The pasta omelette is a typical Neapolitan preparation also known as macaroni omelette o spaghetti omelette. It is a one-pot, mouth-watering dish to be enjoyed strictly in slices. Let's waste nothing and recover food with tasty recipes from the leftover kitchen!

A little history of the pasta omelette

It is the typical dish of days spent at the beach or trips out of town, but also of the next day, usually on Monday, after a hearty Sunday lunch. The pasta frittata goes with the children to school, goes to the office, goes to the store. It is the recycling dish for not wasting the pasta left over the day before.

Grandmothers, aunts and mothers guard the secret of the perfect pasta omelet but who was the one who intuited it? The beginnings are not clearly defined; there are no literary sources about it. It is certain, however, that it originated from the inescapable need of the Neapolitans of carrying around pasta that was already cooked, but that would keep "al dente," which could also be eaten cold and easily transported.

We do not know who was its inventor so to try to understand its origin we have to go back in time and trace it back to the mother of all pasta omelets: the "used pasta." It was the pasta that was left over in the soup tureen at dinner time. A phenomenon that occurred among middle-class families, as leftover in working-class homes in the evening was often hunger. At dawn, after a long and generally freezing night, the most suitable food was provided by the evening leftovers. Among the various foods, used pasta was so welcome that often, at lunch or dinner, when lowering it into the boiling water those who cooked it would add a few extra portions, knowing that it would not go to waste.

Trivia about macaroni omelette

Frittata di spaghetti alla napoletana is a recovery dish, so you can enrich the dough with fondini of prosciutto and salami or cheese and mozzarella. Also, you don't necessarily have to prepare the tomato sauce specially, if you have some leftover, better yet the Neapolitan ragout sauce, you can reuse it, as per tradition!

The recipe for pasta frittata

In times of particular poverty, when we could not afford to waste anything, leftover pasta could not be thrown away, so this delicacy was born! Let's look at the recipe for about 8 people.

Ingredients

• 500 g spaghetti
• 100 g of whole milk
• Fine salt to taste.
• Extra virgin olive oil q.b.
• 100 gr of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP
• 8 eggs
• Black pepper to taste.

For the tomato sauce

• 700 g of tomato puree
• Basil to taste.
• Extra virgin olive oil q.b.
• 1 white onion
• Fine salt to taste.

Preparation

Boil a pot with water, to be salted when boiling. Then peel and chop the onion. Pour it into a saucepan in which you have heated the oil. Let it wilt for a few minutes over low heat, stirring often, after which add the tomato puree. Season with salt, cover with a lid and let it cook gently for half an hour. At the end of cooking, perfume the sauce with basil. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti al dente. When they are done cooking, drain them and pour them into a bowl, cover with the sauce and mix thoroughly.

Let cool, and meanwhile in a bowl break the eggs and add the grated cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Whisk with a whisk to mix everything together. Pour the mixture over the dough and mix well to combine. Pour a round of oil into a 30-cm-diameter frying pan (measured across the surface) with a fairly high rim, heat slightly and dip in.

Spread the dough evenly with the help of a spatula, then close with the lid and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. After the time has elapsed, help yourself with a pizza plate (or a smooth lid) to flip the frittata. Slide it back into the pan and continue cooking on the other side for another 10 minutes without a lid.

Here is your pasta frittata ready! Enjoy!