Froġa tat-tarja is a Maltese pasta omelette, traditionally made with vermicelli pasta, eggs, parsley and parmesan cheese. That’s it! As simple as that.
Maltese comfort food
I love this recipe as it is easy and effortless to make, yet it is so versatile and delicious. In fact, whenever we have vermicelli (angel hair pasta) or spaghetti at home, I always cave and make one! I have fond memories of my mother making this for me, and many Maltese people I know, love it, as for the Maltese it is considered as comfort food.
Here I will be sharing with you the base recipe to make the Froġa tat-tarja, but don’t let this limit you in exploring more varieties. This recipe can be done with leftover pasta, but I don’t know whether that’s an option for you, because in our case, pasta is never left uneaten! However, if that’s something common in your kitchen, this is a great way to turn the leftovers into a second meal.
Apart from the main ingredients, you can easily add any topping you like. I’ve made this dish with ricotta, bacon, guanciale, onions and spinach. Just mix any ingredient you like together. In reality, this recipe is just a canvas waiting to be painted with whatever you like!
Tip: Flipping the omelette
One tip for cooking this dish is: be patient! Let the omelette cook gently in the pan for a few minutes without continuously flipping it. In fact, I always try to flip it just once, so that each side gets an equal amount of cooking. I do this, so to avoid that it breaks while turning it and also for it to get a uniform colour.
Froġa tat-Tarja (Maltese Pasta Omelette)
Ingredients
- 300 g Vermicelli Pasta
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 90 gr Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (or Grana Padano) grated
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook the vermicelli pasta until al dente, strain and set aside. If you have leftover pasta skip this step and pass directly to the second step.
- In a large bowl beat the eggs and mix all the ingredients together except for the olive oil.
- Add the cooked vermicelli pasta to the mixture and make sure that all the pasta is evenly coated with the mixture.
- On medium heat, heat some olive oil in a 20 cm/8 inch sized frying pan. Add half of the pasta and egg mixture and cover the bottom of the frying pan.
- Let it cook until it is golden, flip and continue cooking the other side. To minimise breakage whilst flipping, cover the pan with a plate and flip the omelette on the plate first before putting it back in the pan.
- Let the other side continue cooking.
- Repeat with the other half of the mixture.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- You can use any long type of pasta.
If you have any questions, feedback or comments on this recipe, please leave a comment below. Please also rate this recipe by double clicking on the stars below. If you did make this recipe, tag @apronandwhisk and hashtag #apronandwhisk, as I’m curious to see what you create!
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When adding the pancetta is it advisable to cook it before adding it to the mix?
Yes 🙂 I like to cook it slightly before adding it.
How many calories, please?
Hi! I apologise for my late reply. Each froġa should have around 600/700 calories. 🙂
Thanks it’s the same way my grandmother used to cook it.
Hi 🙂 thank you for sharing! It brings me so many great memories from my childhood 🙂
Dear Chef,
I’ve been busy writing your imqarrun fil-forn, your Ross fil-forn and your Froga tat-Tarja. I’m cooking the imqarrun tomorrow as I need to buy in some extra ingredients for it but my mouth keeps on watering each time I think of it!!!
Thing is theres no mention of pancetta in your ingredient list for your froga tat tarja and yet Matthew Farrugia mentions it and you compound it all by agreeing with him.
Hope you can help as Im dumbfounded,
Much Love
Tori Mangion
Hi! Thank you so much for reaching out. I apologize for my delay in replying to your message.
Yes, the pancetta is an extra addition (optional) you can add and is not listed in the ingredients or methods. In the write up I mentioned other ingredients which I like to add occassionally as a twist on my froġa tat-tarja, but I don’t give measurements as they are just other suggestions.
Hope that this is clearer 🙂
Yesenia
Love you work check out ours too robandjas.com I’m working to issue a video of this any suggestions would be appreciated
Thank you for reaching out 🙂 It’s nice to connect with like minded blogs! Looking forward to see that!