Almond Omelette

           If you are interested in cooking and read a lot about different cuisines, methods and techniques, eventually you come to the point when it’s difficult to find an innovative recipe: you realize that there’s a similar dish in another culture or it is just a traditional treat with a modern twist.

            Once, however, I got really surprised when I read a review of a book written by Madeleine Pelner Cosman who did some research on the English medieval cuisine. One of the dishes presented in her book was Amondyn Eyroun – an almond omelette. As I looked through the list of ingredients I had to admit that it’s difficult to imagine how the final dish will taste. Just think of it: you mix chopped almonds with ricotta, raisins and honey, you add rolled oats and (no kidding!) boiled eggs to it and then you bind it with raw eggs and fry in a pan. I’m actually a very open minded person when it comes to frittatas: I believe that you can put whatever you want in your morning omelette. But this seemed to be too much! Of course, I couldn’t but give the dish a try – just to form an opinion about it, you know. Surprisingly, the combination of ingredient worked really well! This big pancake-like omelette turned out to be a breakfast that I really enjoyed. So now I don’t have to decide whether I should make pancakes or frittatas in the morning – I go for this medieval in-between version of the two breakfast options!

The original recipe from the book “Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony”

Ingredients:

½ cup ricotta

4 tbsp butter

1/3 cup almonds, coarsely ground

1/3 cup oats

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

¼ cup raisins, soaked

3 raw eggs

1 tbsp honey

pinch o salt

¼ tsp fennel seed, crushed

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

1. Place ricotta in a large bowl.
2. In a heavy pan, melt half of the butter; toast the almonds and oats until golden. Pour off the almonds, oats and butter into the ricotta and mix well. Reserve the pan and any residual butter therein for later.
3. In another bowl, whisk the raw eggs with honey, salt and fennel, and then stir them into the ricotta mixture, together with the hard-boiled eggs and raisins.
4. Heat remaining butter and oil in a reserved pan. Pour the mixture in and fry until golden, about 5 to 8 minutes, on very low heat. Cut into individual wedges and serve hot.

Notes:

I haven’t used fennel seeds in the omelette. You may substitute them with chopped mint to add a zing to the dish.