I know I've been on Hiatus...

and now I'm back!  I've had a busy few weeks with getting myself used to doing homework again and teaching some good choreography.  But that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking (or eating for that matter).  So what's today's topic?  Let's demystify the omelet. 

My baby loves a good omelet.  And the great thing about them is that they are a good source for all of your food groups, all in one shot, depending on what you put in them.  This omelet I made has fontina cheese, sliced turkey breast, and baby spinach.  So let's get it!

Ingredients:

Your favorite deli turkey, sliced thinly
3 eggs (or 3 egg whites and 1 yolk if you are trying to reduce your cholesterol intake)
1tsp of milk or water
baby spinach
fontina cheese, sliced thinly
1tsp of dried parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Firstly, crack your eggs and combine with your milk. 

Eggs and Milk

Add parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.  Beat well until combined.

Eggs, Milk, Salt, Pepper, and Parsley combined.

Then, you pour this mixture into a buttered non-stick pan that is heated over medium heat (for the importance of the non-stick pan when dealing with eggs, see the post "The Morning After").

Gently move the eggs around in the pan, creating soft curds in the pan.  Essentially, you want to move the uncooked eggs to a fresh hot area of the pan so that you can begin to cook the egg.  You aren't looking for a scramble, you are still looking for your egg mixture to remain semi-flat.  You also want to try to cook the eggs as far as you can.  It's ok for your eggs to be a little wet, you don't want your eggs hard because folding your omelet will prove difficult if you take the eggs too far. (The fold will be described in a minute).

Then you want to add your fillings.  In this situation, its your turkey, cheese, and spinach.  You want to add these fillings to ONE SIDE of your eggs, as illustrated below.

Cheese and turkey

Spinach added

Now... here's the difficult part... the flip.  When you are first learning how to do this, you want to use a wide spatula, the kind you use to flip pancakes.  Gently flip the side with NO filling over the side with the filling.

Since you have a nicely greased non-stick pan, your omelet should slide right out of the pan onto a plate.  And Viola!  You have an omelet.  Don't be discouraged, the flip may take a couple of tries.  If you don't a good flip, there's nothing wrong with turning your omelet into scrambled eggs.  Waste not, want not!  It's not always an easy feat to make an omelet, but practice makes perfect!

The other great thing about omelets is that they can be fairly healthy, depending on what you choose to put in them.  Obviously, cheese isn't the best thing for you, BUT MAN!  It's GOOD!  I call it, the BUTTER OF THE GODS.  But if you are watching your waistline, leave the cheese out, and load up on your favorite veggies.  Also, you can use less egg yolks and more egg whites.  Did you know that one egg white only has about 17 calories, but is CHOCKED full of protein?  I mean... You can essentially have as many egg whites as you want!  By doing this, you have also cut down on your cholesterol intake. 

Try it out! Practice practice practice.

Onward and Upward...

Vince