Oven-baked Omelettes

[ViolentPanda]

When I make a spanish omelette, I tend to fry them the traditional way. The one's I was referring to aren't like spanish omelettes/tortillas.

To be a crustless quiche wouldn't it have to have cream or milk in?

To be a "proper" quiche at all it should have cream in, apparently.

 

[Maggot]

My former landlady, a fiery Andalusian bint, taught me that you part-fry the veggie component on a gentle to medium in yer frying pan, pour on your light and fluffy egg mix, give it a few minutes for the bottom to "set", and then stick it in the oven (if you have a decent metal-handled frying pan) or under a low grill (if your frying pan has a placcy handle).

My Basque ex-girlfriend would seriously disagree with your Andalucian former landlady! You fry the omelette until the bottom is cooked, then invert it by putting a large plate over the pan and tipping it out. You then slide it back in the pan (with a bit more oil) and fry the other side.

 

[Greta]

To be a "proper" quiche at all it should have cream in, apparently.

Cream, traditionally, but can have milk in it to lower fat. Maggot, don't you put a bit of at least milk, or minimally water (ugh) in your omelet? Otherwise it's just tarted up scrambled egg hard cooked.

 

[pembrokestephen]

So Maggot's egg abomination deserves no elegant foreign moniker but the nasty name of crustless quiche

What a quiche is made with is generally called a custard, isn't it? Admittedly, it's a savoury custard, but the Maggot creation doesn't sound as if it quite makes it under the quiche bar, either (not that that invalidates it as a potentially perfectly palatable dish in its own right!).

I'm a bit all at sea on the finer details of Iberian egg cuisine, so the distinction between tortilla and frittata's lost on me, but I'm struggling to see what the benefit of Maggot's method over chucking the whole lot in a pan, then finishing it under the grill, is - given that my oven takes about 10-15 mins to get hot, vs about 5 for the grill, I'd want to see some fairly convincing advantage to baking it to be persuaded...

My version of a "spanish" omelette would be...fry up a load of chopped onion in olive oil/butter mix, add slices of leftover boiled spuds and fry until hot and a bit crispy (not the mod). Meanwhile, very slightly beat up 3-4 eggs (ie break the yolks and stir 'em) and season, and grate some cheese. Also find out where whoever last used the herbs put them (the label says "Herbes du Provence", so they could be under H for herbs, P for Provence, or M for Mixed Herbs, grrr). At least we're not trying to find the Medium Madras Curry Powder (or Powder, Curry, Madras Medium as it tends to get filed under ). Put the grill on about now...

Once the herbs have been located, look for leftover veg in fridge. Peas, beans, sweetcorn are all good here, but I've thrown aubergine (cooked) and courgette in before now). Sweet peppers are also very good.

When onion and spud nicely done, shove the other vegetables in and get them warmed up a bit/cooked to taste. Then pour in the eggy mixture. Tilt pan and push side of omelette up to mix in onion and spud, also to get runny bit on top to escape round bottom and get cooked.

Keep going on a reasonable (hot, but not ludicrous) heat until eggy bit looking fairly non-runny, but before bottom gets too well done (burned is not good, well browned is fine). At this point, sprinkle your herbs on top, followed by the grated cheese, and pop the pan under the grill. Be a little wary, if your pan has a plastic handle, not to let the handle experience the warm glow of the grill. Trust me on this.

When the cheese is as melted/cooked as you like, remove from grill, and serve. Be a bit careful with sharp implements if you're cutting up the omelette in the pan, particularly if it's an non-stick pan, trust me, etc.

Yum. Goes quite well with baked beans, in my experience. If you've done it properly, you've put every vegetable you own into the omelette, so you'll be stuck for thinking of something to have as a side vegetable...

And not an oven in sight.

 

[Biddlybee]

You file your herbs? Tell us more...

Oh, and I want that for dinner now!!

 

[sheothebudworths]

Omelettes at dawn

My Basque ex-girlfriend would seriously disagree with your Andalucian former landlady!

<hands out guns and checks stride length for a firm but fair surburban fight>

 

[pembrokestephen]

You file your herbs? Tell us more...

Oh, and I want that for dinner now!!

Erm, yeah, well, I have 7 shelves of home-made spice rack, screwed to the wall. It needed some kind of system, and having just discovered all kinds of latent obsessive-compulsive tendencies (17 years living with a half-German for ya - it IS contagious ), I had to have some kind of system.

So we have two shelves' worth of "overflow" (top shelf, large jars of stuff), and the remaining 5 are alphabetically ordered, yay

Except some times people cheat and don't put 'em back, or do it in a funny order...

(I should admit to a small amount of self-parody in that previous post, though)

 

[guinnessdrinker]

<hands out guns and checks stride length for a firm but fair surburban fight>

please don't bring the ETA into it

 

[Guineveretoo]

Apparently, you can make omelettes in the George Forman grill thingies. But only the one that has the interchangeable plates, not the cheap imitation one I have!

So, neither fried nor baked!

 

[pembrokestephen]

Apparently, you can make omelettes in the George Forman grill thingies. But only the one that has the interchangeable plates, not the cheap imitation one I have!

So, neither fried nor baked!

I have a panini grill thing. I wonder if that would make an omelette?

*wonders, could this be the start of an Unfeasible Omelette Cookery thread?*

I've made bread on big flat bits of stainless steel laid on a BBQ, but only cos I saw Arabs doing a similar thing in the Middle East...but barbeque'd omelette? I think we rule out microwaved ones as abominations, though...