Portabella, Smoked Salmon and Gruyere Omelette Souffle

A light, fluffy omelette souffle with the great flavors of gruyere cheese, portabella mushrooms and smoked salmon!
     This is a great dinner omelette too!  Dinner omelette entrees are popular in some areas of this country as well as europe.  For breakfast, I served this omelette with scallion grits.  Flavored hominy grits can be like a nice polenta.
     Recipe:  Saute chopped a little bit of chopped shallot and a couple of thin sliced small portabella field mushrooms with unsalted butter in a saute pan over medium heat.
     Season the mushrooms with sea salt and white pepper.
     After the mushrooms have cooked, set them aside.
     Slice thin strips of smoked salmon and set them aside.
     Grate some gruyere or swiss cheese and set it aside.
     Separate two eggs.
     Set the yokes in cup and place the egg whites in a mixing bowl.
     Whisk the egg whites till a stiff peak meringue is formed.
     Gently fold the egg yokes into the meringue.
     Heat a few pats of unsalted butter in a non stick saute pan over medium heat.
     Pour the omelette souffle batter into the hot butter in the saute pan.
     Use a rubber spatula to even the omelette so it is a round shape.
     Place the mushrooms and smoked salmon on the uncooked side of the omelette.
     Sprinkle the grated gruyere cheese on the omelette.
     When the bottom half of the omelette is cooked firm, set the pan and omelette under a broiler to cook the top half of the omelette.
     When the cheese is melted and the omelette souffles, or "puffs up", remove the pan from the broiler.  (Be careful not to let the omelette get too dark under the broiler!)
     Fold the omelet in half with a rubber spatula and slide the omelette onto a plate.
     Garnish with parsley leaves and a curl of smoked salmon.
     Scallion Grits Recipe:  Boil some old fashioned hominy grits in water.
     Turn the heat to low and cook till the grits are cooked soft.
     Add sea salt, black pepper, a few butter pats and some chopped scallions.
     Let the grits sit on low heat till the scallions sweat soft.
     Spoon the scallion grits onto the plate.
     Cook the grits before starting the omelette because they take longer to cook!
     The rich flavor of this omelette souffle is so elegant!  Gruyere cheese is great with mushrooms and smoked salmon.  The puffy souffle texture of this omelette is a French classic preparation.  The fresh garden scallion flavor of the grits is so simple and yet it is such a nice complimentary flavor for the omelette souffle.  Delicious!  ....  Shawna