A versatile recipe that can be made really quickly, but what's the best way to cook an omelette?
Crack, whisk, fry... besides making toast, cooking an omelette is probably the easiest thing to do in the kitchen.
Yet there are dozens of ways you could cook one.
First, you need to choose your ingredients and the method of cooking, and both of these steps raise various questions.
How many eggs per person in an omelette?
When making an omelette, how many eggs should you allow per person? Do you allow two or three per person, or chuck in as many as it takes to cover the pan?
How much (and which) cheese do you add to the mix? Cheddar is the normal choice, but you could use other hard cheeses, and even softer cheeses like Feta or goat’s cheese can work, while arguably adding much more noticeable flavour.
What ingredients?
When it comes to ingredients, omelettes give you an incredible amount of choice. For instance, if you have time to caramelise onions, cook them with spinach and feta in this recipe from Mark Sargeant. If you need something quick but luxurious, make a simple egg omelette and fold it over Boursin cheese before topping with smoked salmon.
Or you could even try it for dessert with this recipe for a marmalade and Cointreau soufflé omelette!
While vegetarian options offer speed and an amount of convenience, you can make omelette with everything from cooked ham and chopped smoked sausages to fresh crab and pretty much anything in between. What’s your favourite meat to fill an omelette? What herbs do you use? And what seasoning?
How to cook an omelette
Is it best to wait until an omelette’s base seals then flip or fold it, or do you prefer to half-cook it in an oven-proof pan before finishing it off in a preheated oven?
We realise we’re treading the omelette-frittata border here, but with a recipe like this it’s all about simplicity. Which is easier?
Wrap it up
Instead of putting your fillings into the omelette mix, try cooking them separately and making a simple flat omelette which you can then wrap around your chosen ingredients.
For example, Paul Merrett makes this Vietnamese-style prawn omelette wrap with prawns, soya beans, beansprouts and pickled ginger, while Sunil Vijayakar has devised a recipe for Tex-Mex omelette wraps with bell peppers, red chilli, shallots and garlic, to be served with lime wedges.
How do you cook your omelettes? Do you have any special methods or secret ingredients? Let us know in the Comments below.
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