I went on a student trip, one of those "If it's Tuesday, we're probably at Bordeaux" things. There was a little bit of a flair to it, Mesdames Grade and Sprout invited only second year students who had studied both French and Art for two years. Maybe the German students were invited also? Can't remember...
I do remember the trip was incredibly structured.
We had meetings with family leading up to the trip. We each were assigned a research topic (I had Chateau Royal de Blois ... and something gothic, maybe the Notre-Dame de Reims? Then we were expected to present our research to the assembled families and also act as tour guide for our fellow students when we were at our specific tourist destinations.
We were expected to speak French all day, but could speak English at night in the pension.
We expected to dress like modest French kids, no jeans or shorts. Girls wore skirts or dresses, boys wore slacks. We dressed for dinner.
We stayed in family pensions, generally owned by someone connected to Madame Grade's family in some way, or at least that's what my tiny adolescent brain understood. The hotels were small and somewhat spartan. Breakfasts were usually communal and fabulous. Lovely crispy bread and fresh butter or homemade jam. Cafe au lait or chocolat.
I remember Blois, Chambord, Versailles, a Roman tower and gelato in Italy, miles of vineyards, cemeteries, the tunnel at Mont Blanc, Swiss cows and those astonishing mountains. Paris, in my memory, is a blur of museums, churches, markets, and coffee on the Boulevard Saint-Germain on La Rive Gauche where my favorite artists and writers hung out and smoked gauloises a long time ago.
We were in Paris for the better part of a week. We ate breakfast together and then we set loose in pairs or groups (never alone!) to wander and soak it all in. I think a couple days we ate together, group picnics in the park. Maybe at the Jardin des Tuileries?
As I write this, I am taken aback at how times have changed. How would this trip be structured today. We were 12 and 13 year olds. Maybe our dress requirements let us fly under the radar?
We had an allowance of 21 francs a day*. My friends and I scrimped for a couple days, smuggling out bread and butter from breakfast to eat for lunch, in order to raise enough stake to go to Maxim's. We each had enough to buy a cup of coffee and a small bowl of potage (which came with a slice of bread). A small price, we thought, for a pass to sit in the place where so much history had happened.
So omelettes? Right, omelettes...
At one of the open markets, there was an old lady making omelettes and crepes to order. I watched her for at least an hour, just amazed (and amazed in that open-mouthed kind of way) at how fast she was turning them out. She talked to me in between customers, patiently answering my questions... I remember her saying that the pan and the fire do the work for you, so you should have a good pan and a hot fire. So there you go...
My second lesson in omelettes came years and years later, when I watched my brother make omelettes at one of our Sunday get-togethers. He said he had the opportunity to work with a chef, who took the time to walk him through all the steps and then made him do it over and over.
So you want to do good omelettes? Get a good pan. Seriously. Either a really well seasoned cast iron shallow sided pan... or one of these newfangled no stick miracle pans. Now practice, mix up some eggs. Get your pan hot (add oil or butter if needed) pour the beaten eggs into the pan, swirl around. Pay attention. Practice flipping the eggs. Practice practice practice.
Ingredients for filling for two two-egg omelettes
Handful of morels and/or any other mushroom, chopped
4 inches of leeks, sliced fine
2 slices of ham, small cubes
A couple stalks of asparagus, chopped into bite-sized lengths
A medallion of chevre (about 1 ounce)
Dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche (optional)
A pat or two of butter
Salt, pepper, and thyme
1/4 - 1/2 cup of white wine
Sauté mushrooms, ham, and leek in butter. Add spices to taste. When leeks are translucent and asparagus stalks are soft, add chevre and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir well to soften cheese and mix well with sauteed vegetables. Remove mushroom mix and set pan aside.
Sauce
Now, look at the bottom of your pan, see all those bits and stuck on stuff? That's "sucs" aka "the Good Stuff".
Sucs form from the deposit of browned sugars, carbohydrates, and/or proteins that form on the bottom of the pan, along with any rendered fat. To turn the sucs into a basic gravy, you just need a solvent. For this recipe, you'll use white wine. When your pan is hot, pour a little white wine into your pan, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula. This is deglazing. Your goal is to get all those little pieces and caramelized goodness up and mixed in with the wine to make a delicious, thin, sauce which is called fond.
Omelettes
Four eggs, well beaten
Salt, pepper
In your favorite pan, pour half the egg mixture and cook.
Putting it together...
After the omelette flip, wait a few seconds and then plate the omelette. Scoop out half the sauteed mushroom and cheese mixture onto the omelette. Fold over and add a dollop of sour cream and pour half the fond over the egg and sour cream. We like this with sour dough bread, but really any bread would do ... or none at all, if you roll that way.
* historical exchange rate info tells me this is about 3.50 dollars. Wow.
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