Peppers aborted, then redeemed.

We like hot peppers, and we can normally take the heat, but earlier this week one variety new to us turned out to be far more fiery than anything we had experienced before.  Neither of us was able to finish a small appetizer plate of this pepper (something like a Padron or Shishito), which I had served as an appetizer for this meal, and then had to abort most of it. But I didn’t want to give up on those remaining on the plate, thinking at the time, if too much of a good thing is not so good, just the right amount of a good thing might be very good. I thought that the peppers should have a second chance, this time subsumed into a frittata with other, far tamer ingredients, making an ordinary dish more complex, and delicious, than it would be without them. I put the remaining peppers, as they were (already-sautéed and salted), into the refrigerator next to a small bowl of some plain, cooked penne remaining from another meal 2 nights before.

Last night it finally all came together.

• one large garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, sliced, sautéed slowly inside a 10″ seasoned cast iron pan in a little olive oil with some sliced red scallions from Rise & Root Farm until both were softening and fragrant, a handful of small hot green peppers from Campo Rosso Farm which had been sautéed in oil a few days before, and some cooked Setaro Penne Rigatoni (the equivalent of 4 ounces of dried pasta), halved in its lengths with a kitchen shears, both stirred in the pan and heated, followed by a mixture of 8 eggs from Millport Dairy Farm which had been whipped with 3 tablespoons of the pasta water, sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, and a mix of chopped herbs (parsley, lovage, tarragon, savory, thyme, and mint), and when that had been settled, torn basil from Keith’s Farm scattered over the egg mixture and 6 slices of one large, ripe heirloom tomato from Eckerton Hill Farm placed on top, the frittata allowed to cook slowly on top of the stove until the outer layer of egg had set, when it was placed in a broiler for barely a couple of minutes, or until the center was no longer runny, removed, scattered with some beautiful micro radish greens from Two Guys from Woodbridge and allowed to cool for a few minutes before serving, supported by an iron trivet on the counter, when it was sprinkled lightly with a very good Campania olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, S + A Verdelho Calveras County 2015 [this vintage is now out of stock; the link is to the 2014]
• the music was Antonio Salieri’s 1785 opera, ‘La Grotta Di Trofonio’, in a performance of Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, and the Lausanne Theatre Municipal Opera Chorus