Ok SO, this post needs a little bit of preamble! You see, before two weeks ago I had never tried a French Omelette before. I had heard of them, and seen them on TV even, but i had never tried one. Recently I was passing through the big city to visit the visa office, and so i stayed for one night in a nice hotel. They served a sumptuous breakfast buffet and after i had sampled a few things from the various perfectly laid out breakfast areas i was approached by a friendly waiter. He asked me if i would like an omlette. Normally i would say no, because i don't really like them very much. They are usually just like a dry egg pancake, thin, and with a rubbery texture. Little did know all these years how far off I was from knowing what an omelette COULD be!
I was served what i can only call the perfect French Omelette. Its shape, texture, and everything about it made it a perfect French Omelette. I was in heaven! What struck me most was the creamyness that oozed out of it, but with nothing used but egg and salt. The taste was just incredible, i assume it was laced with plenty of butter or ghee. I was awakened to this new possibility and as soon as I got back home i set out to try to make one!
Obviously the University of youtube showed me well what to do. I watched several people make one, including a French master chef, and some cool vloggers like Alex. Hes French and likes to set quests to make the perfect dish of this or that. After watching i had a pretty good idea of what to do, at least in theory anyways!
The first one was not to shabby i must say! Maybe not the best in terms of its appearance, but the texture and seasoning was spot on and they melted down into my very happy belly in a dreamy ooze. THe second one all fell apart, mainly because i realised my pan was a little big for three eggs, and i didnt want to make it with four. I should really buy a smaller pan as i would like to have these once a week and three eggs seems more than enough.
SO today i decided to try one with four eggs. I just discovered a great source of local eggs which im told are from real free range hens. They looked so cozy in the box with a bit of hay under each egg. I have to say im not really that into taking eggs from hens. I don't think they like it very much and i can remember once having my own chickens and then in the end couldn't bring myself to take the egg or eat it. Anyways, these eggs seem pretty happy even if i am a sucker for good branding!
To today's omelette was, about as good as it looks.. which i think is pretty good :_
If you are interested how the basics go its something like this:
Mix up three eggs (eight inch pan)or four eggs (nine or 10 inch pan), and add some salt, dash of pepper, a generous dollop of Clarified butter and a tablespoon of water. Using a fork mix it up lots and then leave it for 10 minutes.
When you come back it will look something like this:
THen get the non stick perfect pan on and put some more clarified butter and set on low to medium heat. Add the eggs right away whilst the pan is not yet hot and stir stir stir.
CUrds will start to form with some runny egg still on top. Keep stirring until you see gaps in between the curds. THen using a soft flat tool just rub gently to even out the egg and fill in any holes.
ITs time to roll her up! If it looks like its getting anywhere near dry turn the heat off.. If you time it well you can turn it off just as you start to roll. Mine looked like this just as was about to roll it.
The trick here is simple to tilt the pan away from you so that the omelette rolls by itself with just a little help from a spatula. Carefully roll it up until nearly the end. THen finally bring the last bit over the omlette to seal it. THe final tricky bit is to take the pan to the plate and try to flip it on to the plate. Hopefully it will work!
Then a bit of shaping if you aren't a master chef, and a lick more clarified button on the top with a soft brush .. and today some parsley seasoning.
Hey presto! Heres how it turned out. Not perfect by an means, but wow this thing tastes so good!
If you eat eggs and have never tried a French Omelette then i highly recommend you try this out. DOt worry too much about the look, concentrate more on not overcooking it :)
Now what to do for lunch! :)