Omelet

Eastside Road, November 30, 2010—

I ALWAYS USED TO cook omelets in butter, but seeing The Big Night a few years ago changed all that. The closing scene of that movie is a protracted lesson in omelet-making, Italian style; and the lubricant in question is olive oil, not butter.

Tonight, though, I cut a tiny bit of butter into the heated olive oil, and I think I'll stay with this technique. An omelet as I like it, nature as the French say, just egg, seems more French than Italian, and the slightly nutty flavor of the browned butter complements the egg better, I think, than oil alone.

Nor do I salt the eggs, so the butter adds just a bit of salt too. I break the eggs, two for L., three for me, into a bowl; rinse my hands; let a few drops of water run off my hands into the eggs; whisk them up with a dinner fork; swirl them in the hot oil/butter over a naked flame; throw a little grated Parmesan into the center; turn it into the classic oval; flip it to brown the other side; then turn it out onto the plate, sprinkling a bit more Parmesan on top. That's all.

With it, tonight, a baked potato and a serving of romanesco quickly cooked in oil and water with some crushed garlic and salt. Green salad, of course.

Cheap Pinot grigio