It’s getting dark early now and coming home to a hot, satisfying meal in a chilly loft is a nice pick-me-up. I love omelets and I love them made in the French style. With a crisp, green salad and a good glass of wine few quick meals are as elegant, as rewarding and as inexpensive. Let’s make one.
First... and foremost really, you'll need a well seasoned omelet pan. Without one you might as well make scrambled eggs.
A nonstick like teflon or silverstone will work okay but not as well as a calphelon or a copper sauté pan. If you want that heavenly, classic combination of crispy edges, papery surface and creamy, autumnal center, you’ll need a proper pan.
“Seasoned”, by the way, means it’s been used with olive oil and/or butter over and over so many times with little or no soap in between that every microscopic pore of the metal is saturated and nothing will stick. Chef’s prize their well-seasoned omelet pans. Bring soap near one and their eyes will shoot daggers. Just rinse it well and wipe it out and let it dry. Every great kitchen has one, and it’s used for nothing else.
I found a fine Stilton at Zabars and with lots of black pepper it will make a killer omelet. Two or three eggs and we’re off.
Add two or three tablespoons of cold water and beat the eggs smooth. The longer you beat them the airier they become. Some folks add milk for a heavier omelet but I prefer water to keep it light as a cloud. Now melt a pat of butter in your pan. The flame should be fairly high.
Don’t add the egg too soon. An omelet is made of layers. You want the cool egg to stifle “almost too much” heat, because it’s that shock of heat that begins to cook the egg and create the first layer. See how the majority of the butter is melted and hot and not yet coloring but at the top we can see it just beginning to brown? Perfect. Hot. Dump it in.
If the pan is hot enough the egg immediately bubbles and a skin forms on the bottom. Now work quickly. Use the spatula to gently lift that skin and tilt the pan to let the raw egg on top run under the cooked layer. You may do this two or three times before the egg runs out, adding layers as you go.
It’s okay if it is still quite raw on top for it will continue to cook. Add whatever you have on hand, I’ll use the crumbled blue cheese and what seems like way too much pepper. Don’t worry, the bite of the pepper will soften and grow more rounded as it is tempered by the cooking egg.
When the egg has structure and will hold itself together, fold it over in one, confident motion.
Give it 20 seconds or so to brown it a bit on that side and then flip it.
Now let it sauté another few seconds until it reaches your favorite degree of “doneness” in the middle. Only practice will tell you what this is and how long it takes to get there. I like them soft, almost wet in the middle so mine is coming off.
A little toast, that salad, maybe a good pinot noir or malbec? It’s been a long day.
Welcome home.
