It was a cauliflower, frittata, and we both love anything cauliflower, including this dish.  Apparently not everyone shares our enthusiasm, because, in his description of this primi, which I used as my rough guide, Kyle Phillips tells us that the great Italian cookbook author Pellegrino Artusi definitely did not think much of the vegetable, writing in an introduction to his nineteenth-century recipe, “You will need to know the quantities if you are to make a good frittata with a vegetable as insipid as this.”

• one 21-ounce head of golden cauliflower from Norwich Meadows Farm, separated into flowerettes, sautéed in butter and olive oil in a 12-inch cast iron pan until beginning to carbonize, seasoned with salt and pepper, some of the torn green pointed leaves which enclose the head added near the end, then, once the vegetable had begun to color, eight small-ish eggs from Millport Dairy beaten with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese from Eataly, seasoned with salt, pepper, and some very good cayenne from Spices and Tease in Chelsea Market poured into the pan, followed by the addition of thin slices of one ripe red heirloom tomato from Norwich Meadows Farm placed on top, the mix allowed to cook, unflipped, on top of the range until done
• the wine was an Australian sparkling rosé, Taltarni Taché 2011, a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, from southeastern Australia
• the music was the second half of Vivaldi’s ‘Atenaide’, in a performance by Modo Antiquo, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli