Denver Omelette, Sid's way

I have no idea why I've been craving a Denver Omelette lately.  I'm really not particularly fond of them, but I wanted one today.  It used to be one of my sister's favourite omelettes, that she would order all the time at a restaurant we used to go to called the Totem Restaurant.  Which no longer exists, sigh.   I even worked there for a very brief period of time.   And when I find the recipe for the 'best ever' bran muffins we used to make there, I'll share it.
It's somewhere in one of my recipe files, you know the old fashioned ones, printed on paper, usually handwritten in faded ink on a scrap of paper. 

But for today, I just made the Denver omelette the way I remember it served there.
Well, mostly like it.

I added some lovely baby Bella Mushrooms, and the last of the garlic scapes from my pot, and a sprinkling of chives. 

Cause, I'm the cook and I can do it my way, so there.

Recipe:  Denver Omelette      Serves two

4 eggs, separated, with the whites whisked together
1 slice bacon diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
2 slices ham diced
5 mushrooms diced
1-2 oz. cheese ( I prefer Colby Jack)


Basically I just diced up equal amounts of green pepper, onions, ham and mushrooms.  

I then diced up one slice of bacon and let that cook for a few minutes,

then added the veggies and ham.  Cooked that for a couple of minutes,

 See you can tell it's cooking away there, cause of the steam on the camera lens.

set it aside while I whisked two egg whites, then folded in the yolks.  This was per person, I'm not coordinated enough to do 4 eggs at once.

  If you do this, you get a lighter, fluffier omelette.
Poured them into a well buttered pan, added the veggie/ham mixture,

put a lid on it for a couple of minutes, then turned it over and added some cheese,

folded it and served with some scapes and chives.

 

 And another sprinkling of cheese.  

And yes, I know I used the same picture twice in one post.
I thought it deserved a second look.
And it was good.  I think my sister would have approved.  

Cookbooks and Musings...

I have a few cookbooks, not all that many really, they only take up three shelves on my bookshelf.
I guess I could count how many, but really, why?

I don't care. 

Well, I guess I do, cause I just counted.  I have 102 cookbooks, but I'm also counting the little booklet cookbooks.  You know the ones you buy as an impulse at the checkout in the grocery store.  But I never look at them anymore, they're mostly full of pre-made convenience items.   And I just don't use them.
 
A few years ago I had a self imposed moratorium on purchasing any 'new' cookbooks, I decreed that any 'new' cookbooks coming into the house had to pre-date 1965, kind of a arbitrary date, but I was comfortable with that.  I like to cook, but really, all the shortcuts, pre-made and convenience foods that were featured in so many new cookbooks, they're just not for me. 

Well, I've purchased three cookbooks in the past few months.

But I had a good excuse.

They all had recipes in them that I wanted to make.  And I was tired of taking pictures of pages of recipe books.   I'm still hunting some other cookbooks I spotted at my other sisters' place, they're all in Danish and I just have to find the right place that sells them. 

The first book was one I spotted at one of my sisters'.

It's called "100 Best Classic Tapas."


Excuse me?

We host a Tapas Night every month, and when I leafed through her book, I spotted a few recipes that would be fun and easy and totally in character for Tapas Night.    So I bought it, and have been having fun going through it and marking recipes I want to try.  And so many of them are just simple, easy and look as if they are delicious.









Then, after staying at my brother's place, and tasting his wonderful danish potato salad, and taking pictures of the recipes I wanted from one of his cookbooks, I decided, oh gee, it might be fun to see if I could find the book online.   I did and bought it.
 Cooking with a Danish Flavour.
And I immediately went through it and bookmarked a few recipes.    Including one that he had made and served.   But when I made it, Danish Potato Salad, , I used some rather colorful baby potatoes, all pink and golden and then covered them with sauce and you couldn't see the pretty pink and gold.  Oh well.
If you can't have fun in the kitchen...






And then the last one, well.  There is a group on Facebook who kept talking about this other cookbook, called the Dairy Book of Home Cookery.    They raved about it.  But all of them agreed the older cookbook was the better one.   So I got it.  And while I'm just now reading it, it was a great choice.  I've learned a lot from it already, and have started bookmarking recipes.

Now the funny part, is that two of the three were published in 1978, the Tapas one is 2010.  But not one of them features convenience foods.

So I guess I broke my own rule.

But, since it was my rule, I get to break or bend it a little.

Now, please excuse me, I need to go finish looking up recipes, and see if I can figure out a good one to make for Boat Club on Monday.
My brain's tired and I need inspiration.  And besides which, it is the weekend and I'm kinda taking a busmans' holiday.  

Healthy Corn Dip

Since  I was going to NPA this week, I thought I would try making this Healthy Corn Dip.  I was originally going to make it for my Secret Recipe Club offering, but life and time got in the way and I just didn't get it done.  But it looked good.  I got the original recipe here at This Mama Cooks.

I used one of the frozen jalapeno's I always have on hand for the jalapeno in this dish.  It was a little, ummm. spicy, so if you're not a fan of 'hot' food, back off on the jalapeno.   I also used some of the fresh garlic 'scapes' I've been growing instead of the green onions, they added a nice touch.  
 

In a large skillet heat the olive oil and add the corn over a medium heat, stirring until it starts to brown just a little.  Add the onion and peppers stir until tender, about 6-7 minutes. 

You want the onion just starting to get translucent.
Add the garlic scapes, mayonnaise, sour cream and cheese,

stirring until it's all heated and bubbly and the cheese has melted into the corn.   You can season with a little salt and pepper at this point if you like.

