Fluffy one-egg omelette

It’s only called a one-egg omelette as that’s what I made … it could quite as easily be adapted to be a two- or three-egg omelette if you prefer, of course.

Until recently I hadn’t even thought about fluffy omelettes, but when I was about 13 or 14 years old, my friend Emma and I were obsessed with them!

I have no idea why but we had a phase of making them all the time. Whoever’s house we were at after school we’d be raiding the egg bowl and seeing what there was in the fridge in the way of cheese and/or ham or whatever that we could add to make our perfect cloud-like omelettes.

I liked it best if we were at Emma’s house as she had ponies we could go and visit in the stables afterwards.

Anyway, the omelette.

The ‘secret’ of a fluffy omelette is simple: just separate the white from the yolk and whisk up the white until it’s stiff and almost forming peaks (as cookery books always say. This always makes me wonder who first came up with the analogy of peaks, as it does when I read - or write - about a thumb-sized piece of ginger).

I whisk the whites with an electric whisk now but back when I was a teenager we did that work by hand, passing the bowl back and forth to swap as our arms got tired).

Remember that when separating yolks and whites that you absolutely can’t have any of the yolk in the white, not a single drop, or the whites won’t ever whisk into those peaks.

if you do - as I did with my first attempt today - end up with a little yolk in the white you’re just going to have to put them back into a bowl together to use tomorrow in a non -fluffy omelette instead (or for scrambled eggs or something else of course).

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So … for this omelette I used:

1 egg, white and yolk separated

Salt and pepper

a knob of butter (oh there’s another of those cooking analogies!)

grated cheddar cheese but any cheese or ham or cooked vegetables like tomatoes or mushrooms would work well

something to serve alongside if liked - I have chilli jam but so many sauces would be really good.

Also you could have this with a good hunk of bread and butter together with a salad if you wanted something a bit more substantial.

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Add a little salt and pepper to the egg yolk and whisk with a fork until is combined.

Next whisk the whites either by hand or - much more easily - with an electric whisk until they have come together in little mountain ranges - or peaks if you prefer.

Stir the yolk mixture into the whites mixture and stir gently to combine, not adding too much air to deflate the whites.

Put a non-stick pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter or a little slosh of olive oil if you prefer.

When it’s hot, add the egg mixture and smooth into the pan.

After a few seconds, grate some cheese over the omelette or add in your cooked veg or meat or ham. I added a little more black pepper too.

Let it cook on a medium heat for maybe 2-3 minutes but keep checking in on lifting the edges - as if it burns, it will do so fast, so keep on top of it -and lift under the edges as well to see how it’s browning underneath.

Then take the pan off the heat and place under a hot grill. Leave the top to cook for a minute - perhaps a few seconds more but it won’t need more than that.

Remove pan from under the grill and flip half of the omelette over the other half.

Serve immediately with a sauce or sauces and/or with bread and salad.

When Emma and I made these- I’ve literally just remembered that we were also mad about chives at that time and always running to the garden to get some either to add to the cheese filling or to snip onto the top to make it look pretty.

I wish I’d added some chives to mine too! When I next make it I will.

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Simplest curried eggs

Just a nice, easy change on my usual breakfast of a couple of eggs, adding in some favourite curry flavours ... and I do love curry with eggs, specifically this eggs in coconut masala.

So just for one person's two-egg brekkie, this is what you need.

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2 eggs, boiled and peeled (to cook them so they're done but still soft inside - bring a saucepan of water + a pinch of salt to the boil, then carefully lower in the room-temperature eggs and boil for six minutes precisely, then remove from heat and immediately plunge into cold water to stop them cooking further)

cooking oil

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes

1/2 tsp ground cumin 

1/2 tsp turmeric

Or substitute the cumin and turmeric if you don't have them for garam masala, paprika or curry powder instead.

A good grind each of black pepper and salt

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Once the eggs are cooked and peeled, they'll probably be quite soft, so handle with care! 

Carefully cut a few slits longways into the white of the egg but very shallow, nowhere near cutting the egg through.

Put a little non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a tablespoon or so of cooking oil, swirl to coat and then add the chilli, spices, salt and pepper.

Stir to combine then add the eggs, turning to coat in the beautiful spices and shake and turn in the pan for about a minute. If it looks like it might be sticking add the tiniest splash of water.

And that's it ... cut the eggs in half and top with a few slices of red chilli and/or fresh coriander leaves, as liked.

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Coconut milk, noodles + eggs (perfect for a cold day)

And then from what seemed like finally spring ... we were blasted back to winter overnight, and it snowed all day.

So I wanted a really warming, nourishing brunch and came up with this - I'll definitely be having it again too! 

Quantities are kind of up to you and how much you want to eat of course, but I had leftover from the night before half a tin of coconut milk and half the nest of rice noodles (ready soaked and in the fridge) so that's what I used.

Cook eggs by carefully lowering into a saucepan of boiling water (with a pinch of salt) and boil for exactly six minutes, then drain and pour lots of cold water in to stop them cooking any further.

Into a non-stick frying pan with a spray of cooking oil, I added:

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

1 green chilli, diced very fine (use more or less chilli of course, to your taste)

1 piece of ginger, peeled and grated

Cook for just a few seconds, stirring all the time, until you can start to smell the delicious flavours, and then add the coconut milk and 1/2 teaspoon garam masala.

Bring slowly to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add vegetables - I had some asparagus tips and broccoli - cook for another couple of minutes and then add the rice noodles.

Add a tiny pinch of sugar, a dash of fish sauce and cook for another minute or two, stirring often, until the vegetables are done and the noodles hot all through.

Tip out into a bowl and top with the eggs and a few drops of light soy sauce.  I added a slice of red chilli too but just to make it look pretty really! 

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Thai-style salade nicoise

I had eggs and I had tuna and I had green beans.

So it was looking like a salade nicoise ... but I was STILL hankering after my favourite salad dressing of the moment, which goes with EVERYTHING!

I've had it with roast beef, with sliced steak, with chicken.

Why not with tuna and egg?

Here's how to make my Thai-style version of a (kind of) salade nicoise (give or take the lettuce, olives, potatoes, French dressing ...) for two.

For the dressing, mix together to dissolve the sugar:

1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1/2 small garlic clove, minced very fine

1-2 teaspoons sugar, to your taste

the juice of 1 juicy lime

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

For the salad, whatever you like really!

I had tomatoes, spring onions, courgette (cored and sliced with a julienne peeler), cucumber (peeled and diced), radishes, green pepper.

What makes it really good is also to have some chopped fresh mint and coriander (or parsley if you don't like coriander) leaves.

Oh, and toast some almond flakes in a dry pan ready to add to the finished dish.

For the tuna - I decided I wanted the tuna to be spicy rather than all the salad or the dressing:

1 tin tuna, mixed with a few drops of soy sauce, a squeeze of lime juice and a finely diced red chilli (just use a few slices or half a chilli if you don't want it too hot).

And finally, you'll need:

some fine green beans

2 eggs

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Put a pan of water on to heat, add a pinch of salt and when boiling carefully add the eggs.

After two minutes add the green beans and boil for a further four minutes.

Immediately remove from the heat and rinse and rinse in cold water to prevent the eggs or beans cooking further, then set aside.

Combine all the salad ingredients, add the salad dressing and mix - I just use my (clean!) hands to scrunch it all together.

Put the green beans on top, then the tuna mixture and peel, halve and add the eggs.

Top with the toasted almonds and a little freshly ground black pepper.

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