We finally roasted the ham we had curing in brine for several weeks.  The best part about ham, I think, is leftover ham.  There’s so much you can do with it.  Ham sandwiches, added to quiche, diced up with potatoes.  Still, there’s nothing that goes together so well as ham and eggs.  With all the fresh eggs so abundant this spring, this recipe came together.  It would be a lovely breakfast, or even a lunch.  (For a vegetarian omelette, try this recipe here).

You will likely notice that my re-writing of the recipe has half the number of eggs – this is because my standard large frying pan is just not large enough to properly cook an omelet with six eggs.  Three seems to give the best results, so I halve the recipe, or cook it in two batches.

OMELETTE AU JAMBON

Brown in a frying pan, without hardening, 125 grams of ham, salted or smoked, and lean, cut into small pieces the thickness of a small finger and 3 centimetres long.

When the ham has browned a bit, pour into the pan six eggs beaten and seasoned with pepper, but very lightly salted.

Omelet With Ham

1/4 cup diced ham

3 eggs

salt and pepper

1.  Begin heating the frying pan while you dice the ham.  Add the ham and brown for a minute or two, but not so long that it gets fried into small, hard bacon bits.
2. Meanwhile, while the ham is frying, beat up the three eggs very well with a fork, until the yolks and whites are well blended and there are little bubbles all over the surface.
3. Grind in several grinds of pepper.  Our ham is quite salty, and I didn’t add any extra salt.
4. Quickly redistribute the ham evenly in the pan before pouring the beaten eggs into the ham chunks.
5. Tip the pan so that it spreads around to the outside edges.  As the omelet cooks over the fire, continue tipping the pan in a circular motion.
6. When the surface looks creamy it is time to take a spatula and carefully fold one edge over the other so the omelet is folded in half.  Serve right away.

{My grandmother, Claudia Meraud, was born in Nice, France.   She immigrated to the US after meeting my grandfather while he was stationed there as a US soldier in WW II.  We spent several summers together, just the two of us, living with her sister in Nice.  She passed along to me an old French cookbook titled  title is La Cuisine:  Guide Practique De La Ménagère by R. Blondeau, Chef de Cuisine.  It originally belonged to my great-grandmother, Lucie Thomas, who was a native of St. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace.

This cookbook was published in the 1930’s, and was written as a practical guide for a household cook before the days of the fridge and the food processor.  The recipes are delicious, practical, and (of course) packed with good traditional nutrition.

I am creating translated versions of these antique recipes, re-written for the modern cook, and tested with home-grown and seasonal food.}