October 6, 2014

French Souffle Omelette

Who doesn’t love eggs? Most of of us, as they are nutritious and also quick to prepare. I started eating eggs when I was almost in 3-4 grade. There is a reason I hadn’t tried eggs until. My mom is a strict vegetarian. Eggs were not even allowed in our house. But, there was a time when due to political reasons my dad had to stay in a secured place and that was his company guest house (sounds like a perfect bollywood movie). We had cops sitting outside our house to protect us. That’s when we would visit my dad because he could hardly come home to see us and we would stay overnight with him on weekends and by the time Monday came we would be back to home as schools can’t be missed. That’s when we got to eat omelettes that the chefs prepared for his breakfast. So, we got addicted to having omelettes. But, even today we have never prepared one at my mom’s home.

The rebel in me at that time, I started bringing once in a while eggs into the house for various purposes like using it as face mask or baking into cakes even though my mom didn’t like it.
When I moved to US, most of the times my husband would only make eggs whether it is this ‘Bhurjee” or omelette or any other breakfast with eggs. I would feel more comfortable using eggs in baked goods but savory eggs was kind of his department.

We love going out to have brunch. I think brunch is my favorite meal. And, one of our favorite place is The original pancake house. They serve delicious breakfast and brunch and no one can beat their Santa Fe omelette. The omelette is perfectly baked , yes it is a bakes omelette with nice amount of heat from the jalapenos, balanced by cheese, we like to add feta to it and then it is topped with a chimichurri sauce which give a nice herbal note.

I have tried to come up with recipe after many trials which close to the one that we love but not the same. I feel making a perfect omelette is a piece of art and eggs are personal, everyone likes them differently. Some like them gooey and soft. Some well done.

Ingredients:

3 Large eggs, separated

1/2 cup of milk

1/4- 1/2 cup of feta, you can use any kind of cheese

Some chopped vegetables like onions, green and red bell peppers, tomatoes.

1 – 2 jalapenos, seeds removed and chopped

1 tablespoon dried herbs like oregano, basil

Salt to taste and black pepper

Method:

Chop the vegetables in medium size. Then, take egg whites in a separate bowl and with the help of a blender whip the whites until they double in size and almost become white like the way we make meringue. Leave it aside till we assemble other ingredients.

In another bowl, take the yolks and whisk them for few minutes till they become fluffy and add the milk, season it well with herbs and salt and pepper.

Add chopped vegetables to the yolk mix and then fold in the whites slowly and gradually till they are mixed.

Meanwhile, heat a nonstick pan and add a dollop of butter and throw the egg mix into it and let it cook at medium heat. Top it with crumbled feta and keep it in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes at 300 F until the top is cooked and doubled in size.