Eggs & Cheese - Marcella Hazan 🌞

Frittata con le Cipolle
OPEN-FACED ITALIAN OMELET WITH ONIONS



EVER SINCE writing about frittate in The Classic Italian Cook
Book, I have heard from many cooks who have become enthusiastic
converts to this Italian way with eggs. As I had hoped, most have taken
the basic method and used it as a vehicle for an inventive variety of
fillings. Here I'd like to return to one of the most fundamental and
earthiest frittate. Like a large part of Italian cooking, it rests on a
foundation of browned onion. If you want it to, it will support almost
any structure of vegetables, herbs, meat, or even shellfish you may wish
to lay upon it. Anything may be added, but nothing need be. It is
complete and satisfying just as it is.

4 cups very fine slices of Bermuda onion or yellow
onion (if Bermuda are not available)
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
5 eggs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Put the onion and the olive oil in a large skillet or saute pan.
Turn on the heat to low. Cook the onion very slowly until gradually it
wilts, becomes greatly diminished in bulk, and eventually attains a rich
golden-brown hue.

2. Off heat, tip the pan, move all the onion to one side, and let the
oil drain and collect in a puddle on the other side of the pan.
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: The onion may be cooked up to this point
several hours ahead of time.

3. Break the eggs into a bowl, and beat them until the yolks and
whites are lightly blended.

4. Add the onion to the bowl, using a slotted spoon or spatula to
transfer them from the pan so that the oil will all be left behind.

5. Add the grated cheese, a liberal amount of salt, and a few
grindings of pepper to the bowl. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

6. Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Do not
let the butter heat long enough to become colored. As soon as it begins
to foam, pour the contents of the bowl into the skillet, stirring them
with a fork in the bowl while pouring. Turn the heat down to very low.

7. After about 15 minutes of very slow cooking, when the eggs have
set and thickened, and only the surface is runny, run the skillet under
the broiler. Remove it after 1 minute or less, when the "face" of the
frittata has set, but not browned.

8. Loosen the frittata with a spatula, and slide it onto a platter.
Cut it like a pie, into serving wedges.

ADDITIONAL SERVING SUGGESTIONS: For a light lunch, the frittata
alone is sufficient, followed by a salad. It can also be preceded by a
simple soup, such as Broccoli and Homemade Barley Soup.

From "More Classic Italian Cooking"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21200.More_Classic_Italian_Cooking

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Pizza Rustica
PORK AND CHEESE PIE



PIZZA RUSTICA has absolutely nothing in common with pizza
except the name. It is a meat-and-cheese pie whose filling is baked in
sweet egg pastry, pasta frolla. The meat is an assortment of pork
products—prosciutto, cooked sausages, salami, etc.—and the cheeses
are lean ones such as ricotta and scamorza (mozzarella) . In the Abruzzi,
people also add hard-boiled eggs. I find the filling rich enough without them.
The combination of sweet pastry with salty filling may seem a bit
startling, but they are not at odds with each other. It is in fact a most
pleasing and sparkling coupling of flavors. This recipe uses half the
amount of sugar usually called for, which I would find excessive. There
is also mention of cinnamon in traditional recipes, but I loathe cinnamon,
so the less said about that the better.

For 6 persons

The sweet egg pastry (pasta frolla) :
2 cups flour 3 tablespoons ice water
2 egg yolks 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
A tiny pinch salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter,
cut up into small pieces

Mix all the ingredients, and knead them together briefly, preferably
on a cold surface, such as marble. Just as soon as they are well
amalgamated into a compact dough, wrap the dough in wax paper and put it
in the refrigerator. Leave it in the refrigerator at least 1 hour before
proceeding with the rest of the recipe. It can be refrigerated up to 4 or
5 hours.

If you have a food processor, all the mixing and kneading can be
done in it. Put all ingredients into the beaker and spin the steel blades
on and off until balls of dough form on them. When you take the dough
out of the processor, shape it into a single ball before you wrap it and
refrigerate it.342 Pork and Cheese Pie (cont.)

The filling:

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 pound whole-milk ricotta (about 1 1/4 cups)
1/4 pound prosciutto or country ham, or salami
or boiled ham, chopped not too fine
1-quart souffle dish or similar ovenproof crockery dish
Butter for greasing
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound mortadella, chopped not too fine
The cold egg pastry from above recipe
1/2 pound whole-milk mozzarella, cut up in small pieces

1. Put the egg yolks into a bowl, and beat them briefly with a whisk.

2. Add the ricotta, and beat until it becomes rather creamy.

3. Add the chopped meats, the mozzarella, the grated cheese, a
liberal amount of salt, and several grindings of pepper. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

4. Preheat oven to 375°.

5. Thickly grease the inside of the baking dish with butter.

6. Cut off about VS of the pastry dough. Over a sheet of kitchen
parchment, aluminum foil, or wax paper, roll it out into a round shape
large enough to line the bottom of the baking dish, and come a little
bit up the sides. Turn the dough over into the dish, peeling the sheet
away from the dough. Fit the dough into the bottom of the dish, spreading it evenly.

7. Cut off another third of the dough, and always over parchment,
foil, or wax paper, roll it into rectangular strips about as wide as the
baking dish is deep. Line the sides of the dish with these strips. You can
overlap where necessary; where there are gaps, they can be filled by
pressing into them little bits of dough, handling them like putty.
Smooth with your fingers, evening off any thicker layers. Press the
dough where the sides meet the bottom into a tightly sealed seam.

8. Pour all the filling from the bowl into the dish. Press it lightly
to force out any air bubbles trapped in it.

9. Roll out the rest of the dough into a disk large enough to cover
well the top of the pizza. Place it over the filling, and press its edges
tightly against the dough lining the sides of the dish, making sure of a
tight seal. Trim away the dough along the sides wherever it comes upSINGLECOURSE DISHES 343
higher than V2 inch above the top of the pizza; fold the rest of it down.
Smooth all rough connections with a moistened fingertip.

10. Place in the upper level of the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, until
the top has turned a light golden brown. Do not open the oven door
during this time. If after 45 minutes the crust seems to you to require
a little more browning, turn up the thermostat to 400°, and bake for
another 6 to 8 minutes.

11. When cool enough to handle, the pizza may be unmolded by
being inverted on a plate. See description of this procedure at the end
of the recipe for timhallo di fiinghi, page 334. It is also very nice served
directly from the baking dish, especially if you have one of those very
attractively decorated crockery ones. Pizza rustica may be served while
still warm, or at room temperature, but not piping hot. It will keep for
one day without refrigeration, at normal room temperature.



ADDITIONAL SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
Here is a dish that can be the centerpiece of a rustic
meal, as the name itself—pizza rustica—suggests. As a preamble, you
could serve Skewered Marinated Lamb Tidbits , Broccoli and
Homemade Barley Soup , or Spinach and Rice Soup.

From "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19552.Essentials_of_Classic_Italian_Cooking


MMMMMMmmmmmm melted cheese!