The Kitchen Counter Cooking School (25 page)

Then each pair rotated around the table, tasting the other teams' creations with all manner of lettuce. They were all good, but the fig and bleu cheese balsamic knocked it out of the park. I made a mental note to try it myself.

Everyone had such a great time with the salad and vinaigrette lesson that it was tough to pull them away from it. But it was time to move on to the eggs.

“Omelets don't get the respect they deserve,” says Jamie Oliver. He's so right. An omelet is inexpensive, easy, satisfying, and a good way to use up leftovers. Plus, who says that eggs are only for breakfast? A famous food writer, Elizabeth David, wrote a whole story about the beauty of an omelet and a glass of wine for dinner.

One of my chefs at Le Cordon Bleu used to say,
“Apprendre à faire une omelette et vous n'aurez jamais faim.”
If you learn to make an omelet, you'll never go hungry. He told my Intermediate Cuisine class a legendary story about Napoleon Bonaparte. His army was traveling in southern France and spent a night in a small town, Bessières. The owner of the inn where Napoleon stayed made him an omelet. He had never had one before and found it so wonderful that the next day he requested the townspeople to gather up all the eggs in the village to prepare an enormous omelet for his army. They won the battle, of course. If they hadn't, no one would make omelets.

“Omelets are great for leftovers because, well, you can put almost anything into them and serve them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner,” I said. “I've made omelets filled with every possible leftover including steak and bleu cheese. Otherwise, the method is always the same.”

I put a seven-inch nonstick skillet over one of the portable burners and dropped in a dollop of butter. As it warmed, I cracked two eggs into a bowl, added salt, pepper, and a bit of thyme, and whisked. The eggs made a “shhhh” sound as they hit the surface of the warmed pan. I turned the heat to low, then tilted the pan around to assure that the egg coalesced evenly. Once it had cooked through, I added a bit of cheese, folded it over with the edge of a spatula, and slid it from the pan. Voilà.

Each volunteer made an omelet. There may be nothing more gratifying than watching someone make an omelet for the first time. Some came out better than others, but student after student had the wide smile of accomplishment as she watched hers fold onto her plate. Andra openly chuckled. “This is so easy! I don't know why it never worked when I tried them. I'd start out with an omelet but end up with scrambled eggs.”

“Funny you mention that—making scrambled eggs is the last lesson of the day.”

The trick to great scrambled eggs is to start with a cold pan. Add a couple pats of butter and the eggs, and then turn the heat up to medium-low and stir regularly. It's a longer process but yields a softer result than the classic high-heat version in which the eggs take on an elastic flavor and a rubbery consistency. Lisa whipped up some cream and added a bit of cayenne to it, then spooned it over the scrambled eggs, a variation on a recipe by famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. “This is so good; I could eat a mountain of these eggs,” Andra said.

I had been worried that everything we taught was too simple. Yet that day I was reminded that in an unsure world, few things are invariably as good and true as a humble omelet, a simply dressed salad, and a glass of wine. Later, Gen told me that shortly after the class, she found herself without a plan for dinner one night. “But I realized that I had eggs, so I made an omelet. I chopped up some leftover asparagus and threw it in. My roommate was so impressed. She was like, ‘Wow, I can't believe that you just made an omelet, just like that.' So I taught her how to make one, too.”

1 part acid + 3 parts oil = fabulous stuff

In a bowl, combine the one part acid, a pinch of coarse salt, and a few grinds of fresh pepper, then whisk in the three parts oil, or add them all to ajar and shake vigorously. Taste. Congratulations, you've made vinaigrette. If it's too acidic, add oil. If it's too sour, add a little sweetener. If it's too oily, add more acid. Just add very small amounts until it tastes balanced and good to you. If you have time, let it rest for at least 15 minutes, then taste again.

Acid and oil don't like to stay mixed, so you can add an emulsifier, like an egg yolk or a dab of mayonnaise or mustard or honey, before adding the oil. Additional seasonings to consider include some minced shallots or garlic, herbs, or spices.

Want fancy designer gourmet vinaigrette? Raspberry balsamic, for example? Add a handful of berries, fresh or thawed from frozen, or a teaspoon of berry-based jam. Asian vinaigrette? Try some combination of lime juice, ginger, garlic, miso, sesame oil, peanut oil, soy sauce. French? Dijon mustard, shallots, tarragon, white wine vinegar. For more help developing vinaigrette flavors, check out the “Cheat Sheet” to Flavor Profiles in the Extra Recipes section at the back of the book.

 

2 or 3 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
A pinch of dried thyme or mixed herbs (optional)
A splash of milk or water (optional)
About 1 teaspoon oil (such as canola or olive), cooking spray, and/
or a pat of butter
Ingredients to fill your omelet, such as cheese, ham, vegetables,
etc.

 

Combine the eggs in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt, a couple of grinds of pepper, and the dried herbs, if using. Add a bit of milk if you want a fluffier omelet. Whip using a fork or a whisk. The longer you whip, the fluffier the omelet.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the oil, cooking spray, or butter. Add the egg mixture. Tilt the pan around so that the egg runs to the open areas of the pan to form a consistent layer. Let the egg cook through briefly and then carefully use a spatula to pull up one side and let the remaining uncooked egg go under the omelet to the pan's surface. Once the egg layer thickens, lower the heat and add the other ingredients, such as cheese, vegetables, and cooked meat or seafood. Heat the omelet just until the egg is cooked through, but not too browned on the bottom. Using the spatula, carefully tuck around the edges to ensure that the omelet will slide freely from the pan.