How to cook a perfect omelette

Eggs are one of the most versatile ingredients, natures magic little orbs that add so much to our cooking experience. Most eggs in the UK are emblazoned with the British Lion Mark as a guarantee of quality.

They are a fantastic ingredient in lots of recipes but I love them as a stand alone dish. Omelettes are a classic way of enjoying eggs at their delicious best. Learning how to make an omelette is so simple yet gives you so many tasty options. Basic Omelette Recipe

• 2 x Eggs (per person)
• 1 x Pinch of salt
• 1 x Pinch Ground White or Black Pepper
• A good knob of butter or a splash of high quality rapeseed oil

Break the eggs into a bowl and gently whisk just turning the yolk into the white to form a uniform colour. Add your pepper at this stage but do not add the salt yet. Sprinkle the pepper over the whole surface of the egg mix, this makes it easier to mix in without getting one lump of pepper hiding in your finished omelette. The trick with making a great omelette is to take it slow and be gentle with it… Heat the oil or butter in a frying pan or omelette pan on a medium heat and allow to come to temperature. The butter should be completely melted and the oil should coat the pan and start to shimmer. Add your salt to the egg mix in the same way you did with the pepper and whisk it in. Add the egg mix straight into the pan covering the entire bottom. Once you see the edges change colour, gently push the edges bit by bit about a couple of centimetres (an inch) towards the centre, and move the pan so the still runny egg fills the gaps. To finish your perfect omelette is up to how you like it. I prefer mine to be slightly runny, so when the omelette is firm underneath but the top still “wobbles” I roll it straight out onto the plate. Do this by holding the pan at an angle over your plate and lift one edge over and continue until the omelette rolls out on to the plate. If you prefer your eggs fully cooked through then fold in half in the pan at the stage mentioned above and let it cook for around 30 seconds. This is enough time for the eggs to set in the middle but not turn into a rubbery and not so pleasant omelette experience. So there you have it a wonderful meal especially at breakfast time.

There are loads of options with omelettes, as you can see from the pictures I added mushrooms. Slice mushrooms nice and thin then cook them in the pan first, adding the egg mixture as described above. Another classic is of course the cheese omelette, you can either mix some of your favourite cheese grated into the egg mix or grate cheese over the eggs in the pan if you like your cheese a bit more “gooey”. As I have mentioned before a cheese omelette goes amazingly well with ratatouille. I always serve my omelette with buttered toast, they just go perfectly together. It is well worth learning how to make a perfect omelette to suit your taste, just remember overcooking is a no-no. How did you get on with this recipe and technique? Are you already an egg master? For more great egg recipes I recommend this book by the amazing Michel Roux - http://myBook.to/eggs Michael Robinson