Omeletten à la Bolognese

from Das Butter Buch

Omeletten à la Bolognese is the easy recipe for the month of April from Das Butter Buch.

The recipe involves making Omeletten (the Swiss version is like a slightly eggier crêpe or a more floury omelette), using them to line a casserole dish, filling it with bolognese sauce and topping it with cheese. After a quick bake in the oven to melt the cheese, simply slice and serve.

Although the steps are straightforward, it is time consuming to make the Omelette plus filling, so I don’t know if I would really call it an ‘easy’ recipe (in comparison the easy recipe of the month for July simply involves spreading toast bread with Schabziger butter and topping it with bacon).

But despite the preparation time, the end result is meaty and cheesy comfort food at its best.

I increased the amount of batter to make six instead of four Omeletten, and also upped the amount of filling slightly. I didn’t have an open bottle of red wine, so I used a can of chopped tomatoes instead. I also addded cheese both on the inside and outside.

Omeletten à la Bolognese

Batter:

300 g flour

4 eggs

225 ml milk

salt and pepper

Filling:

1 tbsp butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

500 g ground beef

2 tbsp tomato puree

salt and pepper (plus marjoram and thyme) to taste

200 ml red wine (or 1 can chopped tomatoes)

150 g grated hard cheese like Appenzeller or Gruyere

Make the Omeletten:

Whisk together the flour, eggs, milk, salt and pepper until smooth. Using a crêpe pan or frying pan, make six Omeletten from the batter.

Line a 4 L (9 x 13 inch) casserole dish with the Omeletten and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F / gas mark 6.

Make the filling:

Melt the butter in the pan, then add the onion and fry briefly, then add the garlic and fry briefly. Add the meat, then the tomato puree and seasonings. Cook for a couple of minutes, then deglaze with the wine or tomatoes. Reduce the heat and let simmer for about 8-10 minutes.

Spread the filling over the Omeletten, top with half the cheese, fold over the edges and top with the rest of the cheese.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

• Any kind of meaty filling would probably work here—I can also imagine using something like leftover stew or chilli. You could also easily make it vegetarian by replacing the meat with a nice mushroom mix.