Holy Grail of the Kitchen Part III

Actually, it's just another attempt by me to make an omelette, so in reality this is an extension of Holy Grail Part I...

I'd actually made the effort to buy a few different things for my fridge/freezer, rather than the same old frozen stuff and sliced meats. I had cheese (of course) but now I also had bacon, fresh frankfurters, onions, tomatoes, a cucumber, and eggs. I'm in the middle of a set of early shifts at work, so when I got in from the office I was halfway between what you'd call dinner-time and tea-time (or if you're of a higher class I was sandwiched between lunch and dinner)

I knew I was planning on an early night. I'd just got hold of 5 James Bond films in a sale and I was trying to watch one per night, in bed, all this week. I opened the fridge door to decide on what to make for my main meal of the day and plumped for another attempt at an omelette, accompanied by a few rustic oven chips. (What a stroke of genius by some marketing guy. Cut the chips into less even chunks, don't bother peeling them in the first place and you can call them 'rustic')

Now we have the first of several problems. My new apartment is stocked to the gills with kitchen paraphernalia, but it seems to be lacking a couple of essentials. There is no jug, nor is there a proper frying pan. There IS a round saucepan with very shallow sides that resembles a frying pan, but it comes with a lid (that has a steam hole in it). I think I've seen them use one of these on the telly, usually ends with them pouring half a bottle of red wine over some concoction and 'leaving to simmer'. For me this was going to have to become an omlette pan and a half pint glass was going to have to double as a mixing jug for my eggs.

Ok, chips cooking nicely in the oven, a bit of cheese grated on a plate in readiness (the Mexicana cheese I mentioned in a previous entry), half an onion chopped and lightly fried to soften, three eggs cracked into the glass and beaten with a little added salt and garlic pepper...here we go.

The 'pan' was warming with a small amount of oil. I wasn't convinced it was non-stick, it certainly didn't look it, hence the oil. I poured in the eggs and moved the liquid around. It began to cook instantly, I continued to move the liquid egg to the edges, keeping it as even as possible. Next problem. No proper spatula, having to make do with a wooden one. I lift the edges away all the time, and my first indication of a problem. It's not lifting nicely away. Despite the oil, it is beginning to stick to the pan. Ok, lets get it done ASAP before I'm left with a charred mess. Cheese and onion mix added to half of the 'omelette', wooden spatula forced under the opposite side and......fold!

...well of course it didn't work. What did you expect? The underneath was the right colour, and it was the right 'thickness' to have been able to lift up in one piece, but of course it just came up in bits. I did have one trick up my sleeve though...

The half of the omelette that I had put the fillings on hadn't beeen 'lifted' yet. When it came to serving it onto a plate, instead of sliding the mess out of the pan I decided to tip it right over, exposing the underside of the untouched half. This half was still perfectly intact and now it was on the plate it was on the top. It perfectly masked the crumpled bombsite that was now cowering underneath. The few chips served along side, half a tomato for decoration and it actually looked like a half decent meal. Only I knew the guilty secret that underneath was just a mass of egg, cheese and onion....

...and it tasted lovely.

p.s. The pan was a bugger to clean though!