Custom Search

Recipe for "omelet-1"

NAME

     OMELET-1 - Omelet with cream and smoked fish filling
     In the vein (sic) of artery cloggers, this  recipe  must  be
     one  of  the  highest-cholesterol dishes I've come across in
     years.  It may sound unconventional, but delicious  it  most
     certainly is.  I came upon it in the Bistro under the Every-
     man Theatre in Liverpool, circa 1978.  The following  is  my
     reconstruction of the dish I had there.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2)

     6         large eggs (the fresher the better)
     180 g     smoked haddock (or other smoked large-flaked white
               fish)
     60 g      finely grated sharp cheddar (the light yellow  New
               York/Vermont style is best)
     175 ml    heavy cream
     a little  butter
     pinch     dill
     pinch     salt and pepper

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Prepare the fish by poaching it lightly  (5  minu-
               tess)  and  then  breaking  it  up into nice large
               flakes.
          (2)  Whip the cream and fold in the grated cheese.  Add
               the fish and set aside.
          (3)  The remaining steps are a basic omelet recipe  and
               can  be  used  with  any filling.  Crack the eggs,
               beat them up with the dill, salt and pepper.
          (4)  Meanwhile heat a frying pan.  Add a knob of butter
               and let it melt.  When it has stopped frothing and
               is just beginning to go brown...
          (5)  Slop in  half  the  egg  mixture  and  immediately
               return  to the heat and stir the eggs two or three
               times; then with a fork draw the  edges  into  the
               middle and allow the un-solidified egg to run onto
               the exposed pan.
          (6)  While it is still a mixture of fluffy  and  runny,
               add  half  of the haddock and cream mixture.  Con-
               tinue to cook until underside begins to turn  gol-
               den brown.
          (7)  Fold over and serve on a hot plate with bread  and
               butter  immediately.   (You  can't leave it in the
               oven for ten minutes while you do another!)  While
               it is being eaten, cook the second omelet.

NOTES

     My guess, although I haven't yet tried, is that  the  smoked
     haddock  could  be  substituted with any large-flaked smoked
     white fish, like cod perhaps.  The important point  is  that
     it  should  not have an overpowering flavour.  I bought mine
     in a Scottish specialty  shop  in  Kearny,  NJ.   Also,  you
     should  grate  the  cheese  as finely as possible so that it
     blends smoothly with the cream.
     Now a diatribe on omelet pans.  I have always been most suc-
     cessful  with  a  small thin tinned-copper omelet pan (which
     loses its heat and reheats very quickly), and a  heavy  cast
     iron  skillet,  which maintains an even hot temperature (and
     doesn't need to be reheated after adding the  egg  mixture).
     Aluminum and stainless steel pans tend to cool down too much
     and then take too long to reheat  which  results  in  a  dry
     leathery  omelet.   (But, there again, you may like 'em like
     that.)

RATING

     Difficulty: easy to moderate.  Time: 15 minutes.  Precision:
     measuring spoils the fun.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Marcus G Hand
     AT&T Information Systems, Holmdel, New Jersey
     ihnp4!mtunh!mgh
     "The way to a man's heart-attack is through his stomach..."