Today's Brunch Omelette

     Why not make a nice omelette for a chilly day?  Castelvetrano olives, Manchego cheese (plus a sprinkle of Parmesan) and bacon.

     Fry three slices of bacon in a 10" skillet.  It's more than you need, really, but -- bacon.  I like to grind a little mixed pepper over it; YMMV.  Non-stick or well-seasoned cast iron is your best bet here.

     Next, make a shy quarter-cup of crushed crackers and add dehydrated mined onion, a big pinch of Italian seasoning mix, pepper, thyme and poppyseed; you mix up everything up, pour in enough warm water to cover, and let it sit a spell.  You've got bacon frying, after all.  Better look to it!

     Add three eggs to the crushed crackers and seasoning, and beat well.  Really well.  C'mon, you're not half trying!  You're after a really uniform mixture.  Then leave it be.

     Fish the bacon out and put it on paper toweling in a plate to drain.*  Carefully pour off just about all the bacon fat from the pan, leaving any interesting crunchy bits in the pan.  Turn the heat low, and pour in the egg mixture.

     Now finely dice (1/8" cubes) a tablespoon or two of Manchego cheese, then take three of the bright green olives, slice the sides away from the pit, cut the saucer-shaped sides in two, turn the olive 90 degrees and slice way the remaining two sides; this gives you side roughly equal segments from each one.  Set the pits to one side, there's olive left on them.

     It's a about time to slide the skillet half off the fire.  You do this so the top side will get cooked a bit more.  It should still be a bet wet-looking at this point but the edges will be cooked.  Sprinkle a couple of pinches of grated Parmesan on the omelette if you'd like.

     I like to use shears to cut up the bacon.  Put three-quarters of it on the half farthest away from the heat, and on that half, alternate with cheese and olives.  You can put a little cheese on the top half, too.  Take the saved pits, if you'd like, and trim the olive from the ends to put on the top half, too.

     At this point, you're ready to see about folding.  The top half should be pretty well set.  Center up the pan on the burner, slide a thin, flexible spatula under it about halfway, and gently pivot up the outside edge.  Does it lift as a unit, or is it sagging a lot?  If it appears to have fair structural integrity, now's the time to grab the cheating spatula: semi-circular and nearly as wide as the bottom of the pan!  If you don't have one and you want to make omelettes, buy one the next time you're at the 21st-Century five-and-dime. Slide it under the thin spatula, pull the thin one out, and fold the omelette over.

     It's as simple as that.  If it breaks at the fold, fold the break back up and hold it in place.  It'll stick there pretty quickly.  You can slide the half-moon a bit more centered on the pan, cover it and leave it for three minutes or a little more.

     From there on, it's a matter of estimate and judgement.  Covered, it cooks through and stays soft; uncovered, it cooks the outside, and you do want just a little texture there.  You'll have to roll it over on the fold at least once -- easy to do with the big spatula -- and if you think it's close but you're not sure, cut it at ninety degrees to the fold and check if the cross-section looks done inside.  This morning's took about six minutes after the folding, mostly with the lid on.

     Keep the heat pretty low; that, too, is a matter of judgement, difficult to teach but easy to learn, if you're willing to fail a few times.  Eggs aren't very expensive, after all, and the other ingredients are used in small quantities.  Also, it takes a really bad outcome to not be edible.

     The end result is worth the work -- light, delicious, and warm!
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* If you have an older gas stove and oven, the plate goes in the bottom of the oven at the back, above the pilot light that lives down in the broiler section  (mind the flame!).  If you have a wood stove, it goes on the warming shelf.  If you have a really fancy kitchen, you may have a warming oven.  For the rest of you, the stovetop away from active burners is about as warm as you've got.