Omelette Gratinée aux Champignons
(Mushroom Omelette Gratinéed with Cheese Sauce | The Forty-Sixth Show)
For a 3-egg omelette serving 2 people
Julia Child teaches a lesson on how to make a real French omelette. She demonstrates two omelette-making methods, prepares a recipe for a delicious fresh tomato sauce, and shows how to do ahead-of-time omelettes that are gratineed with tomato sauce and sour cream.
- 1 cup cream sauce
- ½ cup coarsely grated Swiss cheese
- ½ lb. sliced mushrooms, previously sautéed in butter
- A saucepan
- 3 eggs
- Salt and pepper
- 1½ Tb butter
- An omelette pan or non-sticking skillet 7 inches in diameter at the bottom
- A mixing bowl and a table fork
- A warm fireproof serving plate
Into the cream sauce stir all but 2 tablespoons of the grated cheese. Place half the mushrooms in a saucepan, stir in one third of the sauce, and heat just before making your omelette.
When ready to make the omelette, beat the eggs, a big pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper in a mixing bowl with a fork until yolks and whites are blended—20 to 30 seconds. Place a tablespoon of butter in the omelette pan or skillet, set over high heat, and as the butter melts tilt pan in all directions to coat bottom and sides. When butter foam has almost subsided, pour in the eggs.
Let eggs settle 3 or 4 seconds, then grasp pan handle with left hand and, moving pan rapidly back and forth over heat, stir eggs with the flat of your table fork. When eggs have coagulated into a very soft custard, in about 8 seconds, spoon the hot sauced mushrooms across the center of the omelette at right angles to the pan handle. Lift handle to tilt pan away from you, flip near end of omelette over onto the filling with the fork, and shake pan to slide omelette to far lip of pan.
Turn pan around and grasp handle with your right hand, thumb on top. Hold a warm fireproof serving plate in your left hand. Tilt plate and pan together at an angle, resting lip of pan on plate. Quickly turn omelette pan upside down over plate, and omelette will fall into place.
Spread the rest of the mushrooms on top of the omelette, cover with remaining sauce, sprinkle with the reserved 2 tablespoons of cheese, and dot with the remaining butter. Run omelette close under a red-hot broiler for about a minute, to brown cheese delicately.
Serve at once, accompanied by a green salad, French bread, and a dry white wine or a rosé.
Excerpted from THE FRENCH CHEF COOKBOOK by Julia Child. Copyright © 1968 by Julia Child. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher
