We are now, finally, and happily, in March. The weather will be very changeable as it is most everywhere this month. This next week we will have -3C at night which is around 25F. The temperatures in the daytime rise to the 50s. If you find a sun-trap, like in front of Bar Mary you can sit outside for a caffe or vino quite comfortably.
This post will be another one based on the book ”The Tuscan Year” – I am doing one each month. I started in January for those new to this journal. Look for one each month.
February/March is the time the ewes are birthing their lambs. About now the lambs are sufficiently weaned for their mothers to be milked. The milk will make the pecorino cheese. This is the most prevalent cheese in both Tuscany and Umbria. The book goes extensively into how the farm-women make their cheeses.
We can buy the cheeses just about everywhere. I prefer to get mine from the Saturday kilometer zero market. They are made right around here. There are two vendors who bring their cheeses.
The recipe I picked to show here is Frittata con Cacio. Cacio or caciotto are the names of pecorino in local dialect. [I just learned that since the book was written these words have come to have a new meaning. Now they are cows cheese. But I won’t change the title of the recipe.]
“For two people you will need two tablespoons of olive oil, four slices of fresh pecorino cheese. (you can use gruyere or sharp cheddar too), four eggs, salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a heavy omelette pan, put in the cheese slices and cook on each side until they are slightly melted. Beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Now raise the heat and pour the eggs on top of the cheese. Let the eggs set on the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat to a very gentle flame and continue to cook untill eggs are cooked through. now, slide the frittata out onto a plate. Raise the heat under the pan until the oil becomes very hot, then smartly reverse the frittata uncooked side down back into the pan. Coraggio! it isn’t so difficult. The Cerottis eat fritatte as a super dish. This would also make a delicious small lunch with a fresh green salad and a bottle of Verdicchio.”
So, I tried to make this dish for Luther and I. Here we go!
First the, very minimal ingredients.
Then, I fried the cheese in olive oil and used a non-stick pan.
I added the eggs after flipping the cheese.
EPIC FAIL. When I had cooked the eggs I was supposed to *slide* the fritatta onto a plate. Uh-huh. The entire thing was stuck solid in the pan. In the end I scraped it together and finished cooking it. My suspicion is that I didn’t have low enough heat to cook the eggs.
It actually was a nice dinner. Very cheesy and eggy, with a crunchy bottom. It just was not a fritatta. We had gone out to lunch today so we didn’t want a heavy, big dinner. So all’s well that ends well!
If anyone tries this, let me know how it goes. If you’re successful do share what you did!
Hi Diego, I am surprised you even have the book and even more so that you found me that way. good observations. Im glad you had a similar outcome. But it sure did still taste good! I think we are missing some important thing. I looked into it and I found no other recipe that is similar. Other fritatte are baked in the oven normally. I am reasonably sure the author reported on how Silvan actually made this. Report back if you ever find the key!!
I’ve been reading the book and found you when i was looking for others who might have made this. I made it tonight (plus some tomato and salami I wanted to use up from the fridge). With my cast iron, sliding was never going to be an option – so i flipped onto the plate, then tried the slide back into the pan. The flip went great and the slide failed on my end too. But it was wonderful to eat and I was sad to see my plate empty in the end.
My suspicion would be the heat was too low rather than too high if you ran into the sticking? Maybe the cheese hadn’t formed a crust and separated, or the heat hadn’t penetrated up through the eggs? I wonder if covering it for a little bit before flipping might help.
Thanks for that bit of encouragement. If it’s of any note, my husband has asked me several times when I’ll make it again! 🤣😂😅. Since the post I have done more reading. Seems this method was destined to fail. But, it was quite tasty!
Frying cheese can be a crapshoot. But it’s worth the effort. I think your dish ended up looking very appetizing so there’s that!
Good you noticed. That’s disappointing. I will have to be sure to ask next time.
It was cheesy eggs….it tasted good so good idea! Eyes closed.
That cheese is Su Nuraghe. With a name like that it is from Sardinia. A bit more than km zero!
It sounds delicious. Just eat it with your eyes closed!
I thought for one nano second not to post it since it was a fail…but I know all you guys out there are my friends, so I decided hey! It happens to us all 😁 So let’s go for it.
Thanks for showing us your failures too!! It probably tasted every bit as good, just didn’t look like the cover of La Cucina.