Food'N'Flix: Uova in Carrozza

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...that's amore! For this month's Food'N'Flix, we watched Moonstruck, picked by Debra at Eliot's Eats. Click to see Debra's invitation. 

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link for the DVD.

This is a movie that I haven't seen in, probably, two decades. And it was definitely something I saw before I lived in Italy for a year. What a treat to watch it again! I love the portrayals of the Italian-American families. They are emotive, explosive, passionate, and  protective. They are also steeped in tradition.

A plot synopsis: Loretta Castorini, played by Cher, is a 37-year-old Italian-American widow living with her parents. Her boyfriend Johnny Cammareri, played by Danny Aiello, proposes marriage and even though she is not passionate about him, she accepts. It's a practical and logical merger. Johnny tasks her with inviting his estranged brother Ronny, played by Nicolas Cage, to the wedding and patching up the years' long rift.

Do you see the tangles forming? 

Suffice it to say, after visiting Ronny at his bakery, Loretta goes home with him, cooks him a steak, analyzes his issues, and ends up in his bed. Meanwhile, Loretta’s parents, played by Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia, are embroiled in dramas of their own.  I'll keep the spoilers in check.

If you haven't seen this movie, do!

Moonstruck is a timeless masterpiece. I mean, look past the big hair and the movie could be set in this day and age. This film touches topics that could easily fall into cliché —  marriage, cheating, romance  — but it does it in a manner that feels authentic, even surprising. You get the sense that what really matters is that you must accept love and death and take time to look up at that crazy, beautiful moon every once in a while.

There were many food scenes in this movie that inspired me, but I opted to make the breakfast that Rose cooks for Loretta near the beginning of the film: Uova in Carrozza. Uova in Carrozza means "Egg in a Carriage" in Italian. I love the simplicity of the dish and used heart-shaped cookie cutters in this version. 

Ingredients

• 2 thick-sliced bread per person
• 2 eggs per person
• pat of butter
• splash of olive oil

Procedure
Use a cookie cutter to press a hole through each slice of bread. Heat a pat of butter in a splash of olive oil till the butter is melted. Place your bread slices in the pan and crack an egg into the hollow.

When the egg starts to set, flip them over - carefully. Try not to break the yolk!

Serve with a shot of espresso and some lively morning conversation.

Maybe the eggs got him thinking. I'm not sure. Here's the conversation I had with my mini kid over plates of uove in carrozza. That kid makes me chuckle every day.

D: Mom, are identical twins smaller than other people?

C: What? No, not necessarily.

D: They should be.

C: Why do you say that?

D: Because they are each half of ONE egg...they should be HALF the size. It's basic fraction work.

You still have plenty of time to join the  Food'N'Flix fun; entries aren't due till June 27th. Even if you don't want to cook or blog from it, just see it. It's a gem and will make you smile, or cry, or both.