Thursday, September 2, 2010

SPECIAL REQUEST: Omlettes and variations

About 11 years ago, back in my mid 20's I went on the Atkins Diet. I had just had a baby, moved to a new city, had a new job and tons of stress. I figured The Atkins was a great way to lose weight, AND I could eat all of my favorite foods. Steak...deviled eggs...meat of any kind...sausage and eggs for breakfast.
After 2 weeks I had eaten so many eggs, that to this day I cannot eat them with any regularity. I Literally turn green at the thought of them. EXCEPT Omelette's.  Give me a delicious, savory Omelet any day of the week.
The really great thing about omelette's, you can eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. There is really no bad time for an omelet.
I had a special request for an Omelet recipe post by a Facebook reader, Shaun.

The trick to a good omelet is to not add too much liquid to your egg base.  That will cross the line from Omelet to scrambled egg really quickly. I have had WAY too many scrambled eggs end up on my plate that started out as an omelet. I got overzealous with the liquid portion of my recipe...or I started pushing the edges too soon. But the more I make them, the better I have gotten at them. It is a matter of practice and forcing yourself to not mess too much with them.

The best basic omelet recipe I have found is an easy ratio recipe.
For every large egg use 1 TBSP milk. (the fattier milk the better. use at least 2%.  You can even use heavy cream for a truly decadent omelet experience).
Here are a few basic omelet pointers for perfect omelette's every time:
  • make sure you have a smaller non-stick saute pan to cook your omelet in, and a good HEAT RESISTANT spatula.
  • Don't add your toppings too early. Otherwise you will have a runny eggy mess inside
  • dont go super overboard on the toppings. The more toppings you have the harder it is to "seal" the omelet and stuff falls out into the pan when you are trying to slide your omelet.
  • saute onions and other crisp vegetables first until just tender.
  • brown or heat any meats first and keep warm.
  • tomatoes are GREAT in omelette's, but when heated can get juicy.  Make sure to heat tomatoes first and get out as much juice as you can.
  • Salsa is a great topping on TOP of the omelet, but tends to get runny when put inside an omelet.
BASIC RECIPE:
2 large eggs
2 TBSP milk
salt and pepper to season

crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them like crazy until they are well broken down and a pale yellow color.  Whisk in Milk and beat until evenly incorporated. You want a lot of air whipped into the eggs, this will make a light and fluffy omelet, so the longer and more vigorously you whip, the better the outcome.
To your eggs add salt and pepper.  I usually use a fresh ground pepper and maybe 1/2 tsp salt.

 Put a pat of butter into your small non stick saute pan and heat over medium-low until butter melts.  Make sure you swirl the melted butter evenly over the pan.  Your pan will be ready when you drop some water into it and it hisses.

Pour your eggs into the pan and LET THEM BE for  a minute or so until the edges start to set.
With a spatula, gently push one edge of the egg into the center of the pan, and tilt the pan to let the  liquid egg to flow in underneath. Repeat with the other edges, until there's no runny egg left.

at this point you should be able to flip the omelet over to finish cooking the other side for a minute.
After this point you add your toppings to one half of the omelet and fold the other half over to make the recognizable semi circle omelet. Let sit for a minute or so to kind of melt the cheese/toppings. Give it one flip and let set for another 30 seconds or so.  Turn down heat if you see the omelet starting to get too brown.
 Slide out onto a plate and enjoy!


When it comes to toppings, you are only limited by your own imagination.  If you like a food in real life, imagine how great it could be in an omelet.

SOME GOOD OMELET TOPPINGS AND VARIATIONS:

Asian Omelet: Finely chop some carrot, mushroom, green and red bell pepper and garlic.  Saute in a pan until tender. Add some teriyaki sauce. Keep warm until ready to add to omelet.

Ham and Swiss:  Diced smoked ham, shredded Swiss cheese, chopped onion

Greek Omelet: Feta Cheese, Chopped Spinach, Chopped tomatoes and olives

French Omelet:  Shredded or sliced Gruyere cheese, Crumbled Bacon and Caramelized onions

Denver Omelet: Diced Ham, Crumbled Bacon, red and green Bell pepper and onion.

Chicken chili: Shredded chicken, green chile's, cheddar cheese. Top with some salsa Verde and sour cream

Cajun:  Andoille Sausage, Green bell pepper, jalapeno, mushroom, onion and a dash of Cajun seasoning

Mexican Omelet:  Pepper Jack, chopped onion, chopped pepper (jalapeno is good). Top with salsa

Hawaiian:  Diced Ham, Small chunks of pineapple, Monterrey jack cheese

Pizza:  pepperoni, mushrooms, mozzarella and pizza sauce

Margherita:  Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Basil, oregano and onion.

Steakhouse:  Leftover strips of steak*, mushrooms and bleu cheese. 

*When making steak omelette's I usually bring home leftovers from the steakhouse. I cut them into Thin strips and lightly heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.




What are your favorite omelet combinations??

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