Eggs for dinner. Or lunch, or brunch. Baked omelet soufflés are perfect any time of day!

Although omelet soufflés sound fancy, I love that making them is as simple as cracking some eggs and adding a filling of some sort (for me, the filling is always a vegetable combination.) All you have to do is cook whatever you’ll be using for your filling first, and when done, add the eggs. Actually, you don’t even need to add any filling if you don’t want, but the filling just makes it taste much better and offers a veggie boost too.

Here, for the filling, I use a gourmet mushroom blend, leeks and petite organic peas. Of course there are endless variations on fillings for baked omelet soufflés and you can get quite creative, but it is best to veer on the side of simple and not add more than three ingredients.

I’m never in the mood to shell fresh peas and there is absolutely no advantage to buying fresh peas ready shelled so you might as well just get frozen peas, but do look for organic petite peas because they just taste so much better. Also, it is important when adding any filling to your baked omelet soufflés that you keep the concept of “teeny-tiny” in mind. You don’t want to add big chunks of vegetables or whatever into a delicate and elegant baked omelet soufflé.  You’ll see for the leeks I go so far as to shred them in the food processor, this is not an optional step. It really does make a difference because yes, I have tried to get away with just finely chopping the leeks and it doesn’t work.

Most importantly, for the eggs, be sure to buy the absolute best. That means you want to look for pastured eggs from hens that lived outdoors and had access to fresh pasture.

And finally, don’t fret over whether your baked omelet soufflé rises “just so”, just remember, no matter what happens to an egg dish you can always claim it was intentional.

 

Individual Baked Omelet Soufflés with Leeks & Mushrooms

Serves: 4

• Extra virgin olive oil cooking spray
• 1 stalk leeks, washed and sliced into 1-inch rounds
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 ounces gourmet mushroom blend (such as shiitake, crimini, baby bella, oyster, etc.), cut into small pieces with kitchen sheers
• Unrefined sea salt, to taste
• White pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup frozen organic petite peas
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
• 6 organic, pastured eggs
• ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly oil 4 (1-cup) jumbo muffin cups with oil.

Working in small batches, place the sliced leek rounds into a food processor and pulse to shred. Set the shredded leeks aside.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet to medium-heat. Add the garlic and shredded leeks and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until leeks are soft. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes, or just until wilted. Season the leeks and mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste. Add the peas and cook for 1 minute. Gently stir in the basil. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Place the eggs plus salt and pepper to taste in a blender; mix on high for 30 seconds.

Divide the leek-mushroom mixture into the centers of the 4 prepared jumbo muffin cups. Carefully pour the egg mixture on top of the vegetables, dividing the mixture evenly among thecups. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the omelet soufflés from the oven and top each one with 1 tablespoon of feta cheese. Return the soufflés to the oven and bake for an additional 5–8 minutes. The omelet soufflés will be puffy and slightly brown when done. Allow to cool for 5–10 minutes and serve warm.