It’s only called a one-egg omelette as that’s what I made … it could quite as easily be adapted to be a two- or three-egg omelette if you prefer, of course.
Until recently I hadn’t even thought about fluffy omelettes, but when I was about 13 or 14 years old, my friend Emma and I were obsessed with them!
I have no idea why but we had a phase of making them all the time. Whoever’s house we were at after school we’d be raiding the egg bowl and seeing what there was in the fridge in the way of cheese and/or ham or whatever that we could add to make our perfect cloud-like omelettes.
I liked it best if we were at Emma’s house as she had ponies we could go and visit in the stables afterwards.
Anyway, the omelette.
The ‘secret’ of a fluffy omelette is simple: just separate the white from the yolk and whisk up the white until it’s stiff and almost forming peaks (as cookery books always say. This always makes me wonder who first came up with the analogy of peaks, as it does when I read - or write - about a thumb-sized piece of ginger).
I whisk the whites with an electric whisk now but back when I was a teenager we did that work by hand, passing the bowl back and forth to swap as our arms got tired).
Remember that when separating yolks and whites that you absolutely can’t have any of the yolk in the white, not a single drop, or the whites won’t ever whisk into those peaks.
if you do - as I did with my first attempt today - end up with a little yolk in the white you’re just going to have to put them back into a bowl together to use tomorrow in a non -fluffy omelette instead (or for scrambled eggs or something else of course).
So … for this omelette I used:
1 egg, white and yolk separated
Salt and pepper
a knob of butter (oh there’s another of those cooking analogies!)
grated cheddar cheese but any cheese or ham or cooked vegetables like tomatoes or mushrooms would work well
something to serve alongside if liked - I have chilli jam but so many sauces would be really good.
Also you could have this with a good hunk of bread and butter together with a salad if you wanted something a bit more substantial.
Add a little salt and pepper to the egg yolk and whisk with a fork until is combined.
Next whisk the whites either by hand or - much more easily - with an electric whisk until they have come together in little mountain ranges - or peaks if you prefer.
Stir the yolk mixture into the whites mixture and stir gently to combine, not adding too much air to deflate the whites.
Put a non-stick pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter or a little slosh of olive oil if you prefer.
When it’s hot, add the egg mixture and smooth into the pan.
After a few seconds, grate some cheese over the omelette or add in your cooked veg or meat or ham. I added a little more black pepper too.
Let it cook on a medium heat for maybe 2-3 minutes but keep checking in on lifting the edges - as if it burns, it will do so fast, so keep on top of it -and lift under the edges as well to see how it’s browning underneath.
Then take the pan off the heat and place under a hot grill. Leave the top to cook for a minute - perhaps a few seconds more but it won’t need more than that.
Remove pan from under the grill and flip half of the omelette over the other half.
Serve immediately with a sauce or sauces and/or with bread and salad.
When Emma and I made these- I’ve literally just remembered that we were also mad about chives at that time and always running to the garden to get some either to add to the cheese filling or to snip onto the top to make it look pretty.
I wish I’d added some chives to mine too! When I next make it I will.
