cheese, mushroom, and shallot omelet
(vegetarian)

recipe by m-c

just the recipe

what I was looking for

Eggs. A creamy, crusty, yummy omelet would hit the spot right now. Rain and more rain, dribbles, drizzles, sweeps, cold rain, wind-driven rain, rain and more rain. I need comfort food.

what I made

An omelet based on the Swiss Cheese, Mushroom, and Scallion Omelet in Mollie Katzen and Walt Willett's Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less, page 149.

grades for my version

healthy	A-	Eggs and mushrooms are superfoods, and a touch of butter never did anybody much harm.
fast	A-	Only scrambled eggs are faster than an omelet, and an omelet feels like more of a meal. (Alice B. Toklas's cook agreed.)
easy	A-	Omelets have a reputation for being difficult, but if you jettison your perfectionism they're quite easy.
cheap	B	Quality shows in a recipe this simple. Omega-3 eggs, organic mushrooms and shallots, and imported Gruyère aren't cheap.
delicious	A	Clean, fresh, creamy, golden in the pan and in the mouth. So good.

yield

One omelet per person.

equipment

   a small nonstick frying pan

   a pancake turner

      a vegetable peeler or a grater

the filling

ingredients	Mollie+Walt	m-c	why?
cooking medium	nonstick spray + ½ teaspoon olive oil	2 teaspoons olive oil	healthier [1] easier [2] tastier [3]
onion family	1 scallion sliced thin	1 shallot chopped rough	easier [4]
mushrooms	4-5 sliced thin	4-5 sliced thin	no change
greens	---	a handful of baby arugula	healthier [5]
Notes
[1]	Olive oil is just as healthy as nonstick spray, if not healthier.
[2]	I don't believe anybody can actually sauté anything in a little nonstick spray and ½ teaspoon olive oil.
[3]	Olive oil tastes better than nonstick spray.
[4]	Shallots I have always with me; scallions I have to go to the store to buy.
[5]	Plus veggies.

I'm a little distressed at Mollie and Walt here.

First a simple fact that has apparently escaped their attention: Nonstick spray has just as many calories per unit as cooking oil; the labelling laws permit the spray to list itself as having no calories because the serving size is miniscule and rounding down is allowed.

If you use enough nonstick spray to sauté the shallots and mushrooms, you might just as well use an equivalent amount of olive oil, which is cheaper and tastier and not, you know (sorry for sounding like a Michael Pollan zealot), a product of the Agricultural Industrial Complex.

But I'm distressed in another way. I was hoping that the recipes in this book would ring out with flavor and joy. Instead we get this hooey about nonstick cooking spray and ½ teaspoon of oil, which sounds for all the world just like any crazy diet book's recipes.

What happened to the Mollie and Walt who said, "Olive oil isn't a 'lesser of two evils.' It's actively, positively good for you" (p. 35, emphasis theirs)?

What happened to the Mollie and Walt who put plant oils right at the foundation of their food pyramid, along with fruits, and vegetables, and whole grains (p. 14)?

Where's the Walt who told us that the Mediterranean diet with 35% of calories from fat works better for weigh reduction and maintenance than a low-fat diet (p. 37)?

I'm not just distressed, I'm heartbroken.

Well, be that as it may, here's what you do with the filling ingredients:

   You can't film the bottom of a nonstick pan, so just put the olive oil and the shallots into the (cold) frying pan and mix the shallots around till every touched with oil everywhere. (You might need a little less olive oil or a little more than 2 teaspoons; the point is to have every bit of shallot touched with oil.)

Now mix in the mushrooms. Raw mushrooms are sponges for fat, so if you were to try anointing the shallots and mushrooms together you wouldn't have enough oil -- the mushrooms would soak it all up instantly and unevenly. But if you oil the shallots first and then mix in the mushrooms, the mushrooms have no opportunity to glom all the oil for themselves.

Now put the pan over a high flame and let everything sit still till you can start to smell the shallots cooking, 3-4 minutes.

   Stir the filling once and let it sit again over the high flame for another minute or two till the smell of the cooking shallots becomes intense and you can also smell the mushrooms.

Stir in the arugula, which will immediately wilt.

Dump the filling out into a small bowl -- or, as Mollie and Walt cheerfully suggest, onto the plate you're going to use for eating the omelet. I was hoping for more ideas like that in reading these recipes.

the eggs

ingredients	Mollie+Walt	m-c	why?
eggs	2 large	2 large	no change
salt	to taste	to taste	no change
cooking medium	½ teaspoon butter	½ teaspoon butter + 1 teaspoon olive oil	easier [1]
Notes
[1]	Can M+W really gild an omelet in half a teaspoon of butter? I can't.

Stir the eggs and salt together.

Some people like the eggs for an omelet just barely stirred, with visible separation of the yolks and whites. If that's how you like your omelet eggs, use a small bowl or a cup and a fork for stirring.

Others (like me) prefer the eggs well stirred, yolks and whites indistinguishable. If you like your omelets that way, a larger bowl and a wire whisk work best.

In either case, try to avoid beating air into the eggs. You're not making scrambled eggs; you don't want them frothy.

   Put the butter and olive oil into the cold frying pan (no need to wipe the frying pan out -- in fact, rather the contrary, any leftover juices will enrich the omelet). Pour the stirred eggs into the cold frying pan, where they should lie limply on the butter and oil.

Now put the pan over a brisk flame and stay with the pan till the omelet is done.

Stage 1 of cooking the eggs is for them to start to sieze up at the edges, 2-3 minutes.

   Stage 2. When the edges are firm enough to lift with the pancake turner, lift one edge slightly and tilt the pan to let some more of the egg run under the edge. Do this same thing in two or three other spots. Stage 2 is over.

If you like your omelets loose, as I do, there is no Stage 3.

If you like them tighter, Stage 3 consists of letting them cook a little more, perhaps a minute, perhaps two minutes.

If you like omelets quite dry, there is a Stage 4, where you flip the omelet over and let the raw side cook one minute more.

I'm sure there are omelet afficianados out there crying for my scalp, but really, they should get over it. Who are they to tell us in our own kitchens what we want to eat? If you want your omelet as dry as an old dustrag, you shall have it that way, and if you serve it to me I hope I have the good grace to eat it and try to figure out what's good about it.

assembly and garnish

ingredients	Mollie+Walt	m-c	why?
Gruyère cheese	½ ounce	½ ounce	no change
black pepper	to taste	to taste	no change
fresh sage leaves	---	6, sliced thin	healthier

Whichever side of the omelet is now up, spread the filling over half of it. Flop the other half over to partially cover the filling. There will be too much filling to cover it completely, no problem, that's fine.

Slide the filled omelet onto the plate you'll be eating from.

      I would rather have a few intense hits of cheese than many milder bites. If you're like me, make cheese curls with a vegetable peeler; if you're more like Molly and Walt, grate the cheese.

Scatter the slices of sage over the omelet and serve it immediately.

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