Happy 2013! Let's get cooking!
You might have read this post last year when I talked about a resolution I'd made for 2012, to eat breakfast every day. For the most part, I kept it up--at least I did MUCH better in 2012 than I had in 2011. It's also a habit I plan to keep for 2013, with even more variety and vegetables in every breakfast. One of my favorite ways to sneak in extra vegetables is in an omelet, which makes it easy to use small amounts of meats, veggies, or cheese that you have sitting around in your fridge, patiently waiting to be adopted into some interesting concoction.
Omelets themselves can be kind of tricky, but I'm making a "country style" omelet here, which is much easier (in my opinion) than the traditional French style. If you want to try a French omelette, study this Julia Child video first. Just watch the first 30 seconds, and you'll see how easy it can be. That kind of omelet making is kind of like winning an olympic gold, so if you've got the guts, go for it! Or do it like I do below, which will give you an omelet big enough for two.
The filling, sauteed and ready to be tucked into the omelet. I have to tell you that this melange is really good on its own, and would make a nice dinner tossed with rice or pasta.
In an 8"- to 10"-skillet, melt the butter over medium heat (closer to medium-high) until the foaming subsides.
Pour in the eggs!
Start dragging eggs from the outside edge toward the center with a rubber spatula. It will seem like you're making too many lumps in the middle, but all the rest of the liquid egg will become the same thickness as those first lumps, so don't worry.
Keep repeating this dragging motion, letting the uncooked egg run under the cooked edges,
until the top of the omelet has only...
a little runny egg left on top. It should take about a minute and a half to get to this point.
Turn the heat to low and cover the top for a minute, to help set the runny egg whites.
Place two-thirds of the filling on one half of the circle, topped with the cheese.
And carefully, very gently, coax the empty half over the filled half with the rubber spatula. I spy a crack in my omelet!
Yep, that's a pretty big crack! But I'm not worried, because that's what I saved the rest of the filling for:
to help cover mistakes.
spinach, mushroom, and andouille omelet
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1/3 cup diced andouille (remove the casing before you chop)
- 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup (packed) baby spinach
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Tabasco or other pepper sauce, to taste
- 5 eggs
- 1/3 cup shredded swiss cheese (or use 1 big slice, torn into pieces)
- Heat a medium (8" to 10") nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, and melt 1 tablespoon of butter in it. Add the onion and andouille and saute for five minutes, until they start to brown. Add the mushrooms and thyme, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute another 3 to 4 minutes, until the mushrooms give up their liquid and turn soft. Add the spinach, stir until it wilts (about 30 seconds), and remove the filling to a bowl or plate.
- Wipe out the skillet well so there are no stuck-on parts of anything left.
- Beat the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, and a few shots of Tabasco if you like it (I do!).
- Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the nonstick skillet over medium heat (leaning toward medium-high, but not too high). Swirl the pan to completely coat the bottom with butter--add more butter if you need it. When the butter starts to lightly brown and most of the foam is gone, pour in the eggs. With a rubber spatula, start pulling the cooked egg from the edge of the pan toward the center, forming large curds of egg. Do this for a minute, dragging eggs and letting the runny parts cook at the edges, until you have just a little bit of wet egg on the omelet top.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid, and let the top cook for about 30 seconds, until it's just set (it will still be a little wet, but that's totally fine).
- Place 2/3 of the filling over one half of the omelet circle and top with the cheese. Carefully, and with a great deal of faith in yourself, use the rubber spatula to lift the empty half of the omelet over the filled half. Keep loving yourself even if there's a crack!
- Leave the folded omelet in the pan for a few more seconds, to help the cheese melt. Carefully slide or lift it onto a plate and top with the remaining 1/3 of the filling.
serves 2
