Ova Spongia ex Lacte

To complete my Acta, I decided to recreate a roman dish known as Ova Spongia ex Lacte, a simple dessert dish that includes eggs, milk, and honey. While it seems simple, the cooking process proved difficult due to the delicate nature of the ingredients. Basically, this is a light, fluffy egg omelet that is seasoned with pepper and drizzled with hot honey. The secret to the fluffiness is the milk, however, the milk also makes it challenging to cook as it is extremely delicate with the milk. I started by beating together 4 eggs, olive oil, and about a cup of milk. I then used a large frying pan to cook the mixture into an omelet. While the dish is not supposed to be folded until cooking is completed, I had to improvise as my omelet flipping skills are not up to par, especially with an omelet of this size and softness. Once cooking is completed, it is then supposed to be folded in half twice to form a sort of triangle. It is then served as a dessert. I was surprised by how long the omelet took to finish cooking. It was cooking for about 10 minutes until it was completed. I believe that the amount of milk used to make the omelet fluffy added to the cooking time. However, once the treat was done, it was delicious. The texture was unlike any eggs I have had in the past. They were light, fluffy, and some of the best eggs I had ever had. I then lightly seasoned it with crushed black pepper and drizzled hot honey over the top. It was very interesting to see that something so simple could prove so difficult to make and still be very delicious. I strived to put myself in a Roman’s shoes and think as a Roman while creating this dish. When I was finished, I was lucky enough to have both my roommates try the dish. They too were surprised by the delightful treat that consists of only milk, eggs, and honey. I will definitely be making this again as it was fun, light, and very good. Below I have attached a picture of one of my roommates eating the dish as well as the recipe. While they were not pretty, they tasted good!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon honey
• 4 eggs
• 275ml milk
• 25g butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Good pinch of black pepper

Instructions

1. Beat together the eggs, milk, and oil.
2. Pour a little olive oil into a frying pan and heat. When this is sizzling, add the omelette mixture.
3. Whisk with a fork until the mix starts to solidify (this will make for a lighter omelette).
4. When thoroughly cooked on one side, turn the omelette over and cook on the other side. Fold in half and turn out onto a plate.
5. Warm the honey and pour over the omelette. Fold this over once more and cut into thick slices.
6. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve.