Egg Renaissance
by Kate Harrigan
Italy, birthplace of so much that is delicious, lends its charm to the ordinary, extraordinary egg.
In the beginning, there was the egg. Eggs are basic, familiar, essential. Designated by Mother Nature as the perfect shelter, complete with pantry, to get life off to a secure and nutritious start, the chicken egg ranks up there with mother’s milk as a source of protein. It was eggs – poached, fried or scrambled into some familiar and nutritious form – that greeted us at the breakfast tables of our childhoods. Diners still love eggs, although perhaps in a more exciting guise than they once devoured before heading off to school. And some chefs are finding that Italy is just the place to turn when searching for a new spin to place on this old favorite.
The Elegant Egg
“I think a lot of people are going back to simpler foods these days, but with an elegant twist,” says Michael Whistler, head chef at Lee Perrin Catering, Inc., Lake Forest, Ill. “I definitely think that if you can take something as simple as an egg, and you spice it up or add some Italian influence, it really will catch someone’s eye. People are taking things that have been done for hundreds of years and jazzing them up. Then you can sell them to a whole new class of people.”
An example, says Whistler, is the comforting old egg-salad sandwich. Take your aunt’s standard egg-salad sandwich, add some crumbled prosciutto or pancetta and some Italian vegetables, sprinkle with a bit of finely diced fennel or an Italian onion, pile it on a hearty Italian bread or Tuscan roll, drizzle with a fine olive oil, toss in a bit of garlic and rosemary, and slide the creation into the oven for a light toasting.This is the sort of thing people are looking for, Whistler says. Lee Perrin caters to a relatively wealthy clientele, and the customers love the kind of dressed-up old favorites an Italian egg-salad sandwich represents. “People are going back to comfort foods,” Whistler says. “They want simple, hearty, stick-to-your-ribs foods – and upper-scale, comfort-type food.Executive Chef Don Pintabona is seeing the same trend at the Tribeca Grill in New York. Pintabona describes his giambotta as “a real mom thing.” Born in Sicily, it is a stew of potatoes and eggs, peppers and onions, finished with scrambled eggs. The dish, he says, is chunky and makes a wonderful accompaniment to a fine Italian sausage, sandwich, or frittata.Pintabona has other creative suggestions for eggs with an Italian spin. A sheared egg in a ramekin, with a blend of Italian cheeses such as Taleggio and fontina and a bit of heavy cream, baked in a water bath, intrigues today’s diner. Pintabona also brings a marinara sauce boil, poaches eggs in the sauce, and serves them on crusty Italian bread. “It’s a real peasant sort of combination,” he says.“These preparations are really quite old,” Pintabona adds. “They take some sort of home-style dish and upscale it a bit, maybe with the type of cheese used or with an ingredient like mussels or oysters that make it good not only for the brunch menu but for menus across the board.New Favorites from Old
Joe Domina, C.E.C., executive chef of the Portland Hilton in Portland Ore., adds flair to his frittatas with flavorings such as basil and garlic, and also with Italian vegetables such as zucchinis.
“I think for the most part, anytime you’re doing anything out of the box – anything a little out of the ordinary – it raises some curiosity with people,” Domina says. “But you can’t go too far. You have to keep things in such a way that people have some idea of what they’re getting.” The Italian frittata fits that bill,” he says.For years, an Italian-style frittata has been leading the menu at Erik’s Delicatessen in Oak Park, Ill., says owner Matt Mueller, and the dish quickly has become a favorite at the Original Sandwich Factory, Mueller’s new restaurant in Willowbrook, Ill. Spinach and mushrooms are sautéed in garlic and bacon, then Parmesan is added to the spinach mixture. Mueller says response to the dish has been phenomenal. “There’s a trend toward Mediterranean cooking, and people like familiar ingredients in a different presentation,” he says. “It’s a new item because it’s different enough that people want to try it, but familiar enough that people are not afraid to try it. It is consistently one of the top two sellers on the menu. It always moves.”
