Venison Summer Sausage and Pasta Frittata

As you might imagine, leftover pasta is a pretty common thing in Italy. One of the more common dishes made from the excess is a skillet frittata. You will often find it served in small markets and even gas stations as a convenient meal you can eat on the go.

A classic Italian on-the-go meal, a frittata made with leftover pasta and cured meat is the perfect way to use up extra noodles. Images by author.

Unlike the more common (at least here in the United States) mostly egg frittata, the backbone of this one is cooked spaghetti. The traditional recipe uses bacon, salami or pancetta. This one uses venison summer sausage. Because the roll I have in the fridge right now has jalapeño and cheddar in it, that’s what I used, but plain summer sausage works.

Venison summer sausage shines in this one.

In Italy, the cheeses would be good parmesan and scamorza, a cow’s milk cheese similar to mozzarella. Because we don’t see a lot of scamorza at our local market, I substituted a good whole milk mozzarella that I shredded. For the parm, use the good stuff, Parmigiano Reggiano, and grate it yourself for the dish.

Use good parmesan that you grate yourself for maximum flavor.

Start by cooking the spaghetti in salted water. When the spaghetti is cooked but still just a bit al dente, drain it and run it under cold water to rinse. Set the pasta aside and let it cool.

Dice the summer sausage into small pieces. I like to pan sear them until slightly crisp, but you can put them in cold if you would rather.

Pan sear the diced summer sausage until crispy.

The binder that holds it all together, and makes it a frittata, is the eggs. Pick up some fresh ones from a local farm for added flavor if you can.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the summer sausage and both cheeses. Add the melted butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir to blend.

Mix the beaten eggs with the cheese, sausage and seasonings.

Mix in the cooked pasta.

Pre-heat your oven to 325. Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat, and add the olive oil. Swirl the oil around to coat the skillet. When the oil starts to smoke, remove the skillet from the burner, and gently pour in the pasta and egg mixture.

Add the egg and pasta mixture to a hot, oiled skillet.

Return the pan to the burner over medium heat and cook until well set. When you have a nice crust on the bottom and the frittata has started to firm up, gently flip it in the pan. You can use a large platter placed over the pan to turn the frittata onto before transferring it back to the skillet if that makes you more comfortable than just flipping it in the pan.

When the bottom has set, flip the frittata in the pan.

Place the skillet into the hot oven, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the eggs have cooked through and set.

Allow the frittata to cool slightly before slicing into wedges for serving.

Slice into wedges for serving.

You can also chill the leftovers and eat them cold. They make a handy alternative to a sandwich for a quick lunch.

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