One of my new favorite restuarants is Supper, Frank Prisinazo's relatively new East Village restaurant. I went there last night with a friend visiting from out of town. We wanted something casual, inexpensive and given the winter storm, something that would warm us up completely. Supper did that perfectly.
What I like at Supper more than the prices is that the kitchen does simple northern Italian fare well, very well in fact. I had the calamari which were served perfectly tender in a garlic broth. For my pasta entree I had the "priest stranglers". They were al dente tossed in a great marinara sauce and the plate garnished with a dollop of ricota cheese. The service this time around was much improved and there was no "didactic" host, which more than pleased me.
It is hard to eat here and wonder why you had to eat so many bad Italian meals. Supper really respects the ingredients it uses and it shows. The kitchen takes advantage of quality ingredients used in simple combinations. They don't rely on garlic as the only means of imparting flavor nor do they use olive oil as a heat transfer medium but rather an ingredient in its own right.
I am beginning to appreciate the nature of simplicty at work and starting to translate that into other things around me such as my cooking, which isn't as easy as it sounds.
My dinner tonight was inspired by Supper's simple menu. I didn't want to waste time preparing anything, dealing with multiple pots or cleaning up after fancy creations. I had 3 eggs in the fridge and a half pound of asparagus, so I decided that an asparagus omelette was going to be my dinner. My mother made this all the time as a side and I loved it as a kid. I love it more now for the fact that all you taste is the asparagus, fresh, green and crisp.
1/2 pound of asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 eggs
Salt & pepper
1. Trim asparagus and then cut into 1 inch lengths. If the stalks are thick, you might need to cut them in half lengthwise.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan until very hot and smoking. Add the asparagus and cook on high heat until browned, about 5 - 10 minutes depending on the stalk's thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Spread the asparagus so that it evenly covers the bottom of the frying pan.
3. While the asparagus are cooking, beat 3 eggs, add salt and pepper. Add eggs directly to asparagus in the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook until egg is set on bottom.
4. Transfer pan to broiler to cook egg on top. Another 5 minutes.
5. Invert onto serving dish and serve, sliced in wedges.
For a variation, you could add diced tomotoes when cooking the asparagus and/or add any type of grated cheese to the egg mixture.
Posted by dvenuto at February 17, 2003 10:12 PM