One of my favorite childhood memories of mealtime was the infrequent, much anticipated installment of "Breakfast for Dinner." Those rare occasions usually came on night's when the regulars just wouldn't please the crowd at the dinner table. My husband and I have gradually resurrected this concept, periodically throwing omelettes or Fritatta's into the menu. I have played many times with ingredients for a tasty omelette; for this one I took the idea of a margherita pizza and added a little bacon to fill it out.
Ingredients
**A note for my own concoctions: I am terrible about exact measurements (which fortunately, aren't a requirement for an omelette). As with my marinara sauce, I have a base from which I start and then really just prepare to my own taste.
Roma tomatoes, chopped
Garlic, finely minced
Onion, finely minced
Basil, chopped
Bacon, fried and broken up
Two eggs (per omelet)
Two to three tablespoons of milk
Fresh mozzarella, cubed
Salt and black pepper to taste
Olive oil
General Instructions
General InstructionsSaute the onions and garlic in olive oil until tender. Beat eggs, milk, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Spray with cooking spray and heat over medium to medium-high heat. Add egg mixture. Add mozzarella, bacon, tomatoes, basil, and onion and garlic to taste. Allow egg mixture to set partially, then fold omelette over.
Suggestions
In general I prefer my omelettes to be almost completely cooked through, leaving the slightly runnier version to those less faint of heart. I have had runnier versions, I just prefer the consistency of a more thoroughly cooked omelette. Instead of merely folding my omelettes in half, I do a partial fold and finish the omelette with a third fold to end with something more crepe-like. I tend to fill my omelettes pretty heartily filled with ingredients and this approach seems to make for a less messy, more contained finished product.
Opinion
In general I prefer my omelettes to be almost completely cooked through, leaving the slightly runnier version to those less faint of heart. I have had runnier versions, I just prefer the consistency of a more thoroughly cooked omelette. Instead of merely folding my omelettes in half, I do a partial fold and finish the omelette with a third fold to end with something more crepe-like. I tend to fill my omelettes pretty heartily filled with ingredients and this approach seems to make for a less messy, more contained finished product.
Opinion
This omelet will continue to be one of my favorites, definitely receiving a solid 4. I love a good margherita pizza (if in the Indianapolis area, check out Eh! Formaggio) making this omelette a lighter, and healthier, tribute. The basil and tomatoes lend a wonderful fresh flavor with the onions and garlic adding a bold touch. I like to add the bacon, giving an extra texture and beefing up the breakfast for dinner theme just a tad. I would recommend this one for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
4 comments:
I so rarely have breakfast for dinner. Which, is strange since breakfast is among my 4 or 5 favorite meals of the day. Generally, if I'm eating an omelette outside of the standard breakfast hours, it's at the end of an evening of indulgence.
I know it throws off the whole "lighter, and healthier, tribute" to the margherita pizza, but I would really like to advocate you use unsalted butter in lieu of cooking spray for the skillet. Eggs prepared in real butter (not margarine or some other faux-butter) is one of my Pantheon foods. It's really improbably delicious.
Also, a plug for hardware: I have a Zyliss silicon spatula that I've found is a superb tool for preparing omelettes. I would recommend it to anyone that loves eggs. Actually, its high tolerance for heat and broad surface makes it an excellent tool for any dish prepared in the skillet or scraping batter out of a bowl. *Disclosure - I do NOT own stock in the Zyliss corporation or stand to benefit in any way from the purchase of their products.*
So, a confession: I used regular butter in the making of this omelette (I didn't have unsalted). Chris actually gets upset, but I have never used spray for my omelettes. There really is no comparison for the taste of eggs cooked in butter. I thought I would try to be a bit more responsible by advocating the use of spray over butter.
Is the spatula that you got me a Zyliss? I confess I didn't look closely at the tag (and I think Chris was actually the one to remove the tag prior to washing). If so, or really even if not, I love that thing! I haven't tried it yet with omelettes, or eggs of any kind for that matter, but I will keep in mind for next time. And who said wouldn't red compliment the colors in my kitchen?
Saw your Eh! Formaggio plug and I just wanted to chime in that I went there for lunch for the first time this past Tuesday and had a Quattro Formaggio Calzone. Holy crap was it good! I think I ingested about 2 pounds of cheese that day. I didn't even eat dinner, it was that much cheese.
But yeah, awesome place. Also, I love the name of the blog!
Hey, thanks for stopping by! Eh! Formaggio is pretty much my favorite pizza place in town. Bazbeaux is great for a little less traditional pizza, but if I'm in the mood to make a trip out odds are good I'll make what is a surprisingly short trip up to Lafayette and 55th. It actually used to be downtown, practically next door to Conseco.
I'm glad you like the name, apparently the more mundane "Claire's Kitchen" was already taken. I was initially worried that everyone would think I just don't know how to spell clarified!
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