omelette souffle muffin

as i am at home with a tube down my throat, feeling a bit rubbish and slightly sorry for myself, i thought i'd treat myself to a nice lunch to take my mind off it.

for a few days now i've been thinking it would make sense to cook something like an omelette in muffin tins so you can take smaller portions to work. then i thought you could make it more souffle-like by beating the whites separately, but without adding any flour. so like a slightly thicken, airier omelette.

we went through a phase of making these at home, when i was about 17. we just cooked them in a frying pan as you would with a normal omelette, and then slathered them with jam.

i fancy something savoury though so i chuck in some bacon and some leftover parmesan. not totally sure about measures as it was all a bit haphazard but i doubt you could go very wrong with it. you're aiming for that slightly runny, souffle-like consistency before you bake. if that helps!

OMELETTE SOUFFLE MUFFIN (christ, it needs a better name!)

for two

3 eggs, separated

2 slices bacon, grilled and cut into bitesize pieces

50g parmesan cheese (couldn't swear it was that at all - just think it may have been judging by the size of the chunk), grated

1/2 tsp mustard powder

2 tbsp creme fraiche (cream will do)

pepper

butter/oil for greasing

preheat the oven to 200C. grease 5 muffin tins. or six if you want them smaller and even-numbered and don't want to fight over the last one).

mix together the egg yolks, mustard powder and cheese. season with pepper and mix in the bacon pieces. loosen with 2tbsp of creme fraiche.

separately, whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer till stiff. quickly add the beaten whites to the yolk, mixing lightly with a metal spoon. be brisk and decisive and don't worry about mixing it all in completely or you'll knock all the air out of it and it'll just end up being a plain omelette.

cook in the oven for around 12-15 minutes until risen and golden. if you need to check they're done, stick a skewer in to see but be warned - it will deflate the souffle.

i think as well as lunch, this would make a nice weekend breakfast treat. next time, i would probably leave out the bacon and chop in some chives. maybe use a different cheese too, like one of the nice tangy english cheeses like cheshire or lancashire.