prosciutto, dill, and mascarpone egg puff

This is the perfect at home, holiday or potluck brunch dish. Period.  

It’s great for mother’s day, teacher appreciation breakfasts, or buffets. And, it’s really, really great for easter.

On easter, at our house, the egg hunting is a full out contact sports. We actually have to have two separate hunts, a kids hunt and a grown-up hunt. It's that, or specifically assign each participant their own color, size, and type of egg to find.  It's that competitive. For a family that mostly eschews all sports activities, on easter, we surprise ourselves.

The morale behind all this, is that by 10:30?

We. Are. Starving.

I came up with this take on a dish my aunt makes (stay tuned for my version of that dish) and calls it "the egg puff."

What's an egg puff you ask? Well, it's sort of a cross between a frittata (although much less fun to say) and a soufflé.  But it’s much, much easier than either, and twice as versatile. It can be made ahead and served cold, or prepped ahead and popped into the oven right before serving and enjoyed warm. I often make both versions, and serve them simultaneously to make sure both vegetarians and carnivores (who, lets face it, luck out and eat both) have options. It's that easy.

Ingredients:

10 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 carton mascarpone (16 oz)

4 cups shredded mozzarella

10 slices of prosciutto, diced

2 Tbsp fresh dill, minced

1/2 cup melted butter, cooled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat eggs until light, fluffy, and pale yellow.

Add flour, backing powder, salt, mascarpone, mozzarella, butter, dill, and prosciutto, blend until smooth.

Pour mixture into a well buttered baking pan. I used a 8 1/2 by 12 le creuset. 

Bake 40-45 mins. When jiggled, the puff should be firm, but moveable, and not watery.

And that, is it. Trust me, once you add this to your brunch or breakfast rotation, you won't go back.