I have been attempting to make omellettes now since I was about 14 years old. Emphasis here is on the word attempting. Sometimes we assume something so simple should be really self explanatory to prepare, and we then totally ignore alternate methods as to how to do something the right way. Of course I understand that there really is no "right way" to do one thing, unless of course that one way is far superior to any other method. This is the case with the omelette. I would always beat the eggs, add a little milk, pour it in the pan and then try to get all of my ingredients on to the egg as it cooked, and then somehow fold it all up. Or, I would just mix all of the filling up in the egg mixture and pour it in the pan, let it cook a bit and then fold it all up or flip it over. I became very discouraged lately, because I just seemed to suck at making omelettes. Usually they all ended up as a scrambled egg concoction of what started as an already failing attempt at a beautiful omelette, and usually the egg was way overdone and brown. Along came Bobby Flay, no not to my house, but there he was on TV one night throwin' it down omelette style and I knew that I had to check this out. Long story short, I was missing the whole point, and now after several mornings of pure omelette joy, I am an omelette professional, flip and all. Here is my breakfast this morning - a fabulous southwestern omelette.
OK, first you need to get all of your ingredients out and ready. You will need:
Ingredients:
2 organic, free range eggs
About a palm full of frozen fajita veggie mix. (Peppers and onions)
About a palm full of free range white cheddar cheese (Trader Joe's)
About a palm full of frozen spinach - or 2 cups fresh to cook down with frozen mix
Sour cream
Mild Salsa
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
To start, get all of your veggies out and saute them in just a little oil and a pinch of salt on medium heat until they get soft. After they are soft, take them out of the pan and put them on a plate to the side. Clean the pan out well and dry it.
Alright, as you can see I have everything out and ready to go. Sour cream with a spoon, salsa with a spoon, cayenne is out, salt is out, veggies and cheese are on a plate to the left and a little oil in the pan on medium heat getting hot and ready for some eggie good stuff. So, take your two eggs and beat them up pretty bad until the mixture is completely yellow and homogeneous. You want to incorporate a lot of air in to the eggs while beating them, so don't be shy. This way your omelette will be nice and fluffy. When the eggs are beat and the pan is hot, pour the eggs in the pan and get the spatula ready. As soon as the eggs start to cook the slightest bit, start swirling the mixture around gently while scraping it from the sides back in to itself. You can make holes, it's OK, just swirl the wet stuff on top in to the holes. Do this until you have a sort of circle of scrambled eggs held together by the liquid. Take the spatula and run it around the edges and towards the middle until you are sure that the whole thing is loose and moves around in the pan when you grab the handle and shake it. It should look something like this....
Let this cook a bit, shaking it all the while until it slides around easily. You can flip the edge up with a spatula to make sure the other side isn't getting to done. It should only take about 10 more seconds after you get it loose. Now it's time to get your flip on. Of course if you are a conservative person and don't like the idea of your omelette traveling through the air in your kitchen for a brief period of time then you can go through the painstaking steps to try and flip your eggs over with a spatula - good luck with that. For everyone else, get your shaking rhythm going back and forth and when you feel comfortable throw the pan forward with some good force and then drop it down. With a little practice the egg should flip right over and fall back in the pan on the other side. I realize this will be easier for some than for others - I have played tennis my whole life and I feel like I may have a slight advantage when it comes to flipping omelettes considering I nailed it the first time. Anyway, enough gloating - give it time and you will have the flip down. So now that you are looking at the other side of the egg, start putting your filling on one side immediately. You don't want the egg to be too done so this part needs to be done as quickly as possible. Spoon on the salsa and sour cream over the peppers and cheese, sprinkle a pinch of salt and cayenne on the mixture, and use the spatula to gently fold one side over the filling and slide the whole thing out of the pan on to your plate. The really cool thing is now you can use a towel to shape the omelette. Just place the towel over the omelette and roll one side over the other and mold it like you want it. When you take the towel away, you are left with a perfect little omelette - outstanding!!
This breakfast has lots of veggies, a lot of good fats including a generous portion of omega 3s in the free range organic eggs and in the spinach, good protein - and it has no sugar, no refined carbohydrates, no easily digestible starches, no preservatives....I could go on, but in the end this breakfast will keep you feeling full for half the day and it is the best omelette ever. Enjoy!!!
By the way, omelette can be spelled like that or like this...omelet. Who knew?
No comments:
Post a Comment