OMELETTE AUX FINES HERBES

{These French recipies are from a French cookbook called La Cuisine:  Guide Practique de la Ménagère by Chef R. Blondeau.  This book was passed down to me from my great-grandmother, who was from Alsace, a North-eastern region on the Rhine river plain in France.  It was published in 1930 as a guide for cooks hired to cook for upper-middle class families.

As a fun project, I am translating the recipes from French, testing them out with home-grown or raised food, and re-writing them in a modern format, with notes about what worked for me in the kitchen} 


Every year for Easter we blow at least a couple dozen eggs to paint with watercolors.  A few weeks before, I sprout rye grass in a pot and we keep our eyes out for a good tree branch to become our Easter tree.  It is a very fun tradition, and much looked-forward to.

Omelets are the perfect way to use the blown eggs.  And this way, we don't have to do so many at once.  About six a day for a few days, and we've got two dozen eggs to paint and hang up on our Easter tree - that makes four eggs each to paint for my children.

I often make omelets for breakfast, and I thought I knew quite well how to cook them.  Following this recipe, however, the omelet turned out extra good.  I was also glad to find a recipe that called for chervil, as it is still thriving well in my garden.

This recipe is also in two parts - the way recipes are often presented in La Cuisine is to have a basic recipe that is then added to in many variations.  The first recipe is a basic omelet recipe:

OMELETTE AU NATUREL

Take 6 eggs (for four people), and break them into a bowl or dish, beat with a fork until the mixture is uniformly covered by small air bubbles (a spoonful of milk, added at the beginning of the process, makes the omelette lighter).

Pour into a pan where you have melted a pat of butter, until it has a lovely blond color.  Tip the pan so that the liquid spreads uniformly on the surface, and catches.  Once the eggs can't spread any more, move the pan over the fire, giving it a circular motion so that the eggs will not stick to the bottom.

You will know when the omelet is at the point when the top part becomes creamy.  Serve it then by folding one half of the omelette over the other, so that the part that spread on the bottom of the pan is on the outside.

OMELETTE AUX FINES HERBES

This is an omelette au naturel, to which was added to the eggs, when they were beaten up, one soup spoon of parsley and chervil, well chopped.

HERBED OMELET (A Modern Version)

-serves 4 people-

6 eggs

1 tablespoon of milk (optional)

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley and chervil

butter, for frying

1. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the milk and chopped herbs.  Whisk very hard with a fork for several minutes, until the mixture is uniformly covered by small air bubbles.

2.  Begin heating a very well-seasoned frying pan.  When the pan is hot, add a pat of butter and let the butter melt and spread over the bottom of the pan (but don't let it brown).

3.  Pour the egg mixture into the center of the frying pan, and tip the pan so that it spreads around to the outside edges.  As the omelet cooks over the fire, continue tipping the pan in a circular motion.  When the surface looks creamy, like this:

It is time to take a spatula and carefully fold one edge over the other so the omelet is folded in half.  Serve right away.

Notes:  I'm not sure how large R. Blondeau's frying pan was, but six eggs did not fit in my large cast iron frying pan and have room to be tipped around!  The second time round, I cooked the six eggs in two batches, and it turned out as described.  Definitely use a very well-seasoned pan, and you really do have to tip the pan constantly as it cooks or it will stick (as I found out!).  Using a generous pat of butter helps, too.  The omelets cooked this way all turned out perfectly done.  I realized I have been overcooking omelets before, which makes them less tasty and heavier on your stomach.