The Pasta Omelet may just be the best way to use up leftovers, ever. (OK, maybe second best after the Thanksgiving night turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry sauce.)
Pasta with red sauce (think lasagna, spaghetti) generally reheats well, and even tastes better the next day. But pasta with creamy sauce (such as carbonara or alfredo) tends to get a little dry after it’s been chilled, the strands a bit sticky. Sometimes reheating it in the microwave with a few drops of hot water brings it back to life, but it’s never quite as good.
Until you bathe it in beaten egg, give it a light shower of Parmesan, and brown it – top and bottom – to a golden crispy outside and a soft, creamy inside. It’s so good (and so simple) you’ll start making more pasta than you need, just to have leftovers.
For this post I used leftovers of a baked pasta dish made with medium shells in a cheesy sauce with diced tomatoes (loosely based on Skillet Baked Pasta with Five Cheeses from Smitten Kitchen, which itself is a copycat of a copycat of a famous dish from Al Forno restaurant in Providence…we all borrow.) Anyway, a pasta omelet is fantastic made with leftovers of any pasta with a cheese-, cream-, butter-, olive-oil- or broth-based sauce – we especially love it with Pasta Catherine (my take on carbonara). It might work with a red-sauced pasta, although I’ve never tried that. If you try it, let me know.
If you have less pasta left over than is called for in the recipe, add more eggs. Or throw in some other leftovers such as cooked vegetables, cooked crumbled sausage or ground beef or pancetta – whatever would complement the flavors in the original pasta. If you’re serving more people, double or triple the recipe and make it in a larger skillet. You might need to give it a few more minutes in the oven for the center to set.
Making a Pasta Omelet ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- This dish is good either hot or at room temperature. If you want to make it ahead by an hour or two, you can keep it warm in a very low oven (200 degrees) or leave it on the counter to come to room temperature.
- Since it’s made out of leftovers, so I don’t recommend having leftovers of the leftovers…that’s just one too many generations away from the origin for me. If it doesn’t bother you, go for it.
Pasta Omelet
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs
- 1 ½ to 2 cups cold leftover pasta with sauce
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper (optional)
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the broiler on high, with a rack in the upper third of the oven.
- Step 2 Heat a 10” nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and heat it until it’s melted and bubbly.
- Step 3 Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a medium bowl and beat them lightly just to blend the whites and the yokes.
- Step 4 Add the pasta to the eggs. The pasta will probably be sticky, and hold together in a mass. The best way to loosen it and incorporate it into the eggs is with your hands. Pull the strands or pieces of pasta apart and swish them around in the eggs until they’re separated and evenly distributed. Season the mixture with salt and pepper if desired – if your original pasta dish was salty or very flavorful, you may not need to add more seasoning here. Use your judgment.
- Step 5 Pour the pasta mixture into the skillet, making sure the pasta is evenly distributed in the skillet. Let it cook without disturbing it until the edges of the eggs look dry. Take a spatula and carefully lift one edge to peek at the bottom – it should be light golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Step 6 Sprinkle the surface of the eggs with the Parmesan. Transfer the skillet to the oven on the highest rack, and broil the omelet until it’s golden brown on top and slightly puffed, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and make a small cut in the center of the omelet with a sharp knife, to test and make sure the center is just set – you don’t want it to be runny in the center, but it should still look slightly creamy, not dry.
- Step 7 Slide the omelet out of the pan onto a plate or cutting board, and cut into wedges to serve.
