A Little Egg-citement :-)

Sformatini di Uovo, Ricotta, Asparagi, Pomodorini & Pancetta

Baked Egg, Ricotta, Asparagus, Cherry Tomato & Bacon "Omelettes"

You see these little beauties? They look pretty tasty, no? Well they are tasty- very tasty in fact! But I am betting you would not believe just how easy they were to make, or how little it took to make them! 

Just 1 egg and 1 heaped tablespoon of fresh ricotta cheese made the base for these lovely little oven-baked "omelettes"- I kid you not! The ramekins are the kind you would use for a creme brulée, so sure, these are small portions, but absolutely perfect as a little snack and even better-so as a starter course to a nice, light Summer dinner. Being as I did not have a dinner planned after trying one this evening- I just went ahead and ate the second one too! After all- I do believe in the old adage "waste-not, want-not" :-)

While we are on the subject of neither wasting, nor wanting, let me tell you that I made these 2 little omelettes using just one little handful of Thai asparagus I had left over from yesterday evening. The rest of the ingredients were, as I already mentioned, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of ricotta, 1 Spring onion, 1 handful of finely chopped bacon, 4-5 cherry tomatoes and a little finely chopped parsley and mint. That's not much is it? But you will see- it will come together and be more than you think... for sure enough for 2 nice little starters!

I started by frying up the bacon bits in a dry pan until they began to sizzle, then added the finely sliced onion and the bottom parts of the asparagus stalks. After just a couple of minutes, I set these to one side and then popped the asparagus tips into the pan with a little pat of butter, salt and pepper and tossed them for 1-2 minutes too- then out they came! Last but not least, in went the cherry tomatoes, which I had cut into quarters with a little salt, pepper and sugar. Same procedure- just 1-2 minutes and out they came! 

Now, with everything prepared and pre-cooked, all I needed to do was to crack the egg into a bowl, add the fresh ricotta and stir them well together. I seasoned it with salt, pepper and nutmeg and then added about a handful in all of parsley and mint chopped as finely as possible. As soon as the other ingredients (except for the asparagus tips), were cool enough to add without turning the egg into scramble, I added them all at once and stirred the mix through until it was a nice even mix. As soon as I had my prep work done, I turned on the oven and got busy with portioning my omelette mix into those little ramekins...

I spooned the egg mix which had the ends of the asparagus, the tomatoes and the onion in it into the ramekins first and then set the asparagus tips out decoratively on top. And that was it- all of my work was done and into a pre-heated oven they went at 250°f for 15-20 minutes. After that time, they had set nicely and become gently golden brown- pretty nice looking I must say! And totally delicious! These are so easy you really have to try them out yourself and see- and have fun whilst you're at it! Enjoy!