King's Omelette

King's Omelette: 
Wild and Garden Herb and Vegetable Omelette


Lately, I've been reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. There is a lot of exotic, detail described, freshly prepared food the characters partake of in this series. Without all that warring and conspiring, how would they ever burn off all the calories? And yet, much of the fare is mouth watering to read, especially their many coursed feasts. However, most of their breakfasts (breaking the fast as they say in ye old world of A Song of Ice and Fire) were very simple, a bit on the dull and repetitive side ( a lot of boiled eggs) , and overall failed to inspire me.

I decided it was time to create one of my own, an inspired kingly breakfast. I aspired to indulge the Ladies and Lords with a different fare: a delectable and hardy, but healthy, herb filled first (or second or third, fourth, fifth? etc) meal for ye royal appetites of olde: a breakfast fit for a King!

Zürich, Grossmünster church : Crypt with Charlemagne statue (original) of the southern tower. By Roland zh (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grossm%C3%BCnster_-_Innenansicht_-_Krypta_-_Charlemagne_2010-08-30_16-37-00.JPG

And here it is:

A many herb -including fresh dill- mushroom, spinach, tomato, and dandelion leaf omelette with roasted herb potatoes served with a dill sauce, and a side herb salad.

Ingredients:

Coffee (of course!) (I know they would do beer or mead or wine, but me, I like my coffee just fine with my eggs) (If you're really going for a theme, you can always brew dandelion root tea or roast dandelion roots for dandelion coffee. Me, I like dark roast coffee, but the dandelion coffee or tea is very nice too.)

Omega 3 Grade A Organic Eggs 

Organic Milk

Organic Unsalted Butter  (Oh those were the days when you didn't have to ask for organic)

Olive Oil Pam  (Of course, modern inventions save on calories for those of us who do not wander the kingdoms for our daily exercise routines)

Fresh Orange Juice

Fresh Dill

Fresh Rosemary

Fresh Thyme

Fresh Lemon

Fresh Sage

Fresh Dandelion Leaves (You want to harvest these fresh in the spring somewhere where there are no pesticides in the ground, before they flower or else they will be too bitter. When in doubt or out of season Whole Foods -of olde- carries them too.)

Fresh Red Potatoes

Fresh Herb Lettuce or Spring Mix  (All the fresh goodness from ye handy nearby garden or cook's greenery)

Good Dijon Mustard (I like Maille old style  -it's olde style also, so go with it, it's keeping the theme alive-  whole grain Dijon. It's a little up there in calories, but the taste is divine.)

Mayonnaise (I know but sometimes you have to) (I am still searching for taste in alternatives.)

Sea Salt

Black Ground Pepper

Black Grinder Pepper

Ground Paprika

1/2 Shredded Carrot

Fresh Baby Spinach

Fresh Brown Mushrooms

Cherry Tomatoes

Chi-Chi's Chunky Hot Salsa  (some ingredients you have to go back to the future for)

Fresh Parsley

Turmeric Powder

Grape Seed Oil

~~
Potatoes:
Thin slice the potatoes and put in a shallow baking pan sprayed with Pam Olive Oil. Spray potatoes with Pam Olive Oil, pepper generously and sprinkle with a few pinches of fresh parsley.

If you want, you can also squeeze a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon and 1 or 2 T. of grape seed oil in a bowl and brush the potatoes as well.

Put the potatoes in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, turning at least once, or more as needed, (and if using the lemon and oil, brush on again when turning). Shred (mince) 1/2 carrot, chop up some fresh dandelion, and rough cut about four cherry tomatoes and stir these in about fifteen minutes before potatoes are done.

Prep:
Place a handful of fresh herb lettuce on each serving plate.

Scissor cut about 5 loose Tbsps. of fresh dill, put 3 T in a bowl and set aside.  Set aside another T. of fresh dill on a spice plate. Throw in the remaining dill scraps over the herb lettuce portions.

Cut up about 6-7 large dandelion leaves. Chop up the stems in little pieces and the leaves in bigger pieces. Throw a couple of leaves in with the salad on the plates.

Dill Sauce for Potatoes:
In the bowl with three T. of fresh dill, add 3 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper, 4 teaspoon of good Dijon, and 1/2 cup loosely packed mayonnaise. If you want to stir this the olde way, you can just take a fork or a whisk (Did they have whisks in ye olden times?) and whisk this to a cream. Or, if like me, you want to dash back to modern appliance times, just throw it in the Magic Bullet for a few seconds. Set aside.

