We Have A Winner! (Omelette Pan Edition)

As usual, your comments were wonderful.

Omelette memories appear, for the most part, to be fond ones. Whether made on honeymoon for Barbara: for a husband by rb and Lori; by a husband for Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella, suburban prep, Class factotum and Queen of Cashmere; by a boyfriend for Victoria; by mom for Staircase Witch, Jennifer, Belle on Heels, JAW, minerrva, and lisa; by someone else’s French mom for Booklady; as a mom by Town and Country Mom; by dad for Maggie, Anne, and palais; by a beloved teacher for cdclaycomb; for oneself as did Alice and Faux Fuchsia; at a college diner for Austyn or a grandmother’s country club by Blue12rain; or, inspired by Julia Child for MJ, see you there!, and Sharpiegirl. The most original, however, was either Deja Pseu, who learned from a classic car garage mechanic (reminds me of this classic Springsteen video), or Betty B48 who are her first omelette at the Parliamentary Restaurant at the Canadian House Of Parliament. On fire indeed.

Jean S. simply had her first one, “back before dirt.”

And for Academic, Hopeful, here’s to dignity. No need to repeat why.

Favorite omelette ingredients include: for Laura, thinly sliced ham, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and maybe asparagus; for Karena, mushrooms, asparagus, and mild cheddar; for glaciercountyhoney, apple, cheddar, and nutmeg; for Len♥reNeverM♥re, anything with butter and cheese; for Patsy, cream cheese before goat cheese was invented; for jinnan-tonnyx (I only JUST figured out what her name means) whatever leftovers she has; for Pixie, Abigail and Ms. Givens, mushrooms; for Tabitha, truffles if not for youth; for Victoria, fresh asparagus, feta, mushrooms and a few scallions; for Plumberry, bacon and leeks; for High Heeled Life, spinach; for Walking Barefoot, herbs; for Red, French feta, any fresh herbs she has on hand, and a few cherry tomatoes; for Sheri, red peppers, cheese and mushrooms; for VictoriaN, ham and mushroom; for hostess of the humble bungalow, fresh caught crab and freshly snipped chives; for mint juleps and magnolias, peccorino romano and scallion frittata covered in an ahi tuna mint and tomato mixture. Mint Julep is, clearly, a very serious cook. For CaraBella, tuna, breadcrumbs, onions and egg. Her parents were, clearly, very original cooks.

We even received two more omelette recipes, to add to mine, and Jan’s souffle. The first, from Russian Chic, who says,

“I would like to share my grandmother’s omelette recipe.
Since it is little rich and starchy, it is better reserved for a weekend brunch.

Ingredients
8 strips strips bacon, cut into paperclip-sized pieces
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic clove, chopped
Dash of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon oil or duck or pork fat, more if needed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
5 eggs
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. Fry the bacon in a small frying pan until crisp and remove to paper towel to drain. Pour off all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat from the pan. Add the butter to the pan, heat to medium and gently fry the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook one minute. Remove all to a plate. Deglaze the pan with a splash of vinegar and reduce until it’s almost gone.
2. Add the tablespoon of oil or fat and get the pan quite hot this time. Saute the potatoes, stirring only occasionally, until they are soft when pierced with a fork and very crisp and golden on the outside, a good 20 minutes. Return the onion, garlic, and bacon to the pan.
Gently stir the eggs with a fork, season with salt and pepper, and pour them over the potatoes. Cook until the eggs are set on the bottom, but still a bit slithery on top. Cover the omelette and continue cooking until the top sets, no more than a minute because you still want it a little runny on top. Run a spatula around the edge and slip the omelette out onto a large plate.”

The second from Elke.

“The first omelette I ever made for my husband was the morning after our first sleep over. 18 years later — he still asks for it every Sunday.

2 T butter
6 eggs
1/2 c chopped ham
1/2 c chopped salami
1/2 c shredded cheddar
1/4 green pepper
1/4 red pepper
2 T cream cheese
1 t parsley
salt
pepper
Salsa

Melt butter until it stops bubbling. While butter melts, separate eggs, whip whites and yolks separately, then combine. Add to pan. Reduce heat to medium low. Let set for 2 minutes. Add ham, salami, cheddar, g & r peppers, generous salt and pepper. Dot with cream cheese, sprinkle with parsley. Let set for one minute or until eggs are set. Add 3 T salsa. Fold onto plate.”

In the “Other Things To Cook Altogether” category, we had tortilla de papas from Marcela, crepes from Pam, soft-shell crabs from Erin, mushrooms, peppers and onions from Countess and Spanish tortillas from water241.

To draw the winner’s name I thought it appropriate this time to use my very large All Clad stockpot. Useful for soups. I must say, too heavy for mundane things like pasta water. Revereware has a valuable role to play in real-life kitchens. But I digress.

The names.

Close my eyes, hand into pot.

The winner! Nellie, please contact me by Friday at skyepeale@yahoo.com and I will put you in touch with our gracious CSN representative.

Thank you everyone for participating. I find I love to give stuff away, so if I have anything to say in the matter, there will be more chances in the future. I swear I’d like to give each and everyone of you a present.