Breakfast for Dinner – Omelettes January 24, 2010
Posted by lonegamer in Cooking.trackback
So I came back from Japan safely back in November, cooked a bit, and didn’t bother to blog about it. I’ve made sushi twice and my stirfry once, using a new wok I got over Christmas. But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the omelettes, hashbrowns, and cinnamon toast I made for dinner tonight!
Going clockwise, there’s chopped genoa salami, tomato, Yukon gold potato, green onion, and cheddar cheese. The salami, tomato, and green onion went in a pan with some margarine and cooked over medium heat, becoming the filling for my omelettes.
The hashbrowns were straightforward. Chop the potatoes and put them in a pan with a little oil over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally after the first 10 minutes to prevent sticking and evenly cook the sides. Salt and pepper was to be added at the end, but I put it in after the first 10 minutes to draw out more flavour.
I’ve never made an omelette before so I wasn’t quite sure how to work with it. Once they started to cook and I wasn’t pushing liquid around I started to get a feel for them. On with the fillings!
The cinnamon toast was easy. Lightly toast the bread, apply margarine and a mix of cinnamon and white sugar, toast more.
Everything came out really well. I’m not normally an egg person but I would have this again and experiment with different fillings.
Margarine, though?
Oil, man, olive oil!
Olive oil is one of the less-healthy oils, isn’t it? I normally use grapeseed. Also I thought margarine was a good healthier substitute for the butter called for in the original recipes.
Olive oil’s actually one of the better oils to use for cooking out there. And yes, although margarine is a healthier substitute for butter, you use butter for the taste/flavour. You don’t need to use butter for omelettes though; olive oil (or any other cooking oil) is fine for that.
Also:
For omelettes, the way I generally do them is on high heat. You scramble your eggs, then pour them onto an oiled pan. Once they start forming up (ie. bottom’s done), you can turn down the heat, place your toppings in the centre, then fold the sides in, like you’ve done it. If you want the omelette to hold together better, try using cheese in your filling, although I guess that’s where your cheddar cheese went in the end.
Olive oil is great. Grapeseed is not too bad, although less good for vegans because it has a high omega-6 content which is preferentially absorbed by the body instead of omega-3 if you have too much of it. Some people are freaked about using too much oil in cooking, but generally this is a concern based in the amount of calories they get from fats. Generally “saturated” fats are the more artery-clogging variety, but those are mostly animal fats that are solid at room temperature (such as butter and fat from meat).
Olive oil is mono-unsaturated and generally much better for you. In my case, since my almost-vegan diet is very low in fat, I look for ways to increase my dietary fat with nuts and mono-unsaturated or poly-unsaturated oils.
Instead of margarine, I tend to look for non-hydrogenated spreads. Earth Balance is my favourite.
here’s a link with a little summary about types of fats: http://www.annecollins.com/good-fats-to-eat.htm