I served it with some corn chips, but there were some pita chips there as well, and it tasted good with them as well.
I will be making this again.

Yield: 6-8 servingsAuthor: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking (adapted from This Mama Cooks)

Healthy Corn Dip

prep time: 10 MINScook time: 10 MINStotal time: 20 mins

This is a fun, somewhat healthy corn dip to bring along to a cookout, or anyplace you need a good nibble.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper (I used a green bell as they were less than a third the cost of the red peppers)
• 1/2 cup chopped garlic 'scapes'
• 1 whole chopped frozen jalapeno
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup low fat sour cream
• 2/3 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
• opt: salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large skillet heat the olive oil and add the corn over a medium heat, stirring until it starts to brown just a little. Add the onion and peppers stir until tender, about 6-7 minutes. You want the onion just starting to get translucent. Add the garlic scapes, mayonnaise, sour cream and cheese, stirring until it's all heated and bubbly and the cheese has melted into the corn. You can season with a little salt and pepper at this point if you like. Serve with Corn chips or Pita Chips.

Created using The Recipes Generator

I didn't 'stage' it really well, as I was running out of time, as usual, and wanted to get it done so we could leave.   I think this could also be baked with a nice sprinkle of cheese on top, but really, it was just so good as is.

Popeye Omelette (aka Spinach and Mushroom Omelette)

Quite a few years back, we used to live in Malibu and every so often we'd go out to breakfast at the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe.   You could sit outside and watch the ocean or people watch, whichever your preference was.  I used to love watching the seagulls divebombing the trays the waitstaff carried, and make off with the butter, never the toast, just the butter.  For some reason they never buttered the toast there.  And it was always fun watching newbies watch the show.  They could not believe their eyes as the seagulls would fly down, hover for a second or so, and then pick up whatever they fancied off of the trays.
They had a couple of specials there that I liked, the Coconut Macadamia Pancakes were to die for, sigh.  But I think my fave was this omelette.   It was so simple and so good.   And I can never quite re-create it, but I'm still trying.   I'm almost there, but I decided not to wait until I could show you the 'perfect' omelette, cause frankly this is too good not to share.    I don't put bacon in mine, but you could if you like.  I just like the trinity of Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese.

Recipe:  Spinach and Mushroom Omelette
2 eggs, beaten with
1 tablespoon heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste, either before you cook it or after, I don't care.
1 teaspoon butter or non stick spray

2 teaspoons water, divided

4 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms, baby bellas work great here
1 cup fresh spinach
1-2 oz. sliced Colby Jack or Monterey Jack Cheese (or whatever kind you like)

Over medium heat, saute the mushrooms, til just done, pour egg over top, then layer the spinach leaves on top. Add one teaspoon water, then cover and let sit for just a minute or two until the eggs set. 

Then flip over and layer on the cheese,

add the second teaspoon of water . Cover with a lid, just about thirty seconds or so.  Fold over and tip out onto a plate.   Or if you're like me, carefully loosen the omelette, and place onto a plate.  Serve with sourdough toast.

Essential Tools: Part Two

Everyone has favourites.  Whether it's tools or toys or, gee, even people.

And I'm no exception.

I have my favourite toys that I use in the kitchen.  They may not be all that fancy, or even pretty, but I use them on a regular basis.

Starting with my thermometers.   I used to just use your basic one, you know the kind you plunk it into the meat, and when the little arrow points to the general temp range you pull it out and figure it's done.  I still use mine from time to time.  But I got a little bit more sophisticated when a friend gave me my first instant read thermometer, and I'm now on my third one.  I managed to destroy melt one, accidentally, and the second, didn't survive a dunking in sinkful of hot soapy water.   Whoops.  But an instant read thermometer is a great tool, especially when you're cooking steak. 

I also have a wired one, which I use to monitor my Prime Rib roasts as well as Turkey or any kind of roast.   I love this, and so long as I remember to replace the batteries in a timely fashion, I can continue to rely on it.  If you don't replace batteries, or leave it on and let the batteries run down, it can skew the readings.

I like having choices.

I love my mechanical kitchen scale.  I don't have to worry about batteries with this one.
I use it when I'm baking a lot of my danish recipes.  I can weigh out grams or ounces or even pounds with this. 

I bought some silicone spatulas awhile back, they were so handy I went and bought a second pack and I use them everywhere.  I don't have to worry about melting them in a pan, I can slip them under a frying egg and loosen it, I can fold egg whites into a batter, I can stir stuff with them.  And they go into the dishwasher like a dream.

And the other purply blue things.  They're a silicone ice cube tray.  And they work great.  My sister had some and I had to copy her and get some myself.  She uses them to freeze leftover wine, so I copied here and did the same thing.  Gotta say, it's nice to just have a cube or two or white or red wine to add some 'oomph' to a recipe.

And now for my other fun stirring type objects.
From the left, a bamboo spoon, I use this one to lightly toss the rice when I'm making Sushi, well, California Rolls.
Next in line is another one of my workhorses, a wooden spatula. I actually have several of these.  Great for stirring, or unsticking stuff.
My angled wooden spoon.  I'm not saying how long I've had this.  It just works great with that angled edge for making sure you get everything stirred together. In other words, it gets into the corners.
And last, and most certainly not least.  The wooden spoon/stirrer my dad made and I prize.  I use it to stir together any heavy doughs.   At least until I can get them into the kitchenaid and let it do the rest of the mixing. 

Well, that's it for this week.  I have lots more stuff to share.  Well, toys, tools,  that is.

Tools, that's what they are, tools.

I do have some toys as well.