History of the Easter Omelette

In Bessieres,Haute-Garonne, France they have an annual Easter omelette fest, where they make a giant omelette in a giant pan in the middle of the town.

Legend has it that the omelette became famous when Napoleon and his armies were traveling through the south of France. They rested one night near the town of Bessieres. A local innkeeper prepared an omelette for Napoleon, who loved this culinary delight.

Napoleon ordered all the towns people to gather all the eggs in the village and prepare a huge omelette for his troops the next day. This founded Bessieres tradition of the Easter Omelette.

An Omelette is a dish of beaten eggs cooked in a frying pan until firm, often with a filling added while cooking, and usually served folded over. I like to get really creative with my fillings, as you will see below.

Recently I really have been into making omelettes for my husband. I have always enjoyed making them with my microwave omelette maker. However, at the present moment I don’t have a microwave, so that led me on a quest for a simple technique of making an omelette in a frying pan.

I have discovered there is an art to this. My first stop was at Recipe Wars on You Tube, then I proceeded to watch a few Julia Childs videos. This will get you started on how to make a basic omelette.

Maria’s Greek Omelette:

Ingredients: onions, mushrooms, spinach, eggs, feta cheese, oregano

I am Greek and because I am Greek I like onions and lots of them!

Slice the onions and separate the rings into a frying pan with a bit of olive oil in the bottom. I start the onions first because they really need to be soft and almost carmelized.

This process takes about 30 minutes. Half way through I will add some sliced mushrooms and continue to sautee the mixture. When the onions and the mushrooms are soft, add fresh spinach; continue to sautee until the spinach is tender. Keep warm.

This is where you might want to check out those videos on technique. I have created my own and tend to make a huge mess….I am still trying to perfect my technique. I also tend to over cook my eggs because I hate wet eggs.

While your filling is cooking get your eggs ready: 2-3 eggs slightly beaten with salt and pepper. Use a small frying pan and heat the pan on medium high.

Melt approx. 1 Tbsp of butter in the pan; then when the pan is nice and hot pour in the egg mixture. The eggs should sizzle when you put them in. Cook to desired consistency.

Drain the mixture of the liquid so it won’t make the eggs soggy.

Fill the omelette with the filling and top with feta cheese. Then fold the other half over and top with more feta cheese and sprinkle with  some oregano.

Another option is to serve the omelette open faced. You can substitute the feta with mozzarella or grated parmesan cheese.

Mexican or Spanish Omelette:

Ingredients: Eggs, onions, grated cheddar cheese, avocado, salsa

First slice the onions and separate the rings into a frying pan with a bit of olive oil in the bottom. You want to sautee these on a medium – med/high heat for about 30 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, get your egg mixture ready; 2-3 eggs slightly beaten add salt, pepper and if you want fluffier eggs you can add 1 tsp of water, cream or milk. Using your small frying pan, heat it up really hot, melting about 1 Tbsp of butter in the bottom. Cook eggs to desired consistency.

Top the omelette with the onions, cheddar cheese and avocados. If you want to melt the cheddar cheese place omelette in the oven (without the avocados) and heat until melted.

Then garnish with salsa.  I have used regular salsa, but I’ve also tried a mango salsa that gave the omelette a totally different flavor. Sour cream might be nice as well!

One thing I found out about omelette’s, you can’t really mess them up.

My husband always says: “So what if they don’t look perfect, they still taste the same”! Get creative and make any filling that you think would be tasty and go for it!

Bon Appetite!