Omelettes

 

Omelettes are a topic on which volumes have been written and well deservedly so. There is something so fundamentally simple about them but when eating them I experience a sense of leisureliness and slow luxury. One needs to put a little time and thought into the preparation of a good omelette. The pan you use needs to especially suited to the task. The filling you choose should be of delicate flavours and not over shadow the egg flavour. Timing is also a consideration as one should eat an omelette as soon as it leaves the pan. 

To some this might all seem a bit overwhelming before tackling what is actually a very simple dish. But it should rather act as a reminder to slow down and take the proper care needed before tackling an omelette. 

A good non stick pan with sloped sides is almost essential to make a stress free omelette. I prefer to make individual omelettes or at most an omelette to be shared by two. For this you would need a small pan no bigger than 24cm in diameter. I would use two large eggs per person. I like to crack the eggs into a bowl and lightly combine them with a fork, but not beating them. I add a pinch of salt and perhaps some pepper and set it aside until ready for use. 

Before you start cooking you need to decide on your filling. This is a personal choice but I would advise to keep the flavours mild and not over fill the omelette. In the above image I used black mushrooms which I had lightly fried in butter, black pepper and a teaspoon of soya sauce. To this is I added fresh tomato, basil and little crumbled feta. 

Now you can start by heating the pan to medium high heat. This is a good time to start your toast if you are having it. Add a knob of butter and allow it cover the pan and sizzle until just before it starts to brown. Add the eggs and swirl them around to cover the bottom of the pan. If bubbles puff up under the egg, you can pierce the bubble and allow some raw egg to run into the whole and seal the gap. Once the egg is mostly cooked but still a little wet on top you can add the filling to one half of the omellete. Using a  non stick pan spatula, slide it under the unfilled part and flip it over the filling. Now you can gently slide your omelette on a plate, grab your toast and settle down to enjoy. 

Now to confuse matters more, there are two kinds of omelette to consider as well. The traditional french fold over omelette and the spanish omelette or frittata. But I will get into the frittata another time. 

A Spanish omelette or frittata

Sweet satisfaction!

I don't often eat sweet potatoes, but when I do, I like them to take center stage. Today is the perfect sweet potato day. It's grey and cold and I'm in the mood for comfort food. 


I like to eat the skins so I take care over washing and scrubbing them to avoid grit getting stuck on the skin. Using the rough end of a kitchen sponge is ideal for this. 


Baking them dry (no oil) in the oven is the best way to prepare them, but today I'm in quick fix mode, so I just popped them in the microwave until soft. Mine were really big so they took about 15 minutes at full heat. Then I simply slice them up, drench them in butter and seasoned then with salt and grated nutmeg (which is totally optional). Nothing more is required. This is perfection in a plate. 


I just ate an entire one for lunch and they were monsters. No sides, no accompaniments, just that. And I am feeling very happy right now. 

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Today I feeling totally all over the place. I have painters all over my house, I have a million things to do and none of them related to each other, the weather is miserable and all I feel like doing is crawling into bed and watching movies. Bleh! So in typical Thekla style I have been procrastinating and while doing that I came across an old video I made on how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. Now I'm totally inspired as they are sooooo delicious and fun to make! On my errands today I am going to pop past the Chinese store to stock up on ingredients. Yay!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Makes 10

100g of rice vermicelli noodles

¼ cucumber, julienned

Small bunch of spring onions, cut into diagonal pieces

Fresh coriander, mint and/or basil leaves, washed and picked

1 large carrot, julienned

1 cup of shredded cooked chicken breast, cooked prawns, duck or pork

100g peanuts, roughly chopped

10 Spring roll rice wrappers (the dehydrated kind)

Dipping sauce

¼ of a cup sweet chilli sauce

¼ of a cup soya sauce

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 cm of fresh ginger, finely chopped

Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water.

Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1 second to soften. Place the wrapper onto a plate and leave a few minutes until the wrapper is tender and pliable. In a row across the center, place a handful of vermicelli, fresh herbs and other ingredients leaving about 6cm uncovered on each side. Fold the uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper.

In a small bowl, mix the dipping sauce ingredients.

Mini cup cakes with nutella and caramel and topped with mini sweets

This afternoon I baked cupcakes with the housekeeper of a friend of mine. Her daughter has a tea party at school tomorrow and she needed to take cup cakes for the class. In my experience kids prefer sweets to cup cakes, so I suggested that we make mini cup cakes (about two bites worth of cake) and ice them with Nutella and caramel and decorate them with mini sweets. This way getting the best of both worlds. 


Most of the cup cakes were ready when the girls got back from school and they were besides themselves with excitement when they saw them! Luckily we had made extra so they could enjoy decorating and snacking on few today already. 

Vanilla cup cakes with caramel, nutella and sweets

Makes about 25 mini cup cakes

125g of butter (room temperature)

½ a cup of castor sugar

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp whole milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp of baking powder

1 cup of cake flour (sifted)

1 pinch of salt

caramel, nutella (or nussfit) at room temperature

mini sweets of choice for decorating.

Preheat the oven to 180C˚ and place the rack in the middle of the oven.

With a cake mixer, blend together the butter and castor sugar until light and creamy. Add to this the eggs, vanilla and milk and blend to combine. Add the baking powder, cake flour, salt and blend until smooth.

Place the cup cake papers into the holes of a muffin tin or on a baking . Spoon the mixture (or use piping bag, or zip lock bag with a corner trimmed off to make it easier) into the cup cake molds until they are about ¾ full. 

Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until golden and springy. 

Allow to cool before icing.

Soften the caramel and nutella by stirring it for a minute or two. Add a pinch of salt to the caramel. Spread a thick layer onto each cup cake with a knife and decorate with sweets.   

Quick and easy dinner.

I haven't been grocery shopping for my own house in ages. We got home late and felt like something quick but still healthy. So I whipped up a fabulous quick fix broth and it rocked. The broth I made with some procini stock paste, a touch of laska paste and a little of the paste that malay lime pickle comes marinated in - and a squeeze of lemon juice. To that I added shredded cabbage, sweet corn, mixed beans, fresh tomato and mushrooms right at the end. I garnished it with crumbled feta before eating two massive bowls.

No I am not pregnant - it really was delicious!

Off to make cupcakes now.

What a lovely surprise!

I got back yesterday from a three day private cooking job out on a farm with no cell reception. To my delight I found out that the new edition of Crush! online had been released on Friday and had in it an article I had written for them.

I simply love how this magazine is laid out and they have done such a fabulous job with the text and pictures I sent them. Go take a look by clicking here!

If you haven't read this magazine before, or for that matter an online magazine - note that there are all kind of tabs and animated buttons etc. Enjoy exploring this wonderful format!

Lunch like a tourist!

Last week I spontaneously met Adam for lunch in the company gardens behind where he works. Usually I pack a picnic for us when we do this but, as it was spontaneous, I didn't have time. The restaurants at tourist attractions are generally to be avoided, but it was such a sublime day we decided that lunch at the gardens restaurant would be worth the risk. 

The food was predictably ordinary but perfectly acceptable, and we were in our element - surrounded by the city buzz still audible but enveloped by vivid greens, crisp autumn light and the uplifting energy of people enjoying a well deserved holiday or simply a lunch break.