#57 Asparagus Omelette

Another asparagus recipe; there’s two more, but I don’t think I’ll get them done before I go to France at the end of next week. (I’m going on a field trip to St. Auban, just north of Nice.) I bought the ingredients from the excellent fruit and veg stall that’s outside All Saint’s Park on Oxford Road, on the campus of Manchester Metropolitan University. I think a lot of people walk straight past it, thinking it’s some cheapo stall, but it’s certainly not. It sells seasonal produce – including English asparagus – at a very good price. I knew Joff was coming round and I wanted to make something quick and easy, so I thought an asparagus omelette would certainly fit the bill (and it did).


For 3. Start by trimming and cooking a bunch of asparagus as I did for the Asparagus and eggs. Drain them and cut them into thirds. Save some of the best tips for garnish. Keep the rest warm in the oven sprinkled with Gruyere cheese – a tablespoon per person. Make the omelettes using 6 eggs exactly how I did previously when I cooked mushroom omelettes. Add a third of the asparagus and to the centre and serve with a nice salad.

Make a vinaigrette from olive oil and cider vinegar in a ratio of 3:1, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, sugar and a small clove of finely chopped garlic.

#57 Asparagus Omelette 6.5/10. A very nice omelette, but oddly I preferred the asparagus and eggs I made earlier in the month. Not sure why, because the ingredients are essentially the same.

#41 Mushroom Omelette

Well, well, well, it has been a while since I’ve updated the old blog. I’ve been busy and skint in equal measure so far this month. It’s gruel for me for now on, I think. Inamongst the business, I have managed to get a couple of dishes done at the weekend. Greg hs been quite ill with tonsillitis, so I was only allowed to make soft food, so I did (#41) Mushroom Omelette. I don’t know why I hadn’t done it before. It’s interesting that the omelette is considered English, as it is is obviously French, but we always see them in the English section of any Indian restaurants menu. The recipe that Jane Grigson gives here is very much an English omelette. Whenever I make one, it is always more French, i.e. pull the cook egg into the middle and don’t let it colour. I use eggs, a dot of milk, salt and pepper, plus butter to fry it in of course.

This recipe is enough for 6, so decrease – or increase – the amounts as you see fit. Cook a chopped medium onion in 2 ounces of butter until it softens, then add 12 ounces of good mushrooms that have been sliced – e.g. the dark-gilled Portobello – the juices will come out after a few minutes, so turn uo the heat so that just a small amount of the cooking juices are left. Make the omelette itself beat together 9 eggs very well, season and add a tablespoon of chopped herbs – parsley and chives are recommended by Jane – and pour a third of the mixture into an 8 inch omelette pan that had been heated with a knob of butter. Cook until the underside had set and turned slightly golden. Spoon a third of the mushrooms down the centre of the omelette and fold it over. Keep the omelettes warm as you cook them, or serve individually. Don’t worry if the eggs are a little runny – they will continue to cook, and should be a little moist..

#41 Mushroom Omelette – 7/10. The dish was very nice indeed – not as light as a French-style omelette, but the centre was perfectly cooked – still creamy as it should be. The dense mushroom mixture complemented it perfectly. I will do my omelettes in the English style from now on and see if I can improve on it.