Cheese omelette for the culinary challenged

An omelette is probably one of the easiest meals to cook, especially if it’s just a plain one. I remember making them a lot in university for fried popiah (spring rolls) fillings. While growing up, an omelette was usually used as an accompaniment; with rice, mee suah (rice noodles) soup, fried mee hoon (another type of rice noodles) and not a meal by itself.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned from the French and begun to eat them as a main course. These are not just the plain ones but filled with different kinds of ingredients; tomatoes, button mushrooms, ham, chives and ham. Sometimes, you can make a really good omelette with minimal ingredients such as the girolles mushrooms. The girolles is very flavourful which explains why it’s rather expensive. It might be difficult to find fresh girolles in many countries but you might be able to find dried ones, usually sold in small plastic container in supermarkets specializing in imported products.

While one would think that it’s easy to make an omelette without any possibility for error, I’ve done several mistakes of my own. I had made them too salty, dry or hard. I prefer my omelette a bit runny and not completely cooked, especially if there are cheese in it. I’ve somehow mastered a reasonably good omelette over the past few months.

If you feel like having a light dinner, this is a great recipe to fill your stomach without going over the top. It’s best eaten with fresh bread or baguette. Here, I added a simple tomato salad for that refreshing side taste.

What do you need:

(Serves 2)

Omelette:

1. 4 eggs; lightly beaten with a small pinch of salt and pepper.
2. A clove of garlic; finely chopped.
3. 1 whole shallot; finely sliced.
4. 4 button mushroom; finely chopped (I use a blender for this).
5. 3 stalks of spring onions (only the green parts); finely sliced. If you can find chives, it’s even better.
6. 2 slices of smoked ham; cut into strips or small squares. (Substitute ham with turkey ham if you eat kosher meal.)
7. Some grated cheese; either cheddar or mozzarella.
8. A small drop of sunflower oil

Tomato Salad:

1. 4 red tomatoes; cut into small cubes.
2. 1 whole shallot; finely sliced.
3. 3 bulbs of spring onions (only the white parts leftover from the ones used for the omelette); finely sliced.
4. Some cheddar or mozzarella cheese; cut into small cubes.
5. Some salt and pepper to taste.
6. A squeeze of lemon juice.
7. A dribble of olive oil.

(See above: This is not tofu but mozzarella cheese. You can find fresh ones but for this recipe, use the processed ones normally found in pizzas.)

How to make it:

 

1. Start with the salad first because it’s good to let the salad soaked in lemon juice and olive oil for awhile before serving it.
2. Mix the tomatoes, shallots, spring onions and cheese in a bowl.
3. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and then squeeze the lemon juice on the salad.
4. Dribble some olive oil over the mixture and then toss the mixture a couple of times to maximize blending. Leave it in the fridge until serving time.
5. Heat the pan and when it’s hot, pour the oil onto the pan.
6. Add in the shallots and fry it until slightly brown.
7. Add the garlic just for a few seconds.
8. Add the mushrooms and ham and fry them for a few minutes.
9. While the mushrooms and ham are sizzling in the pan, put the spring onions in the egg mixture.
10. Pour the egg mixture in the pan. Move the pan from side to side to ensure that the mixture covers the whole pan.
11. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the omelette.
12. Allow the omelette to cook over small heat for a few minutes. If you like them runny like I do, turn off the fire once the cheese are melted. Otherwise, leave it a bit longer but it might become hard.
13. Serve the omelette on the plates with the tomato salad.

Bon Apetit!

Left: The ingredients in the tomato salad.

Right: The omelette cooking in the pan. It looks a bit like a pizza with great toppings.