Honoring Two Great Women

Today Marcella Hazan, author of The Classic Italian Cook Book, More Classic Italian Cooking and Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, passed away. Her cookbooks are delightful to read, simple and  beautifully written for beginners as well as for the finest chefs. They are a must-have for every cook. I am proud to own two of her cookbooks and have tried many of her recipes. 


My mother, Kathleen Gilston Fretz, instilled in me my love of cooking and cookbooks. Although my mother was definitely your stereotypical Irish cook—"plain meat and potatoes"—her food was always cooked perfectly. Later on in life, my father had a heart attack and was put on a low sodium diet, my mother wanted to make meals exciting for him and so her cooking became more adventurous. She looked forward to trying many different recipes. Salt had to be replaced with something and she was determined to make meals my father would love. Pepper was no longer the spice that was rarely used, and in fact, she began to use any spice she could find to flavor the food. I fondly remember her excitement when she made her first frittata rather than scrambled eggs. I miss watching cooking shows with my mom, talking about food with her, and sharing my latest cookbook purchase with her. 

Today the recipe I chose to make was the Frittata with Cheese from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking to honor these wonderful women.
 
                                                                 Frittata with Cheese
                                                                        adapted from
                                                     Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
                                                                      Marcella Hazan

Ingredients
6 eggs
Salt 
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano or Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons butter

Directions
Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the salt, a few grindings of pepper, and the grated Parmesan or Swiss cheese. Mix thoroughly until evenly blended. 

Turn on the broiler.

Melt the butter in the pan and when it begins to foam, add the egg mixture. Turn the heat down to very low. When the eggs have set and thickened, and only the surface is runny, run the skillet under the broiler for a few seconds. Take it out until the face of the frittata sets, before it becomes browned.

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