Frappato

Fake tripe

We were very young and the war had taken away most of what we had. Mother had never cooked before, having always had two cooks at her service, so she had to get down to work. All we had to eat were vegetables and soups. Then one day, Mother served us a huge frittata that we ate heartily. After the war, we discovered that she’d made the frittata with swallows’ eggs. Mother had saved each egg

for weeks until she had enough of them to make us a frittata: 50 eggs. Eggs are like meat in times of poverty.

Carolina Planeta

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 eggs

100 g / 3 1/2 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano DOP

100 g / 3 1/2 oz. Sicilian Pecorino DOP

250 g / 9 oz. thick tomato sauce

70 g / 2 1/2 oz. onion, minced

50 g / 1 3/4 oz. sifted flour

1/2 tbsp. breadcrumbs

1/2 glass milk

40 g / 1 1/2 oz. parsley

basil leaves

extra-virgin olive oil

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Difficulty 1/5 | Preparation Time 25 minutes

Whisk the eggs with the grated cheeses. Wash the parsley and mince the leaves. Blend the egg and cheese mixture with the parsley, flour, breadcrumbs and milk. Pour a teaspoon of oil in a non-stick pan, and then use a paper towel to wipe the pan. When the pan is hot, pour the batter on it to make very thin frittatas. Make at least 5 of them. When ready, let cool. Meanwhile, braise a minced onion in some water. When the onion is cooked and the water has evaporated, add some oil.

When the onion begins to sizzle, add the tomato sauce. Cut the frittatas into 1-cm (1/2-inch) strips and dip them in the tomato sauce. Serve the fake tripe while warm. Sprinkle generously with Parmigiano Reggiano, ground black pepper, fresh basil, and drizzle with oil.