Yes, you can: Perfect spinach omelette souffle

I could almost ‘hear’ the eye-rolling, and “Oh, yeah … sure. I could do that. Not even on my best day!” when I posted the Laura Calder, French Cooking at Home video about the spinach omelette soufflé.

So, I thought, I should at least do it and prove that it is ‘do-able’ for the average Jane in the kitchen, on a hurried evening. I even made two… one each for Mr. Maven and I.

Mine isn’t quite as lofty as Laura Calders, since I didn’t use as many eggs, and didn’t bother to whip the egg whites to softly stiff peak stage. But, after all, I was doing two omelettes simultaneously. She was only doing one.

I’ve topped them with some fish roe and dijon mustard. The eggs are cloud-like - light, fluffy and perfectly ‘set’. The fillings are just enough. This is perfect diet food. Just have some whole grain toast and fruit with it. Follow up with a piece of dark chocolate. That’s what I did tonight. Oh, I had a glass of 2009 Fat Bastard Chardonnay with it.

Here’s the secret:

Two pans. Two nice 8 inch omelette pans. I’ve always kept two non-stick beauties for just such nights as this.

Having watched the video of Laura making magic, here’s how you handle the technique in real world terms -

You sauté the spinach in one pan, in a bit of grapeseed oil, and the minced shallots in the other. Remove both to other bowls. Grate the cheese and set aside for fast addition at the end. Now warm your serving plates. Get the toast ready. Get the lids for each omelette pan ready. Whisk the egg yolks with some salt and pepper.

Start the pans heating over medium heat, with some butter in them.

Now, beat the hell out of the egg whites with a large-ish whisk. Yes, it’s excellent for those flabby tricep areas, ladies! Fortunately, I can whisk right or left handed. Thanks, Dad for the ambidextrous part. Take them as fluffy as your arms will do it. Otherwise use the electric beaters. Whisk to soft peaks that are as high as your arm muscles will go.

Then do just as Calder does. Combine a bit of the whisked egg whites into the yolks, then - using a rubber scraper/spatula - fold the lightened up egg yolk mixture back into the rest of the whites. Don’t let either the whites or the final mixture sit around. You need to be ready to cook, otherwise the air will drop out of the mixture.

Divide the egg mixture into each hot buttered, non-stick pan, and put the lids on. You want to let them cook and firm up for about 4 to 5 minutes. Take a peek occasionally and running the rubber spatula lightly around the edge to see how the browning is progressing.

When the omelette seems fairly ‘dry’ on top, and the browning looks good, sprinkle the spinach and shallots on, and then the cheese. Now the interesting part is sliding it out onto the plate, and that isn’t hard … really.

All you have to do is really slide the spatula around the edge to ensure that the omelette is loose from the pan. Then let it slide out into the center of the plate and when it’s half way onto the plate, use the pan to fold the top over on itself. It will continue to cook slightly. You could even put it into a warm oven at this point - but not for very long, just a few minutes.

Voila!

Bon Appetit! This whole thing took less than <20 minutes, start to finish. If you’re a newbie - figure 30 minutes.

-maven

A perfect spinach omelete souffle

This is from one of my fav cable tee-vee cooking shows - I record the shows and watch while on the treadmill - French Food at Home with Laura Calder. We have eggs for dinner quite a lot, they’re easy, fast and quite economical. Since we really eat so little meat or rich dairy products, I don’t think having eggs  as often as we do is any big health issue.

When we have eggs like this, I prefer to serve it with little cornichons pickles, and of course, some smooth Dijon mustard. I hate tomato ketchup on eggs.