“Omelette making is not an art or craft – it is a knack. If you have never made an omelette before do not be disappointed if the first time it is a little unsuccessful, for like sex and smoking, it is worth persevering with. Try again.”

Len Deighton, Len Deighton’s Action Cookbook

I got the idea for putting honey into this omelette from Jose Pizarro’s book, Spanish Recipes from San Sebastian and Beyond in which he describes a sort of Spanish omelette made with aubergines and blue cheese. It gives it an intriguing and interesting taste – he specifies a massive 2-4 tablespoons to eight eggs, I think that’s way too much.

I have also replaced the strong blue cheese with a softer mix of gorgonzola and mascarpone – in Italy a ready-made mix of the two is widely available.

And I’ve replaced the aubergine with courgettes which I think gives a fresher taste to the whole thing.

The result is, as the Saucy Dressings’ chief taster commented, ‘really rather good’.

Goes particularly well with ham and mustard, or serve as a slightly disintegrating sort of tapas with a cold, dry sherry.

Follow this link for a full briefing on sherry.

Recipe for an omelette with courgettes, two cheeses and a little bit of honey

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 courgette (about 200g/7 oz), cut into coins, and then into quarters
• 250g/9 oz boiled potatoes (about four), also cut into small pieces so they do not need to be cut by the eater
• Olive oil for frying
• 50g/2 oz gorgonzola
• 50g/2 oz mascarpone
• 6 eggs
• 1 tbsp capers
• 2 tsp honey (1 tbsp if you have chestnut or bitter honey)
• Smoked salt and Indonesian long pepper
• 25g/1 oz flat-leaved parsley

Method

1. In a medium-sized round frying pan begin to fry the courgettes in some olive oil, salt them and stir for a minute or two
2. Add the potatoes and fry until the potato takes on a golden colour
3. Meanwhile beat the eggs and add plenty of pepper, and the honey.
4. Break off teaspoons of the cheese and mix in softly (it’s OK to leave lumps) to the egg mixture.
5. Add the capers to the potatoes and courgettes and mix in well
6. Add the egg mix to the frying pan – tilt the pan to spread it evenly
7. Go around the perimeter with a spatula, and using the spatula go through to the bottom of the pan three or four times to allow the liquid egg mixture to reach the bottom of the pan – then stop and just let the omelette begin to solidify – you’re trying to achieve a sort of half-way house between a traditional French omelette and a cake-like Spanish omelette. When it is still a little liquid on the surface, take the pan to the table and serve up.