Omelettes For Lunch
Posted on September 06, 2009 by WillyP
In: Food/ Cooking
I made Omelets for lunch for me and the boys today. If you've never made an omelet before, you should give it a try. It takes a bit of practice to make a well formed, nicely browned omelet, but it's not hard to do, and even if you don't make something pretty, it's still quite edible. As long as you don't burn it. I'll explain how I make them:
Ok, first some prep. You need to get some things ready before you start. You won't have time to cut veggies or grate cheese while the eggs are cooking. So, usually what I do is break the eggs into a large measuring cup, or a mixing bowl. My 11 year old son likes to do this part. Three eggs per omelet is good. Add a little milk, because that's what my Dad did. ;) And then mix them up a bit with a fork, but don't over do it, just enough mixing to break up the yolks. You don't want it whipped. How much milk? Oh, maybe an eighth cup, or a quarter cup at the most. I never measured it, just put a splash in. Now get the veggies, meat and cheese ready. Veggies and meat work best if they are pre- cooked, and chopped into small pieces. Today I cheated, I took some chopped veggies, and meatballs out of the freezer and microwaved them. Then I chopped the meatballs into small pieces. Brown them a bit in a wok, and set them aside for now. I buy cheese in a bag, already shredded. You can also use thinly sliced cheese, if you want. Shredded or grated cheese works best, though.
Now your pan. I use an ten inch non-stick skillet. Put a little puddle of extra virgin olive oil in the pan and heat it up. If you don't know if the pan is hot yet, a drop of water should sizzle and boil off immediately when placed in the oil. Turn the heat down a bit, say to about three quarters, and pour some egg into the middle of the oil. If the pan is the right temp it should sizzle a bit, a little experimentation is in order here. Don't expect perfection on your first try. Now, the entire bottom of the pan should be filled with egg. Tip and roll the pan a bit and the egg will go up the sides of the pan and cook there, don't get carried away with this, though. Large bubbles should form, use a spatula and pop them and let some uncooked egg fill them. When there is very little uncooked egg left in the pan, sprinkle some cheese and put in whatever meat and veggies your using. I also like to put a little salsa or picante sauce in mine, but none of that for the kids!
Now comes the tricky part, you want to slide your spatula under half the omelette and flip it up, over and onto the other half. I generaly shift the pan back and forth to loosen the omeltte from the pan, and work the spatula under it. Then there's a nice little flip of the spatula coordinated with a motion of the pan, and !viola! there it is. I then roll it over one more time to clean up any discrepancies. You'll see what I mean when you try it. Turn the heat down even more and brown the omelet just so on both sides, if it isn't already. slide it out onto a plate and you're done. Enjoy!
One thing I don't know is how to spell omelet. So I googled it, and there are some different opinions on the spelling. The spelling I used here makes my spell checker happy, so that's why I spelled it that way. WikiPedia spells it Omelette... I'll have to read that sometime... ;)
Ok, first some prep. You need to get some things ready before you start. You won't have time to cut veggies or grate cheese while the eggs are cooking. So, usually what I do is break the eggs into a large measuring cup, or a mixing bowl. My 11 year old son likes to do this part. Three eggs per omelet is good. Add a little milk, because that's what my Dad did. ;) And then mix them up a bit with a fork, but don't over do it, just enough mixing to break up the yolks. You don't want it whipped. How much milk? Oh, maybe an eighth cup, or a quarter cup at the most. I never measured it, just put a splash in. Now get the veggies, meat and cheese ready. Veggies and meat work best if they are pre- cooked, and chopped into small pieces. Today I cheated, I took some chopped veggies, and meatballs out of the freezer and microwaved them. Then I chopped the meatballs into small pieces. Brown them a bit in a wok, and set them aside for now. I buy cheese in a bag, already shredded. You can also use thinly sliced cheese, if you want. Shredded or grated cheese works best, though.
Now your pan. I use an ten inch non-stick skillet. Put a little puddle of extra virgin olive oil in the pan and heat it up. If you don't know if the pan is hot yet, a drop of water should sizzle and boil off immediately when placed in the oil. Turn the heat down a bit, say to about three quarters, and pour some egg into the middle of the oil. If the pan is the right temp it should sizzle a bit, a little experimentation is in order here. Don't expect perfection on your first try. Now, the entire bottom of the pan should be filled with egg. Tip and roll the pan a bit and the egg will go up the sides of the pan and cook there, don't get carried away with this, though. Large bubbles should form, use a spatula and pop them and let some uncooked egg fill them. When there is very little uncooked egg left in the pan, sprinkle some cheese and put in whatever meat and veggies your using. I also like to put a little salsa or picante sauce in mine, but none of that for the kids!
Now comes the tricky part, you want to slide your spatula under half the omelette and flip it up, over and onto the other half. I generaly shift the pan back and forth to loosen the omeltte from the pan, and work the spatula under it. Then there's a nice little flip of the spatula coordinated with a motion of the pan, and !viola! there it is. I then roll it over one more time to clean up any discrepancies. You'll see what I mean when you try it. Turn the heat down even more and brown the omelet just so on both sides, if it isn't already. slide it out onto a plate and you're done. Enjoy!
One thing I don't know is how to spell omelet. So I googled it, and there are some different opinions on the spelling. The spelling I used here makes my spell checker happy, so that's why I spelled it that way. WikiPedia spells it Omelette... I'll have to read that sometime... ;)