Sunday Brunch Meme

On every possible occasion, I try to incorporate eggs into my meals. For instance, in light and brothy noodle soups, I slip in a large chicken egg right before serving, so that I can enjoy a delicate, oozing, and poached surprise in my steaming soup bowl. In salads, I love to garnish my leafy greens with slices of hard-boiled egg. Even warm pastrami and sauerkraut sandwiches on rye bread taste better with fried egg. In fact, I even put eggs into my oatmeal! Thus, when I was recently tagged by Freya and Paul at Writing at the Kitchen Table to participate in the Sunday Brunch Meme, I eagerly leapt at the opportunity to feature one of my favorite breakfast/brunch item: the eggs-cellent omelette. Although I don't have brunch often, when I do, I must serve and consume eggs. Without eggs, brunch is simply not brunch. Rather, it is a belated lunch--an awkward "blunch," and not "brunch."

When I make omelettes, I serve them with two indispensable sides: creamy slices of buttery, ripened avocado; and roasted potatoes seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil, crushed peppercorns, and coarse granules of kosher salt.

I love how omelettes take on whatever characteristics that you assign them. You can elevate the entire "feel" of an omelette by adding a milky dollop of creme fraiche and a half-a-teaspoon-full of caviar, garnishing the omelette with crumbles of blue cheese and bacon, or wrapping an omelette blanket around warm chevre and sprinkling the omelette with chopped chives ringlets.

There are many alternative ways to prepare omelettes. Some people just bring a large stock pot of water to boil, and drop in ziploc bags filled with beaten egg and other ingredients into the hot water. The omelettes are done when the egg solidifies. You just use a slotted spoon to take out the plastic egg bag, and "pop" the omelette out of the bag onto a plate.

Other people combine the eggs and omelette ingredients, and fry everything together as one large egg pancake with the ingredients interspersed within the pancake.

Finally, others follow the traditional way, and cook the ingredients and egg separately. I follow this method of making omelettes.

My tips for making omelettes, is to first begin with a Teflon non-stick pan. Add one tablespoon of canola oil, and turn the heat on high until the oil is shimmering. Cook the omelette ingredients until softened. You may use any ingredients you wish, including diced bell peppers, minced red onion, crumbled bacon, chopped ham, diced tomatoes, or sliced mushrooms. Then, set the cooked ingredients aside and wipe the pan with a damp terrycloth towel. You can also cook the ingredients in an entirely different pan, but if you cook it in the "omelette-making pan," you don't have to wash as many dishes.

Next, heat the non-stick Teflon pan again on high heat and add another tablespoon of canola oil after any water on the pan has evaporated. Then, add two large eggs, that have been whisked (or beaten with a fork) until the yolks and egg whites are evenly incorporated. Pour the egg mixture onto the hot pan. Use your wrist to turn the pan by the handle until the bottom of the pan is completely coated with egg. As the egg cooks, use a wooden spoon, heatproof silicon spatula, or bamboo chopsticks to lift up the cooked portion of the egg and to allow the uncooked egg liquid to leak onto the surface of the hot pan. Then, with a spatula or with a rapid motion of your wrist, flip the scrambled egg pancake so that both sides of the pancake have had an opportunity to touch the bottom of the pan. Now, add cheese (if you wish) and the cooked ingredients on top of one half of the egg pancake. (If you like your omelettes on the "drier" side, don't add the juices that have excreted from the cooked vegetables. I actually like to add these juices to my omelette, as evidenced by the picture below.) Let the omelette cook for a little longer, so that the cheese has an opportunity to melt. Then, fold the omelette onto a plate by tilting the pan with the side with the filling over a plate, and then letting the omelette fall onto the plate. Before the omelette completely falls off of the pan onto the plate, use the pan to move the "naked" side of the omelette to cover the side of the omelette with the ingredients.

Sprinkle the omelette liberally with freshly ground black pepper, and bon appetit!