Mastering the omelet

One of these days when I have a camera again (ahem cross your fingers that I'll be holding a 40D or 50D sometime this spring) I plan to take pictures as I'm cooking and provide more thorough instructions ala Pioneer Woman, or at least pretty pictures ala La Tartine Gourmande (two of my favorite blogs). This requires more time than I currently have, and also, as mentioned, a camera.

Let us all take a moment of silence for the loss of Jenny's camera.

In the meantime I MUST MUST MUST share my newest most favoritest most delicious-est omelet ever (and yes I am aware that some of those adjectives are not actual words). It has taken me some time to master an omelet. In the past I'd make them too big, or they'd stick and end up fancy scrambled eggs, or I would just call it a frittata and avoid the heinous folding step all together. But after some successes and many
failures I have an announcement to make.

I'm the omelet master bee-otch!

Here are some things I've learned: a French omelet pan or a pan very similar in style and shape is really helpful. Those French people know what they are doing in the culinary department! I don't have an omelet pan but I did finally figure out which of my small skillets worked the best. Its a shallow small frying pan without steep edges. Do you know what I am talking about? Sometimes pans have really steep edges and sometimes they don't. My pan handles a 2 egg omelet perfectly, and having shallow edges makes it much more flippable out of the pan.

I use non-stick, but that's just because I have it. At this point my culinary genius could handle a regular stainless pan just fine.

The next thing I've learned is that baby spinach makes it all better baby. I'll explain soon. I have to take a moment right now to ponder the glories of baby spinach and also of the omelet digesting in my tummy. Thundercles, my grouchy pouchy, LOVES omelets. He is purring right now.

Finally, it is of utmost importance to get everything ready beforehand so you can assemble and cook. I make my husband his and then one for me. If you have a family you'll be at the stove longer and everyone might have to sit and eat their omelets alone so they don't get cold - unless you want to invest in 4 omelet pans and cook in them all simultaneously. Go for it, rock on with your bad self. Or just get a huge pan and make a frittata, they are kids, what do they know?

I've tried many combinations for inside my omelets, and all were tasty: roasted green chile and cheese, ham and cheese, Denver omelets, veggie omelets, bacon or sausage, steak and peppers and onions (like a Philly cheese steak but low carb) and others. My absolute favorite though, what I could live off for possibly the rest of my life, is the following: spinach, sauteed garlic, ham, goat cheese and tomato. Humina Humina!

Here is a recipe for two omelets (each with two eggs).

Ingredients

4 eggs, beaten briskly until the color lightens slightly (I separate 2 eggs each into two bowls so I have everything ready for each omelet)
1c (approx) baby spinach
6-8 ripe grape or strawberry sized tomatoes cut into wedges and peppered strongly
3 cloves garlic minced (I used a mini food processor)
1 tsp olive oil
cooking spray or canola oil to coat the pan
2/3 cup chopped ham (I use thinly sliced sandwich ham and then cut it into strips)
1/2-2/3 cup (more or less as you like it) herbed goat cheese

Instructions

In a separate small pan, sautee the garlic (medium heat works well) in a small amount of olive oil until it begins to lightly brown, add ham, stir, and turn off the heat but leave the pan on the burner so the ham can warm through and meld with the garlic but nothing burns.

Cut the tomatoes into wedges and pepper them LIBERALLY with fresh ground black pepper, crumble the goat cheese into a small bowl, get out the spinach, beat your eggs and get everything ready to make magic.

Prepare your omelet pan, the magic vessel of love, by coating it with either canola oil, cooking spray, or butter (if you like to live on the wild side). Coat it thoroughly but lightly. I usually use canola oil and wipe out the excess with a paper towel, just so the pan is glossy.

Heat the pan on medium. Once its heated, add 2 beaten eggs.

Now for my favorite part - immediately layer some spinach on top of the egg while its still liquid. The spinach will float and sort of sink into the egg a little. It will end up lightly wilted/cooked inside the egg, and in the meantime it allows you to put all of your other ingredients on top without waiting for the egg to set.

Once you have your spinach all the way across the pan as a nice platter for other things, layer the ham and garlic and then the goat cheese. I should mention, only use half of the above ingredients because you are going to make two omelets.

Finally, on what will be the bottom of your omelet place half the tomato wedges evenly.

Cool until the egg has set up and lightly browned at the edges. I usually swirl it around in the pan to cook it evenly, make sure it isn't sticking, and mainly just because its fun.

Finally, spin the omelet in the pan until you have it positioned so that when you pour it onto a plate the tomato side will go down first. Then slide it onto a plate and fold it over as you slide it. It will work, I promise. Its easy as long as you didn't overfill the little guy.

Then salt it (lightly) with kosher salt and hand it to your spouse.

Repeat the process for yourself. You may or may not need to re-oil the pan. I usually do because I hate when an omelet sticks. Then eat, have a foodgasm, and blog about the experience.

If you have a camera, take a picture of your creation and send it to me along with your raves about my eggy masterpiece. Then there will be proof.

In other news - Ryan is looking for a new job. He had an interview this morning, it went well.

Role Models

Role Models - A - funny stuff :) I enjoyed it immensely and the little kid stole the movie, as expected. Paul Rudd's character is my husband.

Zach and Miri (or is it Zach?) - B- It was ok, but not my favorite. The two leads had great chemistry.

Bubba Hotep - B - watched on Halloween. Funny, better than expected. Terrible, truly terrible, and truly entertaining!

Nothing new to report here except that we are going home for Thanksgiving, that'll be nice. I'm making a vegetarian Thanksgiving in picturesque Odessa... I am looking forward to visiting family though.

We are still broke, but catching up on overdue bills. I read something today that put it into perspective though... life could be so much harder. At least we are healthy and relatively happy in our lives. I am definitely a pessimist, but I am working on it.

Tough Times in San Antonio

Well, its going to be a slim Christmas (and not just because I lost a lot of weight). We are quite broke. It sucks! We've starting selling off our non-essential goodies. Ryan's ham radio gone. My camera and all of its accessories gone. And Christmas is just around the corner, what in heck are we supposed to do?

I started a budget program today, but its going to be time-consuming to put in all the info and everything, and who has time? I am going to try to finish it this weekend and figure out exactly how much (none) money we would have for Christmas. I think what we'll end up doing is skipping an electric bill or something to at least get my brother something. Its his sixteenth birthday and Christmas 3 days apart.

I'm worried we won't even have the funds to go home and visit. Its getting pretty dire here folks. I wish we knew how to manage our money better. I guess its learn by mistakes, or not learn, if that's how you work. I am trying not to let it bog me down, but its very depressing. When did everything get so expensive? How is it that I used to get out of the grocery store for less than $100 and the same kinds of things are now upwards of $150? I bought a plain thank you card the other day, almost $4! Since when are greeting cards $4? What happened that its so much more expensive to make a greeting card? Did the sentimental card writers union strike for a raise?

Why does being a grown-up have to suck so bad.

And oh yeah, I am heartbroken about the camera.