Have you ever been in one of those cooking situations where the cost of production seems to get far out of hand? It seems to happen a lot to Jordan and me.

            There was that night we invited a couple to a Japanese dinner. By the time I had purchased the wok, all of the oriental serving bowls and dishes, a sake set, the sake and the Japanese cookbook, I was over my food budget for a month.

            On one other occasion Jordan and I, newly wed, decided to have our first BBQ. But first we needed to purchase the BBQ, the BBQ utensils and lawn furniture. Then on top of all that, we broke one of our treasured new wine glasses that had been a wedding gift. Ouch!

            And then there was the time I promised the boys that I would make candy apples for the school fundraiser, thereby raising myself to the level of fundraising goddess, but ended up spending a small fortune on The Joy of Cooking and a candy thermometer. Fortunately, these both turned out to be a good investment.

            I find myself once again in that same predicament. All I want to make is a frittata, but I don’t have a skillet that is ovenproof. My pans all have “rubber” handles. I did consider covering my good skillet handle with foil, but I just know that I would end up with black goo wrapped in foil. I normally can find good deals on pots and pans at The Bay, but they let me down this time. The cheapest (and not even the nicest) I could find was going to set me back a couple hundred bucks. Did I really want to make a frittata that badly? Yes.

            On our last trip to Windsor, my friend Adele, Italian cooking goddess, entertained us with the apparent ease and sophistication she demonstrated while preparing and presenting a gorgeous frittata in a beautiful and obviously expensive skillet. She started on the stovetop, where she sautéed her vegetables, while sipping a glass of vino and chatting with us. She next poured her seasoned egg mixture over the vegetables and let this continue to cook slowly until the egg was almost cooked through. She then put the pan under the broiler, where the top of the frittata turned an appetizing golden brown. The finished dish was topped with freshly grated cheeses, and served to us in that stunning pan directly to the table.

            I became determined to be Sophia Loren in the kitchen, “Buono appetito!” And not Rosanne, “Come and get it!”

The frittata is an Italian version of the French omelette. An omelette is cooked quickly at high temperature, and the fillings added after it is cooked and the egg folded over. It needs to be eaten right away, while still hot, and would not be very appetizing served cold. The frittata differs because it is cooked slowly on low heat, and the fillings are cooked into the mixture. The slower cooking allows the eggs to set firmer, which makes this a dish that can be served cold or at room temperature, or even heated later in the microwave. It is a far more convenient egg dish than the omelette if you are cooking for a crowd. Small wedges of this quiche- without- a- crust also make excellent hors d’oeuvres or picnic snacks. The frittata is an excellent fridge-cleaner-outer; just about any leftover meat or vegetable can be put into it.

Aside from a rather odd perception of glamour that I seem to have concerning the frittata, there really is a less frivolous reason for my obsession. Although a frittata can be made with layers of cheeses, and starches such as noodles or potato, it can also be as simple as beaten eggs lightly seasoned, poured over a variety of cooked vegetables; low carbohydrate, low fat and nutritious.

To be truthful, there are several other ways to cook this dish. It can be made totally on top of the stove. If you have two skillets of the same size, you can first cook the dish in one pan, and when you are ready to finish it, cover it with the other pre-heated pan and flip it over. If you are really brave, you can also try the free-fall flip method, but frankly, both of these methods have “scrambled eggs” written all over them! If you are cooking in large volume, as in the food services or for an extremely large family, the only practical method is in the oven. In a large, greased baking pan, layer the cooked fillings, then pour in the egg mixture and cover. Removing the lid at the end will brown the top. But there seems to be a definite lack of pizzazz to this method, and I think that I have figured what I have to go do today.

            Buono appetito!