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Email request: May 2nd, 2009 Tom Rota - Toronto: Hello,    Most of my Italian relatives have passed away now, and I can only remember some of the things that we used to make in the kitchen.  Your web site gives me a flashlight to help illuminate my memory of how we would prepare those dishes.    One dish I remember...but I don't know if you want it on your site.  My Grandpa called it Frittata, but it wasn't the kind you get in the restaraunt.  It is for breakfast.  And it is just a way to use the leftover spaghetti.  Take the leftover spaghetti and add some eggs to it at the ratio of one egg per two handfulls of pasta and sauce.  Beat the eggs into the pasta and sauce.  Take a handfull or two (if you have small hands) of the mix and make a thin patty.  Put the patty into the frying pan on lowish heat.  Flip it before it burns, but not until a crust has formed.  Cook the other side untill it has a crust too.    Well, it's not bad.  I usually end up burning it a bit.  Maybe I'm missing something.    Anyway, we used to have that for breakfast all the time haha.    You wouldn't be from Toronto would you?  We used to go visit an Italian family up there that had a restaraunt.  We would stay in their house and have a lot of fun :)    Cheers,  Tom jibeturkeyathotmaildotcom

Response: Hi Tom, It's a tradition in our home to make frittata with the flower of the zucchini plant when it blossoms. Another recipe is grated zucchini and eggs. The recipe ideas are endless. I'll ask my wife to write out all the frittata ideas and I will post them on the site. Thanks for the illumination. Mario - Italian Cook Webmaster

Visitor: (Darrinand Shan) I have seen on cooking shows where cooks will crack a egg into a pasta dish right before serving. What is this called and how do you make it?

Response: Here is the name and recipe. Pasta Carbonara
Enjoy
Mario

PASTA CARBONARA

1/4 lb. bacon
1 stick (1/4 lb.) butter
1 c. milk
2 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 lb. pasta (fettuccine or linguine)
2 eggs, whipped
1/2 c. fresh Parmesan

Cut the bacon into little pieces and cook in butter until clear. Heat milk in a small saucepan, and add the bacon and butter, add the vinegar; this will turn the milk to cheese. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce cooks smooth.

Boil the pasta al dente. Drain and return to pan. Immediately throw in the eggs, the bacon sauce and cheese. Toss and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Message from Janét Lee (New Orleans - USA): Thank you so much!! I am originally from New Orleans, and my grandmother used to help her neighbor (an immigrant from Sicily at age 13) make Sicilian fig cakes, ammonia cookies, sesame cookies and other baked delights at Christmas and St. Joseph's Day. Grandma never learned the recipe, because "Miss Rosie" had the recipes in her head and in her hands... Nothing was measured. Well, Miss Rosie passed away, Grandma passed away, and now I only rarely encounter Sicilian Christmas cookies on visits home. No one I have asked could give me the recipe, and until now I have never thought to search for one on the Internet. Really I was just searching for the definitive spelling of Cuchidahti! I am SO appreciative of your posting this recipe for all to share. God willing, for St. Joseph's Day I will try my hand at Cuchidahti, and I hope Miss Rosie approves of the final product. THANKS AGAIN!