The Lazy Way to the Perfect Mushroom Omelet

Mushroom lovers know this: they’d do almost anything for good mushrooms, and do almost anything with them. If you’re not yet a conossieur of mushrooms, start off with something easy: an omelet. It’s good for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The perfect omelet isn’t all that hard, either, if you prep and have the right kitchen gear.

What You Need
To prepare and make the omelet, you need the following items:

1. Mixing bowl of some sort
2. Whisk or fork.
3. Stove, obviously.
4. Frying pan – preferably a deep cast iron pan.
5. Additional small frying pan, if available.
6. Spatula.
7. Oven – optional.
8. Extra bowl for sauteed “filling” mixture.

Ingredients
The following quantities are per person.

1. 2-3 eggs.
2. 1-2 button mushrooms, sliced.
3. Onions – optional – 1 tbsp, diced.
4. Chopped meat (salami, etc.) – optional. Don’t use poultry or leftover roasts. Cold cuts are best. Do not use raw meats.
5. Salt, pepper, and any other spices and herbs you enjoy. E.g., paprika, basil, oregano, thyme.
6. Cooking oil.

Instructions
Instructions are for one person, as too many eggs in a pan just don’t produce a good omelet. Take your time and repeat the process for each person.

1. Beat the eggs and lightly season with salt, pepper, herbs, and spices.
2. Slice the mushrooms, dice the onion and any meat. If you intend to make more than one omelet, than dice up enough for everyone – say about 1/4 cup per person. If you’re just using mushrooms, reduce that quantity.
3. Heat one tbsp of cooking oil in the small frying pan, on medium high.
4. Saute the mushrooms and any of the other filling ingredients you want.
5. After onions are slightly transparent or mushrooms slices have sweated a bit, remove the mixture to a bowl – about 1-2 minutes. You don’t want to overcook these.
6. Carefully set aside the small frying pan and replace it with the big pan.
7. Add one tbsp of cooking oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add a bit more oil if necessary.
8. Add the mixture to the beaten eggs, and mix in.
9. Reduce stove heat to Medium or slightly above (6-7). Eggs stink when burnt, so don’t go too high.
10. Dribble a drop of beaten egg into the frying pan, and if it starts to set, gently pour in the eggs and mixture. Rotate the pan so that the mix evenly coats the pan.
11. Let set for about 2 minutes, then carefully flip the omelet over with your spatula and a bit of a flip of the pan – it takes a bit of practice.
12. Immediately turn off the stove and let set for 1 minute, then remove from heat and serve.

Notes
To serve, slide the omelet onto a large plate while simultaneously folding it in half, up and over, with the spatula.

If you prefer an airier omelet, bake it in a preheated oven (250 F) for 5 minutes without doing the flipping in step #11 above. Make sure to only use a cast iron pan with no plastic handles. Wooden handles are not always safe either. Remember to use oven mitts to remove the pan – very easy to forget.

Depending on which meal this is for you can serve with some fruit or salad.