. Eggs
. Clarified Butter
. Mixed Fresh Herbs (tarragon, basil, chervil, chives and flat-leaf parsley)
. Ham
. Gruyere or Emmanthal Cheese
. Caramelized Shallots
. Goat Cheese
Special Equipment
. Heat-resistant spatula
Notes from the Kitchen
. With an introduction that provides no fewer than five ways in which you are quite likely to disasterously destroy your omelet, the intimidation factor focused our guarded attention.
. While preparing the fillings, we also produced the clarified butter and the caramelized shallots; cheese cloth straining (in the absence of any cheese cloth) was deemed unnecessary.
. Our chosen combinations: herb, ham and Swiss cheese, goat cheese and caramelized shallots and—with an abundance of egg mixture leftover—the remaining herbs and Swiss cheese.
. Our effort to pour equally portioned whipped egg into each individual omelet using a large measuring cup backfired. Although it did leave us with 3 much smaller omelets and enough leftover for a fourth, much larger one. The flaw appeared to be in a measurement technique.
. As with the frittata, the trick is not to doubt your assessment of the degree of runny; if you say: is it done? it is!
. As intimidating as the instructions were, following all of the recommendations, each omelet turned out just lovely, even if each was not necessarily perfect.
. Waiting to whip up the eggs until the last moment does indeed make a fluffier omelet.
Note of Less Pertinence but Equal Importance
. Fresh farmer's market herbs make a world of difference, not only in the taste that they impart, but the aromatic delight in the kitchen as they are cut.
. Side salad with a nice tangy tarragon vinaigrette was the perfect accompaniment.
Eating the Results
Laura says: Never a fan of omelets at a restaurant, these were indeed a different breed. With the restrained cheese portions and the intensity of the herbs, the dish was entirely new to my omelet experience. Even with the first ones kept warm in the oven (during the approximate 5 minutes it took to complete all of them) the fluffy texture was not lost.
Claudine says: Growing up, omelets were a dinner staple for me, usually with chives and potatoes, and always delicious. This recipe was very reminiscent of those but with fillings that elevated them from cooking-with-your-eyes-closed weeknight dinner to a lovely-special-but-still-remarkably-easy weeknight dinner. Any of the recommended combinations would also be perfect for a weekend brunch. The caramelized shallots were especially delicious and worth the extra time preparing them.
No comments:
Post a Comment