Dear Regular Readers (and those readers of the less regular variety),
I trust you are all faring reasonably well and I hope you manage to find something interesting to read inside this week’s edition of our weekly newsletter.
I have been rather preoccupied this week with work and other things so I have not had time to put together the concluding part of my knee story; however, rather than not make any contribution at all to the newsletter this week I thought I would share a recipe for an omelette with you that is quite popular in my household. I have a attached a picture of the finished omelette so you can see what the end result is supposed to look like. If you are an omelette fan I do recommend you make this as it is very tasty. By using the rendered fat to cook the omelette in it adds an additional flavour to the omelette which (IMHO) elevates it to a level beyond using butter or olive oil.
Pancetta, leek and mushroom omelette
1 large egg (preferably brown and free range if possible)
3~5 cm piece of pancetta (Italian cured bacon)
3~5cm piece of leek (the white part very finely sliced)
3~5cm piece of leek (the green part very finely sliced)
2~3 regular size shiitake mushrooms (very finely sliced)
1/2 teaspoon of pecorino and 1/2 teaspoon of parmigiano cheese mixed together (finely grated)
1/2 a teaspoon of cold milk
Enough salt and (black or white) pepper to season to taste
How to make
1. Dice the pancetta into small pieces and put them into a small frying pan (it must be non-stick; this is the same pan you will cook the omelette in).
Add in about 4/5 tablespoons of cold water: the water helps to render the pancetta fat so there is less chance of getting splattered by fat as the pancetta is frying.
Keep the temperature low so the pancetta fries slowly, this will guarantee that you won’t burn it and it will become really crispy which is what you are looking for.
2. During the time that the pancetta is frying prepare the other ingredients.
3. Very finely slice the leeks and mushrooms and grate the 2 cheeses unless you already have pre grated cheese.
4. Crack the egg into a bowl and add the milk and whisk gently together with a fork.
5. Add the mushrooms and leeks into the bowl together with the cheese and salt and pepper and again whisk gently together with a fork.
6. After the pancetta has fried to the desired level of crispiness take it out of the pan and allow it to cool on a plate before adding it into the bowl with the other ingredients.
7. Pour out the rendered fat from the frying pan and then clean the base of the pan with a piece of kitchen paper to make sure it is free from any residue that has built up during the
time the pancetta was frying. Depending on how fatty the pancetta is you should have about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of rendered fat which you put back into the cleaned frying pan
as this is the oil that you will cook the omelette in.
8. Put the frying pan back onto the heat (low heat) and wait until it has reached the desired temperature.
9. Add the cooled pancetta into the bowl with the egg and the other ingredients and gently whisk together (only gentle whisking is required).
10. Once the pancetta oil has reached the desired temperature (it should be smoking a little bit) add in the omelette mixture and cook for about 3~4 minutes.
11. I use a wooden spoon to bring the mixture together into an omelette shape and I toss it a couple of times to make sure it’s cooked through and then I serve.
*As long as you have enough oil in the pan you should never have problems tossing your omelettes.
12. I usually serve the omelette by itself with a little grated cheese sprinkled over the top or with some freshly made tomato and eggplant sauce and that’s about all there is to it.
Until next week, keep safe and have a decent weekend.
