A Fresh Country Omelet

We haven’t made many omelets lately, but with an abundance of eggs and some great fresh stuff from the garden, it seemed like the thing to do. Frank and I both worked in restaurants for a number of years in the past. When we got married, we were both in college, working as a waitress and dishwasher at the same very small cafe. It helped pay the bills and in the long run, taught us a few things about cooking. You might be interested to know that Frank taught me to cook. Regular meals, that is. I learned to bake bread, how to make a good pie crust and some canning skills at my mother’s elbow, but how to get everything in a meal to come out at the same time, I learned from Frank. The story is that I could burn water when we first got married. Luckily for us both, that has changed, and I really like to cook, and usually ban him from that task. 

When we looked around at the ingredients we had from the garden, we realized they would make a very tasty omelet. I started off with a little ground pork seasoned with salt and pepper.

To that I added an onion and a sweet pepper and let them cook for a bit. 

While they were cooking, I stirred up 3 eggs in a bowl for the first omelet. We used to have an omelet pan many years ago, but it had teflon in it. After a while every teflon pan we had would chip or get scratched and we didn’t like the idea of eating teflon, so we got rid of them. It took a while, but now I can flip an omelet in my stainless steel skillet, just about as well as using an omelet pan. We bought a set of these stainless steel pans over 30 years ago when we got married and they are still working fine. I seldom use the skillet anymore, because after I finally learned how to use and take care of my cast iron skillet (it took me a number of years), I use it almost exclusively now. Over time we bought extra handles for our stainless steel pans, and we’ve replaced the ones on our saucepans at least once. They get used just about everyday and by this time, I hope to never change to any others. You know after a while you get rather set in your ways about some things and just don’t care to change them, right? The only advice I have about flipping omelets is that you will have to practice. I have had many land on the stove, the floor, my wrist or just kind of land in a blob in the pan. It takes practice and patience. I don’t use a spatula or anything, just a quick jerk of the pan. 

Right before both sets of eggs were ready, I added the tomatoes to the meat mixture. I didn’t really want to cook them in, just heat them through.

We have enjoyed several omelets lately. There is no end to the possible combinations of ingredients that can be used. They are great with the salsa we made last summer as well. But, I guess the best thing about it is the fact that all of the ingredients we used came from our place,

except the meat, which came from a family down the road. I hope we never lose that feeling of wonder and joy at eating what comes from our small patch of earth here, it is such a humbling feeling. And guess what? We got our first brown egg from one of our young Australorps hens, which is always a treat. Like waiting for that first squash, potato or green bean of the season, we always wait for that first pullet egg like kids in a candy store. It’s the simple things in life that bring the most pleasure and satisfaction. Life is good.

Until next time – Fern