More Prep:
Chop fresh thyme and rosemary and sage pieces and set aside with the T. chopped dill.

Begin Vegetable and Herb Saute:
In a  small fry pan, coated with Pam Olive Oil, add 1-2 T. butter. Add some of the thyme and rosemary and sage and dill pieces, then saute a whole pan of sliced mushrooms. Add pepper and  a touch of paprika.

In a second small fry pan, melt 1 T. butter and then put the butter in a small bowl and mix with 3/4 teaspoon of ground turmeric.

Check the potatoes:
They should be about 30-35 minutes by now with another 10-15 minutes to go.
(If they aren't cooking, raise up the oven to 450 and turn again in 10 minutes before proceeding. )
When the potatoes seem close to ready, proceed.
If you are using the lemon and oil mixture, brush on one more time. Stir in the extra ingredients (shredded carrot, minced cherry tomato, and dandelion accents) into the potatoes. (The last ten - fifteen minutes is a good time for this, so they integrate, but don't get fried over the longer time the potatoes need.) Also, you can add some lemon zest over the potatoes either now or just before serving.

Continuing the Sauteed Vegetables:
When the mushrooms are starting to brown, add in about 6 (sliced in half or thirds) cherry tomatoes. A few minutes later, stir the turmeric butter into the pan as well. Continue sauteing. Towards the end, throw in a handful of the chopped up dandelion stems too.

Begin Omelette:

Stir 2 eggs per person with milk in a bowl.*

*Note: This recipe is for one hungry person, or, if you aren't that hungry, you can split it. But if you are cooking more, keep to a 2 egg + milk omelette in a small pan for each portion; there are a LOT of veggies in this and a bigger one may not flip well.

Melt another 1/2 T. of butter in the second pan. Add egg mix into the heated pan. Add more of the chopped thyme, rosemary, sage, and dill and pepper. Add the chopped dandelion stems and then the leaves. Add spinach leaves. Let wilt a minute in the egg mixture while the omelette sets up. Add all or a lot of the sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes mixture over the top. Sprinkle with more pepper and lemon zest.

Let this set up and omelette brown nicely before turning. When you turn, add in 1/2 T. more butter so that omelette browns nicely on opposite side.


Serve:
Serve with potatoes on plate with drizzle of dill sauce over. Serve omelette with Chi Chi's hot salsa on side or over. Leave salad undressed. Pour orange juice and fresh coffee with milk.

This omelette is so colorful, so exotic, and so healthy!

Yumm!

-bbffair
(Ye Olde King's Cook - (or Queen's)- whoever wins the Game of Thrones)

How To Store Cilantro

Cilantro or Fresh Coriander

This is one of my favorite everyday herbs. I use it so much that I have finally started growing a couple of pots of my own.

One of the problems with buying it at a store is that it never seems to keep for more than a few days. Twice a week -or more!- I was going back to buy another bundle.

"Fresh Coriander Or Cilantro Herb" by SOMMAI, courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net / http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Herbs_and_Spices_g68-Fresh_Coriander_Or_Cilantro_Herb_p70764.html

Fed up with that, I went on a mission to find out how to store this fragile, wonderful herb so that when I have more than I need (from the store) that it will last longer. Well, I went through about a dozen different experiments until I found the one that really works! It's easy and incredibly reliable. Now my stored cut cilantro lasts up to two weeks!

Here's what I do:  I bring the cilantro home and clip off the ends above the roots (or just a bit of the ends if the roots have already been clipped) and wash it or soak it in water until all of the dirt comes out. (There is a lot of dirt in cilantro before it's washed.) Once it's clean, I shake it really good and put it in the salad spinner or else roll it in paper towels until it is very dry, especially the leaves. Just don't let it sit out too long or it will still wilt.

Once the leaves are dry again, I plop the cut stems into a glass or jar of water and cover the whole thing loosely (not tied) with one of those thin plastic bags you get at the produce department and stick it in the fridge. I cover the top but do not tuck the bottom down or under the container, but let the bag hang lose around the bottom of the glass or jar so that air also gets in.

This will also save you $$$ over time if you use a lot of cilantro like I do and find that you need to buy it rather than grow your own.

Note: a little more dirt may drop into the water, so inspect before you use as you may need to rinse again.

Also, it's a good idea to change the water every few days and remove any dull leaves. But mostly this will keep so much longer and stay perfect until you need it in a dish!

-bbffair

Ginger and Lemongrass

Ginger and Lemongrass

Two of my most favorite Thai spices. And so, I have planted some of both. Will see how my garden grows!

