Tiny giant-headed lady cures hangover

November 2, 2009

Have you ever watched Giada De Laurentiis on the food channel? I have several observations to share. I shall make a list.

  • She is very fussy and delicate with her garnishes, and makes complicated hors d'oeuvres.
  • She takes very small bites when she tastes her food.
  • She is teeny tiny with a giant head. And a giant rack.
But despite all that, I actually kind of like her show. (Aside from the one she did in DC and apparently forgot her fact checker and stated all kinds of erroneous information about the District. Georgetown is IN DC, not outside of it!) As long as you ignore her weird fussiness, she can serve up simple, classic food.

And she is Italian, and therefore knows how to do a thing or two with leftovers. Those Italians, I tell you, they are a resourceful people! Once she made leftover spaghetti into pie! Spaghetti pie, that is. And let me tell you, nothing cures a hangover faster than spaghetti pie. Well, maybe an IV drip, but I don't know how to make that.

Spaghetti pie
Serves 2-4


2-3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
at least 2 cups leftover spaghetti with tomato sauce
1/4 cup olive oil

Whisk together two eggs, milk and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Stir in the leftover spaghetti. The mixture should be gloppy and wet. If not, add another egg.

Heat half of the olive oil in a non-stick skillet or cast-iron pan over medium heat. Once it's good and hot, pour in the spaghetti, spreading it around evenly. Let it be - don't fuss with it. After about 8 minutes, it should be golden brown and crusty on the bottom. Loosen the edges and invert the spaghetti onto a plate. Let the rest of the oil heat up for a few seconds, then slide the spaghetti pie back in, uncooked side down, and let it cook for about 6 minutes. You can either slide it onto a serving plate, or cut wedges directly from the pan.

Note: My photo depicts spaghetti made with yellow tomato sauce, so traditional red sauce would look more, um, red.

2 comments:

Henry Coppola said...

We grew up calling this a fritatta, I think it gets even better if you cram more cheese and other leftovers in...

look's fantastic like that too.

Liza said...

big fan of the spaghetti pie. i've done it with sausage, broccoli rabe and fontina cheese. yum. and giade: agree. we call her t-rex (big head, short arms, you get the picture)