Omelette for Dinner
by Laura
Elliot has been out of town since last Friday, so I haven't been doing
much cooking. Unfortunately, this means that much of last Thursday's
farm share pick-up has been sitting around for the better part of a
week. Tonight I stayed home and decided to cook something nice for just
myself. I made an omelette out of the green garlic, garlic scapes, and
scallions we received last week, serving it with some romaine lettuce
(also from the farm share) dressed with balsamic vinaigrette, and Barokes wine from a can. (We
bought the cans of wine because we can never finish a whole bottle, but
I like to cook with wine in spite of the fact. When I opened a can for
myself I discovered that even though the cans are rather small, they
should not be consumed single-handedly on a Tuesday night.)
On to the recipes...
- 3 eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
- 1 stalk green garlic
- 1 garlic scape
- 2 scallions
- 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Wash veggies thoroughly and chop. Beat eggs in a bowl with a fork and add a pinch of salt and black pepper. Warm up a non-stick pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Cook the scallions/garlic until they are softened but not brown (if they start to burn, turn down the heat -- burned garlic tastes very bitter). Remove veggies from pan and throw in a pat of butter. Coat pan with butter, then pour in eggs. Stir briefly, then allow to set into an omelette. When almost done, add veggies and sprinkle in cheese, then fold over and cook a little longer (just to melt cheese) before transferring to a plate. Serve with a green salad and white wine.
This turned out to be very tasty! The garlic scapes tend to be crunchy, so if that puts you off in an omelette I'd suggest using something else instead. I love garlic and don't mind the crunch. The young garlic is milder than a full-grown bulb, but it still packs a garlic punch. We tried chopping it up on a pizza before, which was also nice, but I thought this omelette really showcased the flavors. For this omelette I used one real egg and 1/2 cup of fat-free egg substitute (I also like using one egg and two or three egg whites, if you don't trust eggs from a carton).
Anyhow, wine from a can... It's certainly not the best wine ever, but honestly I'm not much of a Chardonnay fan to begin with. It's definitely handy to keep around for making risotto, chicken dishes (I make a sort of chicken piccata with white wine sauce) and the like. And it's pretty good for drinking, although I don't recommend drinking straight from the can -- that produces a bizarre cognitive dissonance leaving you wondering what the hell happened to this soda. I thought this meal needed a little something to take it from brunch to an acceptable grown-up dinner, hence the wine. It went well with the rich, buttery and cheesy eggs, plus it took a little edge off the garlic. We bought it on sale from Marty's, one of the nicer liquor stores in this area that has a large selection. They also carry premium box wines, which have the same appeal of staying fresh and not requiring one to drink 750 mL in just a day or two.