-bbffair






"Pink Ginger" by Jayen466 courtesy of Wikimedia @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pink_Ginger.JPG

Grocery List - Continued /AKA The Basic Spices

Meet Chef Paul Prudhomme, one of my heroes!! Yes, the originator of Seafood Magic, one of my most indispensable spices. I LOVE this spice! I love cooking with it on shrimp and seafood and chicken too (better even than the poultry seasoning by far).

And if I ever get a chance, I'm going to eat at Chef Paul's restaurant down in Louisiana and thank him personally! And I LOVE that it's available everywhere!

Get some, cook with it. It is awesome! And, oh, did I bother to say it has a calorie count of one big fat 0, zero-bazero calories. Yep, my kind of hot and spicy!

Okay, back to:

The Grocery List - Continued
(AKA: " The Basic Spices!")

-Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic

-(If you're out and about and can get to a William-Sonoma store, they also have a Potlatch Seasoning, a rub for salmon and seafood that is really, really good too. The only problem for me with that is that the store is not my corner grocery store and I am not a mall girl except when I am on a shopping spree.)

-McCormick Lemon and Herb (I like this so much better than lemon peppers that get too gritty and I like my peppers fresh and separate. This is a very nice lemon herb, but sometimes hard to find.)

-Original Spike gourmet seasoning (Although I don't use this as much as I used to, it is wonderful on fresh corn or on some sandwiches.)

-fresh ground pepper (There IS a difference between fresh pepper and old pepper, so buy it in smaller quantities and more often!)
-fresh pepper-mill black pepper
-fresh four-peppercorn pepper-mill (great on eggs!)

-Pam Olive Oil nonstick spray

-Original Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Packets

-small container of buttermilk (When the recipe comes up–very soon!–for spicy shrimp/but not a regular household item as it will not keep.)
-small jar of Hellman's Mayonnaise (Sometimes you have to go there.)

-fresh cilantro
-fresh big white nice looking mushrooms
-a fresh cucumber
-fresh red radishes
-a nice fresh avocado or two
-fresh lemons

-one seedless watermelon (Oh come on, it's summertime!)

(Note: make sure you still have Del Monte's original recipe canned stewed tomatoes and Freshlike canned small sliced beets in your cupboard from an earlier list too.)

-Imagine Bistro Organic Cuban Black Bean Bisque (You'll find this in the health food section and, OMG! A long time ago, my husband and I passed through Asheville, North Carolina and had the best darn bowl of black bean soup I've ever had in my life and it also happened to be my first too. It was sooooo delicious that, four years later, we went out of our way on another southern trip and back to Asheville with another bowl of that very same black bean soup in mind. Alas, in spite of Asheville being a very good stop altogether, the soup was no longer to be found. Many, many years and many samplings later, finally, this is IT! This is incredible, back-to-Asheville fine fine fine!) (4 servings in a box.)

-Pacific Natural Foods All Natural Thai Sweet Potato Soup (Small box - 2 servings a box.)

-tin foil

-ginger sauce (we are always on the hunt for good ginger sauces and they always seem to come and go. Please let us know if you find one that is worth hunting down. I am talking about the orangish-yellow colored sauce that doesn't have any stand-out onion overtones. Right now, we are settling with the Whole Food's 365 Soy Ginger Sauce.

-soy-ginger sauce (same story as above - only this one is the dark, thick, black colored sauce. Right now we are going with Annie Chun's.)

(If you can find it, the Ginger People sauces are top! Buy the Lime Ginger (it is awesome all by itself over sea bass on the grill!) and the Spicy Ginger Teriyaki Sauce. The store locator is found here: http://www.gingerpeople.com/storelocator/location/map/
They were everywhere in our town and then they all but disappeared with only one or two of their unbelievable sauces to be found! Why is ginger such a fleeting find???)

-Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce (There are a number of brands. I'm still experimenting. One has 100 calories and another 45 per serving. I like the spicy, less sugary variety and, so far, nothing beats the kitchen-made sauce that our local Thai restaurant puts together. Grin!)

Okay, you are set up nicely with this list.

For the soon-to-be-following recipes, you will also need on the day you plan to cook it:

-fresh peeled and divined raw shrimp
-fresh thick even piece of nice salmon
-fresh (or still frozen with the ice crystals still on them in the fresh fish department) big sea scallops

NOTE: You will want to get your fish fresh daily. (Always do that! And smell it too. Old shrimp stinks. Fresh fish never does. If it doesn't look good to you, keep shopping.)

-bbffair