Love Child of a Soufflé and an Omelette, drizzled with truffle oil

By Clare

Lunches Meals and courses Recipes

This is a rather surprising dish – a hybrid between a soufflé and an omelette. It’s not quite what you expect, but in a good way.

It goes well with ham, and freshly baked rolls and butter.

Recipe for Love Child of a Soufflé and an Omelette, drizzled with truffle oil

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 250g/1 cup ricotta
• 230g/8 oz asparagus
• 2 tbsps grated Parmesan….or pecorino, or grana Padano
• Smoked salt and Indonesian long pepper
• 1 tbsp truffle oil
• 100g/4 oz/about five or six medium sized chestnut mushrooms
• Olive oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 210ºC.
2. Cover a small roasting tray with foil, and oil it with olive oil.
3. Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus (follow this link for more details on this method), put on the tray and put in the oven for eight minutes (you’ll take it out before to add the mushrooms).
4. Meanwhile quickly peel the mushrooms, and chop quite small. Open the oven, take out the tray with the asparagus, add the mushrooms, drizzle over olive oil and salt and pepper. Put back in the oven until eight to ten minutes is up. When this is done, get the grill going.
5. Separate the eggs, with the whites put into a big mixing bowl.
6. Beat the yolks and then stir in about a third of the ricotta.
7. Take a large oval frying pan which you can get under the grill, pour in a little olive oil, cover the surface, and begin to get it hot.
8. Using an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff. Fold in the egg yolk mixture. Pour into the frying pan.
9. Arrange the cooked asparagus and mushrooms on top of the egg mixture (including any salt and pepper in the tin), and dot the rest of the ricotta around. Sprinkle over the whole the grated cheese.
10. After about five minutes, when you feel that the bottom is cooked through, put the whole thing still in the frying pan under the grill for about five minutes – until it is just turning golden. Watch it like a hawk – if it’s very close to the grill it will burn easily.