A mushroom omelette and a glass of wine and a little baguette..

In an omelette one wants "the taste of the fresh eggs and the fresh butter and, visually, a soft bright golden roll plump and spilling out a little at the edges. It should not be a busy, important urban dish but something gentle and pastoral, with the clean scent the dairy, the kitchen garden, the basket of early morning mushrooms or the sharp tang of freshly picked herbs, sorrel, chives, tarragon." --Elizabeth David, from 'An Omelette and a Glass of Wine'

I remember a wonderful omelette that truly captured these qualitites. I was in England visiting family friends, one of many teenagers who were eating our host out of house and home. It was about 10pm and my host cooked a very simple omelette with fresh herbs and lots of butter. I ate that omelette and realized I'd never had a good omelette before. Everything was so fresh, I can still see and smell the foaming butter and hear the sizzle of the black pan. I always use that memory to inspire me when I'm making an omelette. No wonder the teen from Switzerland came back for a second omelette and a third.

"But, you will say, everyone knows that the success of omelette making starts with the pan and not with the genius of the cook." I recently purchased a 12" Calphalon non-stick frying pan and this has definitely improved my omelette making. The eggs always stick to my stainless All-Clad pan and the foaming butter and yellow eggs look much better with a dark background. Nothing sticks to this Calphalon pan - its perfect for an omelette.

So we had a late supper last night and hubby picked an omelette from the Chez Catherine menu. Happily, I had some very fresh mushrooms from the farmers market - some common whites and check out this beautiful oyster mushroom

The lady vendor always hooks me with her "fresh picked this morning" mushroom line.

I gently fried the mushrooms in yellow Irish butter with half a finely-chopped shallot and a baby pinch of Herbs de Provence. I beat five eggs with a little half-and-half and poured this over the eggs. Swirled the pan a few times as the eggs cooked. When close to set, I sprinkled crumbled goat cheese over the mushrooms, folded both sides into the center, and flipped the folded omelette over completely. Cut the omelette in half (I think omelette sharing is quite romantic), and served with french baguette, a salad of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and ciliegine (little balls of fresh mozzarella), and a glass of coastal Chardonnay.