Classic Mushroom Omelette

Serves Two.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoons butter or a little less of vegetable oil
  • 4-5 large eggs
  • 2 Tablespoon water (not milk)
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • a shake or grind of fresh pepper
  • 4 ounces Mycopia mushrooms, single variety or mixed (about a cup, chopped). The best varieties for eggs are Trumpet Royale, Maitake Frondosa, Velvet Pioppini and Brown Clamshell
  • 1 Tablespoon butter or oil
  • about 1/2 cup grated cheese of your cheese (Cheeses that are great with mushrooms include Swiss, Jarlsburg, Gouda, and Gruyere).

Directions

  1. Mix the eggs, water, salt and pepper just until blended. Do not beat to make them foamy. Use water instead of milk because you want the water to create steam; that’s what makes the omelet light, not beating it.
  2. Next sauté the mushrooms in the oil until well cooked. They may even brown very slightly – unlike button mushrooms which give off so much water as they cook that they won’t brown. Set the cooked mushrooms aside.
  3. Melt the butter (or oil) in the omelet pan. Use medium heat, but be careful when using butter so that it doesn’t burn.
  4. Pour eggs into pan and allow to set for about half a minute. In classic technique one shakes the pan to form the omelet, but it works very well to lift the eggs from the sides using a heat-proof spatula, allowing the uncooked egg to flow underneath the eggs which have set. As soon as most of the eggs have set, sprinkle half the omelet with the cheese and then the cooked mushrooms. Fold the omelet in half and then turn off the heat. The residual heat in the pan will finish cooking the eggs and melting the cheese. It would be nice at this point to flip the omelet over on the other side. Use the spatula to help turn it. Let it sit a minute longer, then slide it out onto a warmed plate.
  5. A garnish of chopped fresh herbs is always welcome.

Side Note:

Making an omelet starts with the right pan. A non-stick pan is ideal. Use an 8-inch pan for a single serving, a 10-inch pan to serve two or three and a 12-inch pan to serve three or four. Broad rounded sides are the mark of a good omelet pan, but you can make do with the best one you can find. One secret of the omelet is that the eggs should not be too deep in the pan, because you want the eggs to cook quickly.

Breakfast & BrunchadminTrumpet Royale, Maitake Frondosa, Velvet Pioppini, Brown Clamshell