While picking up a bottle of wine from Di Palo’s in Little Italy, we asked Lou Di Palo for a pasta recommendation.  “This will be the best pasta you have ever tasted,” he assured us, presenting us with a burgundy box of perfectly coiled dried pasta.  “You can even eat it plain, it’s that good.”  Tonnarelli is similar to Spaghetti, except it has a square cross section rather than a circular one.  Convinced by his testimonial, we headed back to my place to make a simple Marinara sauce to accompany the pasta.

For a perfect, slow simmering Marinara sauce, you’ve got to peel off the tomato skin.  The first step is to cut an “x” on the bottom of each tomato, then blanch them quickly for 5 minutes.

Once blanched, they’ll be easy to peel.  Don’t forget to also cut off the little tomato nub on the top where it once connected to the vine.

Mince a healthy amount of garlic (I like my sauce nice and garlicky); 4 or 5 cloves is a fair amount.  Roughly chop up the tomatoes.

Josh very slowly and gingerly peeled 5 Roma tomatoes. Meanwhile, I feverishly minced the garlic.  “Um Josh.. can we do this a little quicker? I’m getting hungry!” I quipped impatiently.  “Veronica, if we make this quickly it won’t taste good.  You have to put love and care into the sauce,” Josh replied, gesturing with a half-peeled tomato in his hand.

After the peeling, chopping, and mincing is done, heat up a pan on medium high heat, add 3 Tbsps of olive oil, the finely chopped garlic, followed by the roughly chopped up tomatoes.

Stir it up!

Let the sauce reduce for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. By this point in the night, it was close to 9 pm and I was so ravenous that I began to gnaw on a few of the figs I had sitting on my counter to subdue my hunger.

We let the sauce reduce for 20 minutes, watching the tomatoes melt and liquefy into a chunky, viscous consistency.  The sauce reduced a lot, sinking an inch down from where it originally was in the pan, so if you like your pasta saucy, use more a few more tomatoes.

Tear up a handful of basil leaves and throw them into the sauce and stir some more. Adding the basil in last keeps the fresh basil flavor.

While the sauce is close to being fully reduced, boil a pot of salted water, add the Tonnarelli for about four and a half minutes for a perfect al dente.

Stir in the pasta into the sauce and add salt to taste.

FINALLY, the pasta was complete!  Just as I was at the brink of collapse, we filled our plates, crawled up the stairs to the roof and filled our howling stomachs with pasta.  Lou was right, it was some of the best pasta I’ve tasted — a perfectly buoyant texture with a rich egg flavor, and of course it was further enhanced with the lovingly made Marinara sauce.  And I have to admit, this was all totally worth the wait.

Di Palo’s Fine Foods
200 Grand St
(between Mott St & Mulberry St)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-1033

Baby sliders topped with a mountain of fried onions

Ray’s Hell Burger

Blueberry Lemon Thyme and Lemon Opal Basil Gelato from Dolcezza

After our day in D.C. was over, we headed southbound and arrived in Louisa late that night.  Throughout the next few days, we cooked up a storm, using the farm’s gracious bounty, which included farm fresh eggs plucked straight from the chicken coop. The light brown and bluish-white eggs were very different from the supermarket variety; slightly larger than ping-pong balls, these petite eggs had hard shells and lacked the gluey yolk taste and texture of store-bought eggs.

Farm fresh eggs

Tristan and I were the first to wake up on Friday morning so we made egg soldiers with a side of his mom’s vegetable chili for breakfast

The makings of an egg soldier

We concluded that eggs for breakfast were just not enough, so we tried fitting them into all meals of the day.  Determined to eat as many eggs as humanly possible during our four-day stay, Olivia decided to prepare a hearty 20-egg mondo frittata for dinner.  Little did we know, she was a seasoned veteran when it came to frittatas; breakfast frittata is a Sunday morning tradition in the Abtahi household.  According to Olivia, using a cast-iron skillet yields the best results—it has heat retention qualities that allow for an even cooking temperature– but you’ll need the help of friends to help coax the enormous frittata out of the skillet.  Luckily, your protein level will definitely be replenished five-fold after this meal.

Olivia putting the final touches on the frittata

TEAMWORK

Glorious frittata

What is a frittata? After extensive research (thank you, Wikipedia) about the omelettes of the world, I discovered that a French omelette is cooked on a stovetop and served folded, a Spanish Tortilla is made with potato and egg and served open-faced, and a Italian Frittata is partially served on a stovetop and then broiled to finished.  Olivia’s is an adaptation to the traditional frittata recipe and doesn’t require broiling because she slow cooks it with the top on the skillet.

Olivia‘s Frittata Recipe

The season’s best spoils are a great excuse for an eggcellent fritatta (sorry, I couldn’t resist!). The best part about this frittata is that you can use just about anything in it. Potatoes, peas, corn, or even zucchini never fail. I’ve enclosed its basic ingredients below- but feel free to improvise as your fridge sees fit.

Total Cook Time: 30 (10 minutes prep)

Serves 6 for Dinner, or 8 as an appetizer

Ingredients:
20 Eggs
1 Large Red Onion, diced
3 Medium Tomatoes (or 1 1/2 big Tomatoes), diced
1 Red Pepper, diced
1 Stalk of basil leaves, torn into dime-sized chunks
2 Tablespoons of milk
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of salt

Equipment:
10-inch cast-iron skillet with lid- I recommend a big 10-inch pan with a 2 1/2 inch lip. If you’re cooking for less people, you can half the recipe with a 5-inch pan. Just remember to use one with the same depth!
Whisk
10-inch plate

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat the skillet about 5 minutes to get it good and hot.
2. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive onto the hot pan. Add the onions and cook until browned at medium heat, roughly 5 minutes.
3. As soon as the onions become golden, add the diced pepper, tomatoes, and salt. Cook all at medium heat until soft, with the tomatoes’ juice bubbling in the pan.
4. As the vegetables cook, whip the eggs and milk in a large mixing bowl. The fluffier the better!
5. Turn off the heat and pour the cooked vegetables into the same mixing bowl. Add the basil, leaving a few leaves for garnish.
6. Clean the cast-iron pan with a paper towel. This is very important! If you do not clean it, the Frittata will stick to the pan.
7. Place the pan back on the stove at medium heat. Add remaining olive oil, being sure to coat sides of pan.
8. Check to see if the pan is hot enough by flicking a bit of the egg mixture onto it. If it bubbles up, you’re good to go. Add the egg mixture and immediately seal the pan.
9. Now you play the waiting game. Don’t peek! Make sure the pan is properly sealed by placing your finger on the top of the lid. If it’s not as hot as the lid’s rim, you’ve got some time to go. If your lid doesn’t fit perfectly, you can always tinfoil the edges and clamp down.
10. After about 15 minutes, your frittata should be done. Listen for the bubbling sound- that means it’s set. Carefully open the lid and turn off the heat. Place a round plate directly on the frittata and flip over. Sprinkle with remaining basil leaves and voila!

Optional: Place reserved basil leaves in center.