Wish Upon A Dish: Frittata di Pasta

January 19, 2011

Frittata di Pasta

For an Italian, I really do not cook a lot of Italian dishes.

I am always reminded of that when I come across a recipe for something I never cooked or tasted, that is totally Italian. Fennel is another ingredient I never ate as a child and upon asking my Dad if my Grandma ever cooked it, his simple statement of "yes, but I wouldn't eat it", explained it all.

This meal is a prime example. The uniqueness that is Italian is in their propensity for using leftovers in such a morphed way, that the recipient would never recognize it as last night's dinner.

This time around, I am making it 'tonight's dinner', morphing the pasta into a dish later in the week.

Simple ingredients, perfectly balanced, a fast-food candidate for one of Rachael's cookbooks, kid friendly all the way and healthy.

I will cook the whole box of spaghetti and halve it (a little EVOO will help to keep it unstuck in the bag).

I use the Ronzoni Smart Taste spaghetti. It's the first white pasta to be enriched with Fiber, Calcium and Vitamin D-- and lots of it. It is also an excellent source of Fiber and contains Calcium and Vitamin D equal to an eight-ounce glass of milk. Studies show that many diets are lacking in these three important nutrients. Plus, Ronzoni Smart Taste is lower in calories and fat than traditional pasta.

The Nudge will eat brown rice but not whole wheat pasta, so this is the best I can do to up the nutritionals in what can be, a very bad thing on a diabetic diet.

Everyone will say, why not use Dreamfield's? I do use Dreamfield's when I can get it on sale (which is almost never) and I like the taste of Ronzoni pasta. America's Test Kitchen ranks Ronzoni as their #1 pasta year after year and I agree. More importantly, so does The Nudge.

That's all the endorsement I need.

Frittata di Pasta
makes 6 servings
* 6 eggs (beaten well) or 1 1/2 cups Egg Beaters
* 1/2 pound of cooked spaghetti
* 2 cups spaghetti sauce (optional)
* 1 tablespoons oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, minced
* 3/4 cup fontina or jack cheese
* 1/4 cup grated Romano Cheese
* 2 tablespoons EVOO
Preheat oven to 350F.
In an oven proof skillet, heat the EVOO. Place the spaghetti in the skillet, scatter with the tomatoes, salt & pepper, cheeses and eggs.
When the eggs start to set around the edges, place in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove, let it cool and flip it onto a platter large enough to serve the whole frittata on. The bottom should be crusty and browned well.

Heat the spaghetti sauce and ladle a spoonful onto each persons plate, slice the frittata into 6 slices. One goes on each plate.
You could also serve it nekkid with a salad and rolls.

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