'Waste not want not', Maltese style: spaghetti omlette
Summer is hard labour in the kitchen for those feeding a family in Malta. It’s more than regular slaving over a hot stove, as temperatures soar past 35 degrees C and humidity rises. So, any quick, easy, standby recipe is a god-send for days on which we’re hard pressed after a beach trip or day’s work. Here, our guest writer, Nanette Johnson of Gourmetworrier, remembers an old childhood favourite that her Maltese nanna would make in a flash. Wonderfully too, it uses that other relic of times past – the left over. So, try her recipe below, and in true Maltese style, you’ll be saving cash too.
Froġa tal- għaġin – Spaghetti Omelette
As I continue to explore both the people and food of Malta, I see a reoccurring theme emerge – the ability of the Maltese to work with whatever is at hand and an inability to waste when it comes to food. The spaghetti omlette I talk about here is yet another example of Maltese ingenuity at its best. Most people would toss left over, unused cooked spaghetti in the bin, but not the Maltese. In true Maltese fashion, humble left-over spaghetti is transformed into something both delightful and delicious. I’d even go as a far as to say it’s the stuff childhood memories are made of…
I remember coming home from kindergarten as a five-year old and having my nanna make spaghetti omelette for my cousin Joanne and I for lunch. While the rest of our kindergarten friends where having cheese and apple and vegemite sandwiches, Joanne and I would be stuffing our faces on Froġa tal- għaġin. Mum used to make spaghetti omelette for us too, but there was something special about having it at my nanna’s house with my favourite cousin.
I now make Froġa tal- għaġin for my kids, Hoover and Fussy, and I think they love it just as much as I do. I make it often for Fussy as it’s one of the ways I can sneak eggs into him. Every now and then he asks ‘what’s in it’ and I casually reply ‘oh just spaghetti and cheese’. He is yet to learn that eggs are necessary to bind things together, and I am more than happy to keep ‘eggs’ out of his spaghetti omelette.
So here’s my version, the third generational one in my family, which is as true to nanna’s as I can get.
Froġa tal- għaġin – Spaghetti Omelette
Ingredients
200g organic spaghetti, cooked
2-3 organic eggs, beaten
½ cup grana padano
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1tsp ground cumin
Olive oil
Optional Ingredients
Flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Anchovies, finely chopped,
Dried chilli flakes
Method
1. In a bowl mix the cooked spaghetti, eggs, cheese, cumin and salt and pepper until well combined.
2. Put a little olive oil in a large pan and heat. Spread the spaghetti mixture evenly over the base of the pan and cook until it is golden and crisp on both sides. Serve immediately.
Photo: Nanette Johnson, Gourmetworrier.