A scrumptious dessert: omelette soufflée à la confiture

A French recipe: omelette soufflée à la confiture, a French word: confiture.

Eggs are such good value. And so versatile. And sometimes the only thing one can find in the fridge. Just on their own they can become boiled eggs with soldiers, scrambled eggs on toast;  with maybe a little bacon found in another corner of the fridge, fried eggs and bacon,  a crispy bacon omelette; with a bit of cheese, a cheese soufflé; with a little milk and sugar, crème caramel. I could go on and on. For my recipe today I have chosen eggs with a little bit of jam (or jelly) literally to whip up a spectacularly good dessert.

The French bit: Confiture, feminine noun (la confiture, une confiture, des confitures) = jam, preserve. Isn’t there an old English word “comfit” meaning a sweetmeat? The verb is confire = to preserve

• Conjugated in the present: je confis, tu confis, il/elle confit, nous confisons, vous confisez, ils/elles confisent (I preserve, you preserve etc.))
• Past participle : confit (m.), confite (f.), confits (m.pl.), confites (f.pl). Example: du canard confit (preserved duck), une cuisse de canard confite (a preserved duck thigh), des fruits confits (candied fruits), des violettes confites (candied violets).

• Un confiseur is someone who makes sweets, une confiserie is a sweetmeat.

Main ingredients

For today’s recipe you will need for 2 people:

• 3 large eggs
• 2 tbs sugar
• a shaker of icing sugar
• butter for greasing the pan
• a pot of fig or apricot jam, or quince or crab apple jelly, or anything really, even marmalade
• a  tbs or two of brandy, rum or other alcohol (optional)
• a pinch of salt

  Preparation:

1. Melt a tbs butter a non stick frying pan. 20cm-30cm diameter should do the trick.
2. Break the eggs, separating the yolks from the whites into two separate bowls (make sure there is absolutely no yolk (or shell) in the whites and that your bowl is very, very clean, or the whites won’t whisk up firm).
3. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until they form a ribbon (un ruban)  (i.e. until they pale and thicken).
4. Beat the whites with a pinch of salt until they are very firm. Half way through the process, add 10gr sugar.
5. Gently fold the whites into the yolk mixture.
6. Heat the frying pan and pour the egg in slowly, letting the base sizzle to prevent it spreading. Pat the whites down gently with a spoon, so that they reach the edge of the pan.
7. Cook slowly for about 4 minutes, shaking gently to prevent sticking. If it does, loosen with a palette knife.
8. During this time, warm 1-2tbs jam in a small saucepan with the alcohol if you are using it.
9. Place a large plate over the pan and turn, to deposit the omelette on the plate. Melt a little more butter in the pan and slip the omelette back into the frying pan. Cook the second side for about 2 or 3 minutes. Spread the heated jam over half the soufflé omelette.
10. Slip it onto a heated serving plate, fold in two, sprinkle with a little icing sugar and serve.

If you use alcohol, you can actually do without the jam (add the alcohol to the egg mixture instead).  You can also use a small quantity of alcohol pour flamber (to set alight to) your omelette just before you serve. But don’t hang around, the soufflé will start to sink quite rapidly.

This is an excellent dessert to do when you have unexpected guests, because it uses nothing that you don’t usually have in your cupboards. But it does become complicated when you are cooking it for several people. Four is about the limit.

Bon appétit!