I have a long history with fresh pasta. I made pasta every single day for almost seven years. I've made thousands of tortellini for parties with a thousand guests. One time, I stood on an elaborately built platform at a party, sort of like a stage, and rolled pasta before guests while The Eagles and John Meyer performed a stone's throw away. Another time, I went to China to make a few thousand tortellini at the American Embassy. Chew on that--I went to China to make dumplings. I'm still not over the irony of that one.

And I still love making pasta. Some might call me obsessed, and they'd be right. There's something so magical about the way eggs and flour come together into dough that you can roll out into myriad shapes and sizes. I don't think I'll ever stop being fascinated by pasta, and I'd like to share the wonder with you this week, so I'll be focusing on egg noodles in all of their glorious forms.

This week's #Eggmonth giveaway is an Imperia pasta rolling machine--one of my own--and two beautiful new cookbooks from Ten Speed Press. Looking at his new book, Mastering Pasta, it's obvious that Marc Vetri has a passion for pasta. He has spent over a decade making fresh pasta at his own restaurant, traveling to Italy, and studying with pasta masters and scholars, including my heroine, Oretta Zanini de Vita. This book will take anyone with an interest in pasta deep into the nuances of the noodle.

The second book, The Perfect Egg, is also just out this month, by authors Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park. A paean to the egg and its versatility, this book is beautifully shot and filled with a host of inspiring egg recipes from around the world, including okonomiyaki, tea-eggs, empanadas, egg custards, and marrow and eggs. It'll get you jonesing to cook eggs, in case the rest of #eggmonth hasn't done much for you.

Thank you to Ten Speed Press, for contributing the cookbooks for this week's giveaway!

To be eligible to win this prize, simply post a photo, recipe, link, or anything else egg-related to Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and use the #EggMonth hashtag. I'll announce the winner next Monday when I reveal next week's giveaway.

Good Luck!

And the winner of last week's prize--the gift certificate to Good Eggs and a copy of Egg by Michael Ruhlman, is @seantimberlake. Get in touch with me at ciao (at) saminnosrat (dot) com, and I will send you your prize!

Now that I work in an office, I have a commute, officemates, and a proper lunchtime three times a week. Since--in case you didn't realize it--writing blog posts/ cooking class handouts/ a book proposal/ story pitches doesn't exactly yield a fat paycheck, I actually have to think ahead about what I'm going to have for lunch the next day. For the first time in my adult life I'm in a position to eat leftovers for lunch.

As you might imagine, I find this disproportionately thrilling. Especially because I'm so cheap.

It's like the world has dawned anew. Possibilities for tomorrow's lunch lie in the unlikeliest of places. At any moment, I might find inspiration. And if not, there's always a slice of Chad's bread with peanut butter.

I'm sure it'll grow old. But for now, I'm enjoying the challenge.

Last night was one of those nights where I couldn't bear the thought of leaving home to get groceries for dinner, so I rummaged through the cupboard and found an opened box of angel hair pasta. Out of the freezer, I dug some tomato sauce someone had given me, made with tomatoes and basil from her Noe Valley garden. I added some Calabrian chilies and parmesan, and had a perfectly respectable bowl of pasta for dinner. And with what was left, I decided to make a

frittata di spaghetti

, or in this case, capellini.

Italians rarely cook more pasta than they'll consume immediately, but when they find themselves faced with leftover noodles, the

frittata di spaghetti

is often how they choose to serve them.

Before I started cooking the frittata, which derives its name not from the presence of eggs, but rather from the simple fact that it's fried together in the shape of a frittata, I peeled apart two pieces of string cheese I found in the back of the fridge and mixed them into the cold noodles. I also grated a handful of parmesan and added that in.

I got out my one and only non-stick pan (in a braver moment, I might have considered using the cast iron, but between the cheese, tomato sauce, and all of that starch, I feared the worst. Plus, using the non-stick meant I wouldn't have to watch the frittata as closely, and therefore, could watch Downton Abbey while the pasta cooked) and heated it. Then I added a healthy splash of olive oil and the noodles, packed them down and cranked up the heat for a few minutes so the pasta could form a healthy crust.

After about three or four minutes, I turned the heat down to medium-low, rotated the pan, and dove back into the Grantham family saga (I'm only on episode three of season one, so I still have some catching up to do). When I was able to pull myself away from the show about eight minutes later, I went back to the stove and swirled the pan to see if the frittata was starting to come together. When I'm cooking straw cakes, the way I know they're ready to flip is when I can put my fingers in the potatoes and rotate the entire cake with a light twist of my wrist. I figured it'd be something similar here, and it was.

After a little bit of peeking at the bottom crust with the aid of a spatula, I figured it was time, crossed my fingers, and went for the flip. If the flip scares the bejeezus out of you, then just slide the cake onto a cookie sheet or large plate and invert it back into the pan. Then, start over with the high heat to get the crust going, and the medium-low heat to finish. When the frittata is done, slide it out of the pan and serve slices. It's equally delicious hot or cold, perfect with a little salad, some hot sauce, and a bit more parmesan.

Egg Month Giveaway: Pasta Machine, Mastering Pasta, & The Perfect Egg

something out of nothing: frittata di spaghetti