Frittata
Hi all,
I went to my first tapas restaurant this summer. It was on a lovely square paved with diagonal grey bricks. I liked the square and the tapas.
I don’t make a habit out of trying new things, certainly not food. The menu had a line-art bull on it, like people with (not amazing) taste might get tattooed on their shin after a meaningful trip to Spain. The menu was big. Every time I saw an alien ingredient my tongue shifted closer to the back of my neck. Blegh.
Anyways among the dishes there was one comforting plate, and when they brought it out, I expected something flat but there you go it was rolled up. It was a frittata. A chewy cloud-like egg-spiral. It kind of looked like when you try to roll your sleeping bag back into the little camping pouch you bought it in. Tight but poofy. I don’t think they’re always served rolled up, and Stanley’s recipe certainly doesn’t call for it. Maybe a Spaniard can let me know what should be done.
Have you seen Big Night? I know a few people who have. At my home. It was in fact a very Big Night involving my two dear friends Kosi and Cate. Azia gets caught in the middle too. Let me set the scene.
Letterboxd: some time in 2022
Impressed by her extensive insomniac-reddit-rage-fueled catalogue of films, Kosi follows Cate (to whom he is a complete stranger) on Letterboxd.
Cate is quite confused, until finally realising he is my friend, and not a weird stalker bot.
They start what I can only describe as a “barely PG” interaction via the platform, mentioning each-other in reviews, liking posts at lightning speed.
After months of stalking her on letterboxd, Kosi announces he is flying to Milan to visit me, and begs to watch a film with the great Caterina herself, live, in the flesh.
Choosing the right film for the occasion is tricky, but with my pestering, we land on the delirious, steamy, kitchen classic: Big Night. Azia, caught in the middle, is perplexed throughout the viewing.
Above are the two letterboxd reviews they gave for this Big Night of watching Big Night. I have cut out any negative opinion of Stanley or the film because this is place of admiration for him.
As Tucci himself says it, Big Night feels like a “foreign film” which he describes as a film which is “primarily character driven, eschewed stereotypes, and ends somewhat ambiguously”. I liked it – for many reasons, one of them being Isabella Rossellini, but this is not a review of the film. By the way – if you’ve kind of gotten lost in my train of thought by this point, please bare with me, this does in fact have something to do with frittata.
Anyways Stanley pretty fascinatingly goes on to describe his experience writing the script and meeting his future castmates. He is inspired by a little Italian restaurant in Miami owned by two immigrant brothers. He is in awe at the schizophrenic theatricality of cooking and waitering. (There’s even a tangent here about his involvement with the origins of Fettucine Alfredo – honestly this is a brilliant chapter, my favourite so far).
And then, he meets Isabella Rossellini. Stanley tells her he wants to spend some time observing a chef at work – and she introduces him to the head Chef at Le Madri – Gianni Scappin. Gianni is from Veneto – a region I have yet to visit, but am dying to explore as it is the home of two idols of mine: Francesca and Carlo (you know who you are).
Stanley spends the next few years searching for funding, and observing Scappin – who finally teaches him how to make a frittata. It is important Stanley knows this recipe well, as the last scene of Big Night is an uncut wide shot of the two brothers making and sharing a frittata. He wanted the scene to be devoid of dialogue, and feel like a dramatic silent film.
For his perfect takes, Stanley had to switch from his 1950s rusty prop pan to an aluminium pan so the frittata could slip off beautifully. My choice of pan was easy. I was at Ambre’s house when I cooked this, and in one of her drawers I spotted it. A tiny little mini itty bitty teensy weensy pan! So cute – I have a small one myself I got from Ikea for mini potato omelette or mini pancake purposes. But this one was just so so small! And it seemed really non-stick – just what Tucci suggested. So I made the frittata.
Ingredients:
5 or 6 large eggs
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt
A good pinch of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)
A good pinch of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Freshly ground black pepper
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them gently with a fork for a minute or so, making sure you angle the bowl so that you really blend them well. You could use a whisk instead of a fork, if you prefer, but you will end up with a puffier-textured frittata.
- In a 25cm sauté pan with sloping sides, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. You want to get it pretty hot and tilt the pan to make sure the sides are well coated. When the oil is hot, season the eggs with salt and add the parsley, if using, then pour the mixture into the pan. Scramble the eggs vigorously with a silicone spatula, tipping and moving the pan continuously and drawing the egg from the sides into the middle. Keep the pan moving to make sure the eggs don’t stick. Add the Parmigiano and a good grinding of pepper. Then flip or turn the frittata and cook for a minute or so more, until golden and cooked through. Serve immediately.
It came out incredibly tiny. So so so cute!