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Adventures in Omelettes

What is that??

That, my friends, is an omelet/omelette.  My FIRST omelette.  Now those of you who think I am some sort of gourmet cook will know the truth.  I have never made an omelette. We will address the fact that it looks like a burnt sock in the prose below.

The Lord of Shallots is out-of-town and I haven't really touched the stove. I say that it is "cooking for one" that I find difficult, but the truth may be that I don't enjoy cooking nearly as much when the person who does the dishes has left the building. That said, while I've had many lovely dining experiences in the past week, including trying the brand new West Bridge with my friend The Hungry Musicologist,  economics and the size of my waistline have motivated me to get back into the kitchen.

I have long felt some fairly intense shame in not making omelettes.  My father, who in addition to being a brilliant biologist, is an astoundingly good maker of omelettes and he set the bar high. In fact, I rarely have an omelette in a restaurant that tops my father's omelettes in taste or texture. But, when the Lord of Shallots is out-of-town, I occasionally cultivate my sense of culinary adventure, mostly because he won't be around to witness my reaction to failure.

So...while the picture above shows the bad and the ugly, I will tell you--it was good!  While perhaps a bit browner than it should be, the texture was quite excellent. The other side was even less attractive, due to the fact that I only managed to fold it about 3/4 of the way, instead of completely and evenly in half. What's in it?  Well:

I started with this recipe, mostly because it covered a lot of what I had purchased at the farmers market. I didn't make any adjustments to the recipe except for adding salt and pepper to the egg mixture and adding a bunch of fresh herbs (tarragon, parsley and chives). Oh, and I used mozzarella instead of swiss (mostly due to the fact that I couldn't find pre-grated swiss and I can only aim so high when not terribly motivated to cook in the first place).

So: crabmeat, mozzarella, chives, tarragon and parsley.  Great combination! But here's where I call upon those more knowledgeable and experienced in omelette making.  The recipe calls for whisked egg yolks folded into fluffy egg whites. While I am not opposed to egg separation, is this necessary? I don't remember my father ever separating the whites from the yolks, and I'm not so sure I was thrilled with the final product in that it was difficult to keep the whites and the yolks together when they were supposed to be. I look forward to any thoughts you might have.

Oh, and it is nice to be back!

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