Ingredients

• Butter or margarine
• Breadcrumbs for dusting dish
• 6 eggs
• 12-oz (1-1/2 cups) cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼-cup chopped red onion
• ¼-cup fresh dill
• 8-oz. smoked salmon, coarsely chopped*

*a 7.5-oz. can of red salmon may be substituted. Thoroughly drain the salmon and clean bones and skin. Break into fine pieces with a fork.To make the soufflé

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Butter a 1-quart soufflé dish or four 8-ounce ramekins and dust with breadcrumbs.
• Place all ingredients except salmon into a blender. Cover and blend at medium speed for about 30 seconds. Blend at high speed for another 10 or 15 seconds.
• Stir the egg mixture into a bowl with the salmon. Pour the mixture into the prepared 1-quart soufflé dish or spoon about a half a cup of the mixture into each prepared ramekin (include an equal amount of salmon pieces in each).
• Place dish or ramekins on a cookie sheet.
• Bake until puffy and delicately browned, about 45 to 50 minutes. Don’t peek for 30 minutes.
• Serve immediately. TAKE A BOW!

     As difficult as getting tickets to many of New York’s Broadway shows is finding a reasonably priced restaurant in the theater district to eat at before or after the show. I found one. The doorman in my apartment building who confesses to spending most of his paycheck eating out with his wife recommended a restaurant called Mont Blanc. It bills itself as Swiss, but the menu touches on the same countries that touch Switzerland itself: Germany, Austria, France, Liechtenstein and Italy.

     In addition to fondues, of course (including a seafood fondue I never heard of and Swiss Raclette), there’s interesting Italian pasta dishes, wursts, veal dumplings, amazing veal cordon bleu tried by one of my dinner-mates, and perfectly done schnitzels. I, of course, had the schnitzel ala Holstein, breaded, pounded veal cutlets, perfectly pan fried, then topped with a perfectly fried egg. 

     The restaurant is on 48^th Street off of Eighth Ave. 

America’s favorite omelet is a Denver-style omelet. Here are a few tips so you can make your favorite omelet at home.

My visit to the UK this year included a stop in a Russian/Polish restaurant a few blocks from my hotel in Kensington. Friends of mine and I ended up at the restaurant, Wodka, because things Polish are top of mind in London and throughout Europe since the country became a member of the EU. Wodka, we were told, was London’s best. Besides, I’m a first generation American born to Russian immigrants so Russian/Polish food is my own brand of soul food. It’s what I grew up with.

I went for dinner with Cath MacDonald, the nutritionist for my hosts, the British Egg Information Service, and my friend Tom, who showed up from New York. The restaurant was white tablecloth, small, crowded with a hip and percolating clientele, and noisy. Just the way I like it.

There was a menu of 18 different flavor-infused vodkas! Eighteen! We decided to see how many we could sample. We started conservatively with horseradish vodka. Wonderful. Then mint vodka. Also tasty. Then, what they called “oak barrel” vodka. Terrible. Tasted like scotch whisky-flavored vodka, a bad mix. We moved on to apple, then strawberry (too sweet), and black peppercorn (awesome). I wish the food had been as interesting as the array of vodkas.

The only other place I remember sampling vodkas like that was at Aquavit Restaurant in New York where they pair eight different herring samples with accompanying vodkas.

Wonderful.

Looking for a quirky and different after-school snack for the kids? Check out my recipe for egg salad on an ice cream cone. I am not sure how I came up with it…but I like it!

I love making and eating frittatas any time of the day. Maybe I just like saying “frit-ta-ta”… Learn how to make one in this video from AmericasWorstCook.com.

…so learning that the world’s largest omelet – 5,000 eggs large in a 12-foot skillet – was happening again in Abbeville, Louisiana got my attention.  It happened yesterday, November 4^th, the 23^rd year of the “Giant Omelette Celebration”. The word “omelette” is spelled in the French manner because since its start in 1984, Abbeville has been part of a community of French cities around the world that participate in the celebration. It got its start, though, way back to Napoleon when he was supposed to have stopped to rest in the town of Bessieres where he feasted on an omelette made by a local cook. He proclaimed it such a culinary delight that he had the citizens of the town round-up all the eggs they could and cook a huge omelette for his troops.

According to the local Abbeville newspaper, the event this year drew 12,000 people who participated in eating the 5,000 egg omelet that was mixed with bell peppers, onions and, in true Louisiana tradition, crawfish. It was prepared by representatives from seven countries that comprise the “confrerie cities” that make up the event’s sisterhood. 

Since I heard of the event only this year, I’ve put it on my 2008 calendar to be sure to be there next year to witness it live. If it’s the “biggest” “grandest” “gigaticist” or “fastest” of its kind, I’m there! And, I agree with Napoleon. An “omelette” is definitely a culinary delight.

…invited me – as they do every year – to promote their “Lion Quality Eggs” in the UK, and I recently returned from a week there. It was British Egg Week.

Naturally the Public Relations agency lined me up with the country’s most popular evening program called “One” (for BBC-1, the channel it’s on) where I cooked omelets with the show’s host. Also, I did a satellite radio tour to 12 stations around the UK.

But best of all, this year I worked with a remarkable 94 year old woman, Margarite Patton, who is the Julia Child of the UK in that she was the very first ever celebrity chef there. She began during World War II when food started being rationed. She thought it important that the population know how to eat not only well, but nutritionally properly, while so many food items were either scarce or not available at all. Her fame – and good information – spread quickly throughout the country so when the war ended everyone knew who Margarite Patton was. She wrote something like 14 cookbooks and, even at 94, is still promoting good eating. And that, of course, includes eggs.

So Margarite and I went on a tour of elementary schools in 3 cities in the London area. At each school Maragrite talked to about 200 surprisingly well behaved children aged maybe 6 or 7 to 10 years old. She reminded them of how important fresh, good food is versus convenience and junk foods and told them the benefits of eating eggs. My job was to demonstrate how easy it is to make an omelet, then two students came up and made omelets themselves to show their classmates just how easy it is. It was a very rewarding gig. I loved it.

Looking for ways to change up breakfast? I love, love this recipe for Tortilla Roll-ups, one of my favorite takes on an omelet.