omelette

Several eggs, beaten, cooked and folded. Most times, it is filled with cheese, meats, vegetables, and/or mushrooms. A favorite of poor college students, because eggs are cheap, and omelettes are easy to make. Don't use evil cheese, though. That can get nasty.

I don't know about you, but I eat eggs regularly. They're a great source of protein, and, unlike most meat, they're low on fat, so I usually eat them as a second protein-rich meal of the day. P.S. a tip - the yolk is full of cholesterol. The white part isn't. I usually eat about one yolk for every 3 whites. The taste doesn't change much, but it's much healthier, and you get lots more proteins.

Anyway: soft-boiled eggs and fried eggs are rather yolk-oriented, so I usually find myself making an omelette. There are two ways to eat an omelette:

1. Plain, with tons of ketchup. You say yuck now, but try it and then /msg me as to how great I am.
2. With lots of stuff in them. Usually vegetables. So I'll impart now this terrific omelette recipe I concocted yesterday:

 

ingredients

• 6 eggs (of which two with yolks)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 onion
• Lots of mushrooms (fresh/canned)
• 1 red (not chilli, just red) pepper (or yellow, just not green. Green peppers are disgusting.
• 1 tomato
• Lots of coriander, sliced up well
• Olive oil (it's also healthier, but you MUST use olive oil to bring out the coriander)
• 1 thingumagig of garlic (what do you call it? not the whole garlic, just one piece), cut thinly or crushed. (Jinmyo updates: it is, indeed, a clove of garlic)
• A couple of basil leaves
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation

Cut the vegetables thin. Put the olive oil in a pan, and heat it up. When it's hot enough, shove all the vegetables together in, except the garlic and coriander. Add them in after about 2 minutes. Mix until you see the onion and the zucchini browning a bit, and then add the eggs, which you did not forget to beat beforehand, and added the salt and pepper to (to taste). Add the eggs over it all, bring to a smaller flame and wait until there's no more gooeiness in the eggs. Flip it all over. (This is done by placing a large plate over the pan, turning it over, and sliding the omelette onto the plate). Wait a couple of minutes and voila.

Basic Two Egg Omelette

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tbsp butter

Crack eggs on the counter top and pour into a mixing bowl, beat eggs together with salt and pepper.  In a non-stick pan over medium-high heat melt the butter.  When the butter has melted and the bubbling slows down pour in the eggs.  Swirl the eggs around so that the entire bottom of the pan is coated.  Cook until the omelette is mostly set and jerk the pan towards you to force the omelette to the edge away from you.  Bang on the handle of the pan so that the furthest edge flips over onto the omelette  Slide onto a plate and fold the other end over on top with a rubber spatula.

If you want something other than just seasoned eggs prepare the filling beforehand.  Shredded cheese, or sauteed mushrooms for example should be set aside ready to go.  You will not have time to saute mushrooms or shred cheese while your omelette is cooking.  After banging the handle, spoon the filling into the centre of the omelette and continue as above.  To make an omelette aux fines herbes mix the ingredients sneff describes here into the beaten egg.

But achan, it's still oozy!
It's supposed to be oozy dammit!

The first thing to consider when cooking the perfect omelette is the size of the frying pan. Too few eggs in a large frying pan will make a thin, dry and tough omelette. Too many eggs in a small pan will result in a spongy omelette. A two egge omelette, for instance, requires a 15cm pan. An omelette made from 4 or 5 eggs needs a 25 cm pan.

On no account should you over-beat the eggs. Do not use a whisk (especialy an electric one). A fork is fine or even a knife will do.

Next, season the eggs with salt and freshly ground pepper. Put your pan on a medium heat and allow it to warm though. Do not put anything in it yet (if you are using butter this pre-heating of the pan prevents the butter from being on the heat too long and browning.)

When the pan is hot, throw in a large knob of butter (no oil), then turn the heat up to its highest setting and swirl the butter round and round until it has melted and coats the pan entirely.

When the butter begins to froth add the beaten eggs and spread them out evenly over the pan, then, using a fork, begin to draw the edges of the omlette toward the centre of the pan and allow the pools of liquid egg to run into the channels you have made.

When the omelette is almost set, but still slightly soft and liquid (baveuse, as the French say) fold it in half and slide it onto a plate.

The nicest omelettes are, of course, the simplest, so use very little filling, if any at all. Perhaps some herbs.

I don't often post recipes to e2. Hell, I don't often even use, much less create recipes. I'm a bachelor with a bachelor's flair for cooking. That means my best recipes detail the easiest route to go from collected ingredients to delicious grub in mah belly.

I am counteracting this recipe-dearth to share with you something wondrous, nay, something scrumtrulescent. The perfect omelette. Easy, quick, little mess, and yes, it's perfect.

To reiterate synonymously, the method is simple. Take a shallow glass or glazed ceramic plate, and put a light coat of butter or oil on it. Whip your eggs silly. I mean it, just beat the hell outta them. Pour this (now well-mannered and respectful) mixture onto your plate evenly, and then stick it in the microwave for a couple/few minutes. Once the egg is almost completely cooked, take it out of the microwave and add whatever omelette filling you like. Throw in some tomatoes, mushrooms, or maybe even some bacon. Whatever takes your fancy as long as you include the sine qua non ingredient, cheese. If you don't have cheese then just forget it; go back to your couch-cushion crackers and bath-mat mushrooms. But since of course you have cheese, you put it and any other deliciousness you love onto one side of the omelette.

Now look at the omelette's empty side. Now back at me. Now back to your omelette. It is now diamonds! I'm on a trip. Wait, WTF? What the hell just happened there? Must've blacked out for a second. Where were we? Oh yes, closing the omelette. Use a spatula to flip the empty side over the happy side, noticing as you do that the egg does not stick to the plate. Since of course you have cheese on your omelette, you will want to now microwave it a bit more to ensure an even cheese melt.

There are no pans to wash, and you can use the plate you cooked it in to serve it. Just be careful as the plate is hot. I'm not McDonald's. I won't be able to offer you millions when you burn the crap outta yourself.

Enjoy!