This morning I woke up at 5am, no luck falling back asleep, so I got up, crept down the white stone stairs worn from thousands of footsteps before me, and made my way quietly into the the kitchen. My favorite little single serving Bialleti was waiting per sola mia on the shelf. A few spoonfulls of Illy coffee grounds, a quick whirrrrr of the gas flame coming on, and my caffè was on its way. I was hungry. Eggs sounded appealing, but first coffee. The gurgling of coffee was bubbling up and out of the percolator, just about ready for me. I reached for this gorgeous little handmade white ceramic tazzina with cerulean blue accents and a gold rim that was just the right size for my little caffè- perfetto! One sip, maybe two, and I could think about breakfast.
I thought my father-in-law would be up by now. Usually the two of us were the first to rise, but it was still just me. The light from the rising sun was slithering across the brick floors and the birds were chirping so cheerily that I forgot about my stomach grumbles and went out to join them. I grabbed my camera and walked all around the gardens and the house- drawn into corners and vistas lead by the length of the light. I had heard artists speak about the glory of the Tuscan Light and now I understood what they meant. It’s all encompassing- so grande- and creates length and distance in places I wouldn’t have expected.
After about an hour of exploring, I was really hungry and thought surely someone would be up by now. Back into the kitchen to find it exactly how I’d left it. Well, I could always make a frittata. It’s a relatively quiet and fast dish to make, is delicious at room temp, and my stomach was growling.
We had an abundance of eggs, dandelion greens that I’d fallen in love with at the farmer’s market in Montalcino a few days earlier, some plump yellow potatoes, and of course our beloved guanciale. I first turned on the oven to 200C (about 400F) to preheat and then set to dicing the guanciale into strips that could be rendered and crisped up in a skillet. Once they were sufficiently crispy, I scooped them out, poured off most of the grease to save for later, and then added the diced potatoes. They fried a bit in the guanciale fat and I covered the skillet so that they would cook through. I’ve learned the hard way that if you don’t cook your potatoes all the way, or very nearly all the way in a frittata, you will end up with sad and crunchy undercooked potatoes.
In the meantime, I washed and chopped a large amount of dandelion greens (probably about the equivalent of a bunch that you’d buy in the US). Have you cooked with them before? They’re so deliciously bitter and fresh. They love going with other strong flavors so really stood up well with the guanciale. Once the potatoes were cooked, I added a spring onion bulb that had been thinly sliced, some sel grosso (fat salt- in Italy you can buy sel grosso or sel fino. The Grosso is more texturally similar to kosher salt, so that’s what I felt more comfortable using. The Fino is more like a table salt consistency). Some chopped dried chili and the dandelion greens. The water that released from the greens while they cooked helped to deglaze the bottom of the pan. I added the crispy guanciale and a little more fat back into the pan and then the eggs that had been mixed with some herbs, salt, pepper, and a little bit of milk. I used about 8 eggs and probably about 1/2 c of milk. That got poured over the lot, topped with a generous grating of 3 year aged pecorino, and into the oven until it was browned and jiggley, but fully cooked… about 15ish minutes.
I should mention that it was in a large skillet, about a 12 or 13 inch diameter. There was some leftover focaccia from the night before that I toasted in the oven and voilà! Colazione per la famiglia… e per me.