A ‘sformatino’ is a kind of soufflé, in that it will always contain egg and be cooked in the oven, and is always presented in individual ramekin sizes, i.e. there is no such thing as a large sformatino. They are a wonderful way to start a meal because of the ease of preparation, their size, their appearance and, most of all, their taste.
The ingredients for this particular sformatino are: 200 g of semi-seasoned Tuscan pecorino cheese, 250 ml of cream, butter to grease the ramekins, 4 egg whites and some pistachios as garnish.
Pre-heat the oven 150° C. Cut up the pecorino into thinnish slices and put them into a bain-marie with the cream, using a whisk to mix it as it gradually melts. Once it has melted, remove from the heat, add salt and pepper, allow to cool a little before adding the egg whites which have been beaten to fairly stiff peaks. When finished, pour an equal amount of the mix into each greased ramekin. Put the ramekins into an oven pan, pouring hot water into the pan until half-way up the ramekins. Cook for about 40 minutes at 150°C.
Put each ramekin on to an individual serving plate, splodge a little bit of onion jam on top. (See my previous post on how to make onion jam ….)
Here I am, slicing the pecorino into a bowl …
I placed the sliced pecorino into a container that fits onto a saucepan with simmering water in it. This is what is meant by ‘bainmarie’, cooking something with the heat emanated by the steam of simmering water. This will melt the cheese gradually …. the whisk will come in handy for mixing it all properly.
As the cheese beings to melt, I measure my cream, ready to pour into the mix …
As the cheese melts, in goes the cream. Mix it all in and remove from heat.
Beat the egg whites …
The ramekins have been greased with butter, the egg whites have been beaten and the cheese has been melted with cream added to it. Time to assemble …
Put the beaten egg whites into the melted cheese and cream …. mix well.
Use a ladle to dish out the sformatino mix into the ramekins …
Put a handful of pistachios on top of each sformatino. Then place each ramekin onto a baking tray containing boiling water. Put the baking trays into the oven and cook for about 40 minutes at 150°C.
Here are the sformatini just out of the oven …. Get hold of the onion jam, and put one spoonful in the centre of each sformatino.
Ready to serve … pretty to look at and yummy to eat. Real men may not each quiche but they could do worse than start off the meal with a sformatino!
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