Subtly Sweet, Slightly Spanish Courgette Omelette

“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
- 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
- Add the potatoes and fry until the potato takes on a golden colour
- Meanwhile beat the eggs and add plenty of pepper, and the honey.
- Break off teaspoons of the cheese and mix in softly (it’s OK to leave lumps) to the egg mixture.
- Add the capers to the potatoes and courgettes and mix in well
- Add the egg mix to the frying pan – tilt the pan to spread it evenly
- 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.
