the debut of my food blog, Cucinare which means “to cook” in Italian. I have chosen it because it reflects a lot about how I cook – simple, fresh, lots of Italian, delicious!  It is a wonderfully simple sauce taught to me by my mother who prepared pasta with a hearty, beef based tomato sauce every week for as long as I can remember. Every Sunday morning before we went to mass Mom prepared her meatballs and got the sauce started. While at mass it would slowly simmer and be ready when we returned home.  Meat --beef or pork or a combination of the two and/or meatballs-- back then were almost always in Mom’s Sunday sauce. When my four sisters and I married we followed suit and prepared our pasta sauces in the same way. Why wouldn't we, Mom’s sauce was delicious!

As we became more health conscious the meat was eliminated and the sauce was retooled into this classic version which today remains our family’s universal pasta sauce.  The addition of fresh basil, which was not so readily available when I was young, gives the sauce its fresh and authentic Italian flavor. It’s also great as the sauce base for making lasagna or in meat dishes like chicken parmesan, or to add richness to a bean soup. Served over good penne and sprinkled with freshly grated cheese (I prefer Grana Padano) it is truly one of my favorite dishes and my quintessential comfort food. 

My recipe for this fresh sauce takes its roots from Mom’s Sunday sauce that always started with a healthy quarter cup of good olive oil to which chopped garlic, onions and a small amount of carrots are sautéed.  The carrots helped to sweeten the sauce and cut the bitterness out of the tomatoes. Cooked till nice and soft this forms the flavor base for the sauce. 

The choice of tomatoes dictates the overall texture of the sauce. Depending on both availability and preference, the sauce can vary from a smooth amalgamation to a chunky blend of ingredients. I prefer to use the 6- in-1 brand of all-purpose ground tomatoes in heavy puree. While San Marzano are the gourmet's choice, I prefer these as they are more readily available in my local markets and half the price of the San Marzano's. The 6-in-1  produces a sauce that has a sweet tomato flavor, is coarse, not chunky, in texture, and sufficiently covers just about any pasta shape.  The better the quality of tomatoes the better the sauce, but, any canned tomatoes can be used – diced, whole or crushed.  One caution is that unless the tomatoes are canned in puree, they will not produce a thick enough sauce to sufficiently coat the pasta. To remedy that, I add a few tablespoons of tomato paste.  Of course, fresh tomatoes are always a good choice but due to their sometimes high water content, the sauce may need the addition of some tomato paste as well and require a much longer cooking time. 

Fresh basil is the real secret to this sauce as it add a fresh taste and distinctive flavor. Never replace it with dried. But, in its fresh state it is extremely perishable and therefore, can be expensive. As good as it is I find it difficult to use the whole quantity I purchase before it blackens. You don’t need that much for a batch of pasta sauce so unless you use it almost every day for other recipes it will spoil on you. So in order to make the most of my dollar, I use what I need for the sauce and then freeze the rest. 

Yes, you can freeze it successfully.  Separate the leaves from the stalks. Wash, spin dry and then blot with a paper towel to get them really dry. Pack the leaves into a plastic bag and place in the freezer for later use. When the time comes, just break off a few pieces right out of the freezer bag, crush in your hand and drop into your cooking mixture. Surprisingly, the flavor of the frozen leaves is pretty close to fresh and superior to any dried basil. The frozen leaves, however, are only good for cooking. They will not reconstitute well enough to use uncooked. 

Selecting ‘good’ quality pasta makes a marked difference in this recipe. Penne is my personal favorite in terms of pasta shape. You can tell the quality by its wheat base, bite, color, texture and taste.  Good pasta has a firm, chewy bite to it, not gummy, sticky or mushy. It  should be made from 100% Durum wheat and has a pale amber color with a matte finish.  It is certainly not bland and has a distinctive, nutty flavor that blends beautifully with this classic tomato sauce. I also find that better quality pastas take a bit longer to cook. The Garofalo brand sold at Costco fits the criteria and is a good quality pasta.

  

Penne with Tomato Sauce

4 T. extra virgin olive oil

3 good sized cloves of garlic, minced

½ c. finely chopped onion or one medium onion

½ c. finely chopped sweet red pepper

½ c. finely chopped carrot

1 – 28oz. cans crushed tomatoes

½ can water, just enough to loosen up the sauce

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper (optional)

3 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley

3 Tbsp. minced fresh basil

Add oil to a hot 5 qt. sauce pot. Sauté onion, red pepper and carrot for about 5 minutes or till veggies begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two making sure not to burn or brown the garlic as this will make the sauce bitter. Add the tomatoes and the water.  For a smoother sauce, pulse the tomatoes and water in a food processor before adding to pot. Season the mixture with the salt and pepper. Cook for 30 minutes or till a good consistency is achieved. The sauce shouldn’t be too watery or too thick. Add the parsley and basil. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. The sauce is now ready to pour over pasta or to use in other preparations.  This recipe makes enough sauce to accommodate 4-6 generous servings of pasta.  Delicious!