Lekker Brekker Monday: Cheese and bacon omelette

The key to this filling for an omelette is to make a béchamel sauce but with much less milk than usual. As a consequence, it becomes less of a sauce and more of a thick, bulky filling suitable for an omelette. The béchamel merely carries the other ingredients; and I used corn flour rather than wheat flour to avoid the floury taste the latter brings.

It needs to be a good, strong cheese which is why I used the Klein River Gruberg, an award-winning full fat hard cheese from Stanford near Hermanus.

The omelette must be made from 3 eggs, preferably large ones, to balance the substantial filling. And please, please only use butter. Oil is never as good for any omelette, or any egg dish for that matter. And suggest air frying it at your peril. Some things are sacrosanct, and omelettes need butter. Not that I have an opinion on that.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter for the bacon

4 Tbsp butter for each omelette

12 XL eggs

For the sauce filling:

12 rashers back bacon, diced

1 small white onion, chopped finely

2 Tbsp butter for the onion

1 cup full cream milk

3 Tbsp cream

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp cornflour

3 Tbsp butter for the roux

3 Tbsp mascarpone

250 g Klein River Gruberg full fat hard cheese, grated

Salt and black pepper to taste

2 Tbsp chopped parsley for garnish

Method

Fry the diced bacon in a little butter and set aside. Add more butter to the same pan and sauté the onion until softened. Set aside.

Bring the milk and cream to a simmer with the bay leaf but don’t let it boil. Turn off the heat. Remove the bay leaf.

Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a saucepan, then remove it from the heat. Whisk or beat the cornflour in briskly until smooth.

Add the heated dairy mixture to the roux a little at a time on a moderate heat while stirring constantly. When it thickens, stir or whisk in the mascarpone (I found whisking better) until it is fully incorporated, then stir in the grated cheese until it has melted and combined with the sauce.

Season with salt and white pepper and stir in the cooked bacon and onions. Your filling is ready.

Beat three of the eggs at a time vigorously in a bowl with a wire whisk.

For each omelette, melt 4 Tbsp butter on a moderate heat in a nonstick frying pan. Pour the beaten eggs in (I whisk it until the last second for added fluffiness) all at once, and move the pan around for the egg to spread to all sides. Turn the heat down. Let it sit on a low heat for about 15 seconds, then use a spatula to pull the egg in from the sides towards the middle, while turning the pan this way and that for the runny egg to move to the edges and bottom.

Spoon in the filling and, when it seems sufficiently set to be folded, do so with a spatula from one side to the opposite side of the pan, carefully but quite quickly. A slow motion risks breaking the omelette. Season the top with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.