Scrambled Shrimp Omelette

This blog truly promotes healthy food, and healthy eating habits. As part of that, we are also for choosing fresh and organic food, if available. Fresh food, meaning, we have to consume the produce and fresh food we buy as soon as possible.

But of course, sometimes, I goof up. Sometimes, tiny little bags of 'I don't know what' gets pushed to the back of the freezer, and promptly forgotten. Just like this tiny bag of shrimps! I probably used some of the bunch a few weeks ago, and then poof! Good thing it reappeared today :) Actually, I make it a habit every week to check what else I have forgotten inside the "deep freeze." Or else, these little bags may never surface at all!




So, I am making this shrimp dish for the Deep Freeze Summer Challenge, year 2 by Chris of Mele Cotte.






When using frozen shrimp, sometimes we are not sure if they will turn "fishy" (malansa) when cooked. You know, they might not smell fresh anymore. The same may be true for other frozen seafood. So, what do we do to remove the "fishy" possibility? Let me share with you a trade secret. We can immerse the shrimps and/or the fish in Chinese cooking wine first. Take a bowl, put in the shrimps, and pour in the Chinese cooking wine. Make sure all the meat are covered. Marinate for around 15 to 30 minutes. Drain the wine and cook the seafood as usual. :) The fishy smell will be gone!

What to do with the small amount of shrimps? I turned it into an omellete. How uncreative can I be? Actually, we love omelette. Omelettes are very versatile. We can have them any time of the day. So Omelette it is.

I have shared with you our family secret regarding cooking soft, fluffy omelettes. You may want to refer to the post again. That is also the technique I used here. Only, I made a scrambled version today.


1/4 Kilo shrimps, shelled
2 T canola oil
2 eggs
2 T milk
salt and pepper to taste
4 T julienned carrots
4 T chopped green onions


1. Marinate defrosted shrimps in cooking wine, as described above.

2. Beat the eggs with the milk and salt and pepper. Beat very well and for a long time. Then add in the shrimps, carrots and green onions. Mix everything very well.

3. Heat up the oil in a non-stick skillet. Pour in the egg mixture. When the bottom (of the omelette) is starting to set, push the eggs around with a spatula. Keep pushing all the eggs while cooking, until all the eggs and shrimps are cooked.


Simple, fast, easy, yummy!





Also sharing this dish to the 101 Omelet Recipes launched by Sangeeth of the Art of Indian Cooking.

Secrets of Making a Good Omelet

The picture above was actually taken in January, during my early days of blogging. It was an early attempt at food styling. Original post here. Whether we, food bloggers admit it or not, we do take a whole lot of effort to present delicious food pictures for the blog. Which is not often the case when we present everyday food for our families. Shhh, don't tell. :) Anyway, one thing good about blogging is that now, I am trying to present food "beautifully" to my family, to encourage the kids to eat more; whereas before, I would just dump all the food in the serving plate... :)

Back to Omelets. Do you know that I used to spell Omelet as Omelette? And I thought that was the correct spelling, until the spell-check function of blogger informed me that was wrong. Maybe that is the way French spell it? Does not "omelette" sound more sophisticated than "omelet?" :) Anyway, since this blog is in English, I better stick to Omelet.

Omelet is a very versatile food. If you cannot decide what to cook, just cook an omelet! If there are left-overs in the fridge, cook them in an omelet. At least that is what my grandmother used to do. That is why we always have trays of eggs in the house at any given time.

How do you prefer your omelet? What do you consider a good omelet? For my family, there are two factors. One, the filling should be healthy, a combination of meat and vegetables. Two, the egg should be soft, moist, fluffy and tasty; not hard nor dry.

The fillings are easy enough, you can just combine whatever ingredients you have on hand, season them according to the taste you prefer. If you're an omnivore, add lots of meat. If you're a vegetarian, you can limit your fillings to your veggies. That is how versatile this omelet is!

The secret of making a good omelet is in the cooking of eggs! That is, if you want soft, moist, fluffy and tasty eggs...

For reference, the original recipe of the Ham Omelet can be found here.

Secret No 1. Before cooking, add a dollop of cream or milk into the beaten eggs, and beat like crazy. :) The more air that is incorporated into the egg, the fluffier it is going to be. Cream makes the eggs, well, creamier, richer, tastier and moist.

Secret No 2. Slowly cook the eggs. Cook the eggs in low fire, scatter the filling ingredients on top of the "still-cooking" eggs and wait for the omelet to set. This might take as long as 15 minutes, but it is going to be worth the wait, I assure you.

Secret No 3. Since we like our omelets to be cheesy, choose good quality mozarella cheese. This will provide the chewy, gooey texture. Omit this step if you do not like cheese.


That is our family secret recipe, handed down by my grandmother. She still has some more egg recipes that I want to share (So please watch out for those!)



This post (with the original post here) will be joining Sangeeth's 101 Omelet Recipes. If you have omelet recipes you want to share, please check out her invitation to the 101 Omelet Recipes. :)

Ham Omelette

Hubby and I usually enjoy heavy breakfasts as we believe this would jump-start our day with enough energy needed for our everyday tasks. We received a lot of hams this holiday season. (Thank you very much to all our friends and families who shared the blessings of the season with us.) So, I thought of making Ham Omelet.

This Omelette recipe is very versatile. You can add any topping you want. Sometimes, I would just add sliced olives, chopped mushrooms and sliced bell pepper for a healthy vegetable omelette. Sometimes, I would use the left-over chicken or pork from the previous night dinner. For a real treat, I would stir fry some de-shelled shrimps in garlic and olive oil and use this as topping. I usually use grated mozarella cheese in my omelette as this would melt and provide a nice chewy texture. But I think the regular grated cheddar cheese would do as well. Enjoy!

Omelette

2 eggs
2 T cream (but I usually use fresh milk)
1 T chopped garlic
2 T sliced onion
2 T diced bell peppers
3 T sliced button mushrooms
4 T diced tomatoes
4 T grated mozarella cheese
4 T diced cooked ham (substitute with cooked shrimps,or chicken or pork)
salt and pepper

1. In a bowl, whip eggs with fork. Add the cream or milk. This gives eggs a fluffy mixture. You can omit this if you want less calories. Season with salt and pepper. Please take note that cooked ham is already salty, so you might want to lessen the salt in this case. Continue whipping until well blended.

2. Pour egg mixture into a warm non-stick skillet. You can put a little oil first to prevent sticking. Spread the egg mixture evenly over the pan, lower the heat and maintain low heat throughout cooking.

3. Spread the ham over egg mixture, then all the rest of the ingredients, with mozarella cheese last. Cook slowly until eggs are set.

4. Fold egg over, serve warm, topped with grated cheese, if desired.


This omelette is quite versatile because you can use whatever topping ingredients you prefer, and in any amount you prefer. My listing of the ingredients above is just an estimate. For example, you do not particularly like garlic, then you may lessen the amount or totally omit it. Or if you prefer more tomatoes, then simply add more. If I am making an omelette for hubby, I have to put in more mushrooms. But for the kids, I have to totally omit the mushrooms. This recipe is also a good way to recycle the left-overs.


Update: August 27, 2008

I think Omelette spelled with the "tte" at the end is the French spelling. That is how I usually spell Omelette, until the google spell-checker suggested "Omelet" without the additional "tte." Since we are writing in English, maybe I should stick to the "Omelet"... but I don't know, "Omelette" sounds more sophisticated, doesn't it? :)

This updated post is my entry to the First 101 Recipe Series featuring Omelets. To join this foodie event, please check out Sangeeth's Art of Indian Cooking. You will definitely learn a lot from this blog!