3 to 6tablespoonsfilling of your choice(such as sautéed mushrooms, spinach, or other vegetables, chopped tomatoes, roasted red pepper, cheese, sausage, bacon, smoked salmon, etc.)
Pinchof chopped fresh herbs(to garnish; optional)
Instructions
Crack the eggs into a small bowl and use a fork to beat them with the salt and pepper.
Heat an 8-inch omelet pan or shallow skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-high heat. Add the butter, let it melt, and swirl the pan so that it coats the bottom evenly. Pour the eggs into the pan and quickly shake and swirl the pan so that the eggs cover the entire bottom of the pan.
Let the eggs firm up on the bottom about 30 seconds, then use a rubber spatula to lift the edges of the omelet up so that any uncooked egg on the top runs underneath.
Sprinkle half of the eggs with fillings and let the omelet cook for another 30 seconds; the top should be moist but not quite runny (unless you like it runny, of course).
Flip the uncooked side of the eggs over the filling and slide it onto a plate. Garnish with fresh herbs, if desired.
Notes
A typical omelet is made with two or three large eggs. If you have a 7-inch pan, use two eggs; if you have a 9-inch pan, use three. If you have an 8-inch, you choose depending on how thick or thin you like your omelets. More than three eggs can be hard to manage in the pan and make for a pretty large omelet.
Heat the burner to medium/medium-high, which will allow eggs to cook through and turn slightly golden on the outside but prevent the bottom from getting too brown before the top/middle gets cooked.
If you know you will be making more than one omelet, you can whisk up all of the eggs at once and then ladle them out in ½ cup portions (which is equal to about 2 ½ large eggs) to make each omelet.
For a folded omelet, you’ll want about 3 to 6 tablespoons of filling, and the filling should be crumbled or chopped into very small pieces so that the eggs will easily fold over it. Cooked fillings should be warm since they won’t have time to heat up in the omelet itself.
You can use a whisk or a fork to beat the eggs, but you don’t want to overbeat them. Just stir until they are blended. Heat the pan first, then add the butter, let it melt, and swirl the pan so that it coats the bottom evenly.