Every time I go to the store these days and see that whole cooked Dungeness crab hasn’t disappeared from the fish and seafood display, I’m about to hop on one leg and joyfully shout “It’s still here! It’s still here!”
I thought that after more than a month of crab cakes, crab dips, crab salads, crab ravioli, crab melts and just simple whole crab with butter on the side I would be literally fed up with this little sea creature. Nope, didn’t happen! As with any addiction, the more you get, the more you want.
So instead of only having crab for dinner, I now also start my day with it (can half an hour on elliptical count as extenuating circumstance in my case?). For breakfast, I often love to treat my lovely self with an omelet. Not an aristocratic French-style un omelette - pale, thin, and elegantly rolled into a tube, but a robust looking, golden-brown, thick omelet with fluffy, delicate and light exterior. Just the way I like it!
I prefer to make it with egg whites only, but whole eggs can be taken as well. Also, when making this sort of omelet I choose smaller and deeper pans so the omelet turns out tall and thick.
No matter what filling you use, the procedure is always the same:
1. Start with sautéing your filling. For crab omelet, I finely chop about a quarter of a medium onion and then sauté it on a medium heat in 1-2 tablespoons of oil until the onions get translucent. After that I raise the heat to medium high and let it get some color.
Now add crab meat, about 1/3-1/2 of a cup and let it heat through. Finally I sprinkle the filling with thinly sliced rau ram. Rau ram is an Asian herb, also known as Vietnamese coriander or Vietnamese mint. In my opinion, it has absolutely nothing to do with mint and little to do with coriander/cilantro. It has its own unique smell and flavor, slightly lemony, but absolutely indescribable like any other herb. Is it possible to describe the flavor of parsley? Or sage? Or thyme?
Seattleites can find rau ram in Asian supermarkets (Ranch 99, HT Market, Lam's Seafood Market). If it's unavailable where you live, instead you can take any other herb you think matches well with crab flavor.
2. In a bowl, combine your eggs/egg whites with some liquid to your taste and season with salt and pepper. Stir, don’t whip! For the above amount of crab, I take about 2/3 cup of liquid egg whites or 2 Large eggs. I mix mine with a tablespoon or two of water, but depending on the filling I can take milk, cream, vegetable or chicken stock, coconut milk or whatever matches the flavor.
3. Pour the egg mixture over the filling and cover the pan with a lid. Maintain medium to medium high heat (depending on your stove, of course), so that the omelet can cook through and its bottom gets perfectly golden brown. This usually takes no more than 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove the lid. If the center is still a bit liquid or too wobbly, put the lid back on and let cook for another half a minute. If the omelet looks all set and solid, it’s time to turn it over. Carefully cover the pan with a larger plate and turn the omelet over releasing it onto the plate. Now slide the omelet back to the pan cooked side up.
5. In about a minute – ta-da! – the omelet is finally ready! Slide it onto a serving plate, arm yourself with a fork and knife and dig right in!
Comments