Thin Omelettes on Rainy Days

Tune of the moment: George Harrison's "Here Comes The Sun" performed by James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma. Continuing the theme of "I heart JT" I thought playing this song ad nauseum might will the rain to bugger off and welcome in the sun. I guess I can't complain too much since the Cape Town weather has been nothing if not deliciously bright and pleasant for the past week or so.

The howling wind and sideways rain made me hanker after a bowl of porridge but, let's face it, porridge is that much nicer when someone else cooks it for you. It means you don't have to deal with overflowing pots, charred oaty pan bottoms, or realising you were too liberal with the salt and the only antidote to Mediterranean-sea-infused oats would be to start from scratch. So, I abandoned the idea of making my own millet porridge (I will, one day, get off my lazy tush and follow through with this plan) and looked, again, to Heidi Swanson's amazing blog 101 Cookbooks for inspiration.

It might be hard to believe but I think I took my avocado obsession too far yesterday. Although, truth be told, it wasn't entirely my fault. How was I supposed to know that, after consuming an entire avocado at breakfast, I would find myself ordering Justin Bonello's Celebrity Chef pizza at Col'Cacchio's? It's called the Green Genie for crying out loud-it has my name all over it! The rest of the ingredients were as follows: roasted beetroot, butternut and garlic, shiitake mushrooms, danish feta, topped with fresh rocket, toasted seeds, avocado and a drizzle of balsamic glaze, served on a wholewheat pizza base... nogal!

I need at least a day's break from the green stuff until I ascertain whether one can actually eat too much avo. I know it's full of (good) fats, and I'm pretty sure I've overdosed on saturated (bad) fats many more times and lived to tell the tale, but I don't want to fall into my typical pattern of gorging myself on the things I love most (Nanoosh hummus mushroom wraps, OPI nail polish in "Wicked", Nancy Meyer's movie "It's Complicated") only to tire of them. So, this morning I turned to another true love-eggs-and found this recipe on Heidi's blog for a "Skinny Omelette." The "skinny" part simply refers to the thickness of the omelette (crepe-like) so don't let it turn you off or deter you and it's a good option for people who are gluten intolerant. Heidi filled her omelette with chives, salad greens, pesto and feta but the wonderful thing about omelettes in general is that they're the perfect vehicle for whatever odds and ends you have stashed in your refrigerator or cupboards. I (over) stuffed mine with some julienned zucchini, asparagus and enoki mushrooms. And, being a big believer in having a grain or carb at every meal and needing to appease my desire for millet, I threw in some left over brown basmati rice. It was delish and I think my mid-year resolution is to become more adventurous with grains and ingest them at breakfast times too.

This was my version-sans avocado as much as my little heart yearned for the verdant fruit.

"Skinny Omelette"

2 large (preferably organic) eggs (I used one full egg and one egg white)

a tiny pinch of fine grain sea salt

a few tablespoons of chopped coriander/cilantro)

a dollop of pesto (I used sundried tomato pesto)

a small handful of mixed salad greens

Lightly sauteed julienned zucchini, asparagus, enoki mushrooms and brown rice

Use a fork to beat the eggs and salt in a small bowl. Beat well, until the eggs are mostly uniform in color - they seem to run around the pan more evenly when there aren't huge patches of yolk vs. whites.

In your largest non-stick skillet gently sautee your vegetables (zucchini, asparagus, enoki mushrooms) in some olive oil until cooked. Reheat any leftover grains by adding them to the pan and pour the mixture into a bowl.

In the same skillet, over medium heat, pour the egg mixture and give it a good swirl so that they spread out thinly across the entire pan. Alternately, you can use a crepe pan or crepe maker - this works beautifully as well. Sprinkle the eggs with some of the coriander and let them set, this happens quickly depending on the heat of your pan - 15 seconds to one minute. 

Run a spatula underneath the omelette and slide it out of the pan (flat) onto a countertop, large cutting board or Silpat-line cookie sheet. Do this with confidence (or practice). Spread the pesto across the surface of the omelette (if you have a thick pesto, thin it a bit with water to make it easily spreadable), and then sprinkle with the vegetables and salad greens. Starting with one end, roll the omelette away from you. Cut in half on a deep diagonal. Season with a bit more salt if needed and serve garnished with more coriander.