Adventures in Omelette: Silverbeet and Capsicum

On Sunday I needed to feed my brother lunch, so after rummaging through the fridge, I asked him if he wanted an omelette.

"Will it taste good?"
"Er, possibly."
"Are you going to take photos of it?"
"Er, yes."
"Will it be ready in half an hour?"
"Er, hopefully."
...
"Ok"

The usual suspects: organic eggs, brown onion, a beaten up red capsicum, tasty cheese and a pile of silverbeet leaves just picked from the garden.

I decided not to tell my brother that I've never tried this combo before.  (I really have no idea what I'm doing.)

Silverbeet eaten raw is absolutely disgusting and bitter, so rather than risk it not cooking properly in the omelette, I decided to wilt it in the pan beforehand.

This also allows all the insects which were living in said silverbeet to run out of the pan as the heat rises.  You are then at your leisure to squash as necessary.  (I did wash it one hundred times, but it is a proven fact that silverbeet from our garden ALWAYS holds the most tenacious creatures.  In the past we've had snails, spiders, and frogs come out of the leaves in the kitchen.  I scream.)

Now remember, I have no idea what I am doing.

I did think it would be intelligent and tasty to wilt the silverbeet in olive oil, but turns out that is more like frying, and the oil went shooting everywhere.  (That's why I'm wearing protection in the above photo).

I made another off the cuff decision and decided I would soften the red capsicum as well.  In the pan it goes.

Meanwhile here is a terrible shot of the onion I sliced finely.  I put this onion in with the beaten egg and then promptly forgot to take a picture.  Just visualise it in your mind.

Okay, now here is some proof to show that I really have no idea what I am doing.

The wilted silverbeet:

My huge pile yielded about two tablespoons.  

Something I've learned from my Nonna.  It's always important to have too much and always a disaster not to have enough (and that's in Italian measurements - which are large).

Plus, my brother is nineteen years old and eats the equivalent of one horse every mealtime, so I don't think the above pile is going to cut it.

So, I send out my hungry brother to go pick some more silverbeet.  (By now, he's a little tired of waiting so it was good to have some breathing space.)

In fact, I think the only thing that stopped him from giving up on the omelette and chowing down peanut butter sandwiches would be the nice smell frying capsicum releases.      

After the second silverbeet wilting session, the omelette can begin!

Here it is all in the pan.  I poured in the egg and onion mix, the basically just threw the capsicum and silverbeet over the rapidly cooking egg and pushed it in with a fork.  

It helps to turn the stove riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight down.

Sprinkling the cheese over the top was the easy part.

Again, because I have no idea what I'm doing, I decided just to put the stove real low and put the lid on and wait and hope.

Hope that it would actually cook on both sides (since this was definitely an unflippable omelette.)

I'm pleased to announce a success.

The bottom didn't burn and the top was deliciously cheesy.

The red capsicum was soft and tasty and the silverbeet was just enough...

I served it with some leftover Kasha Tabouli from the night before and waited for the verdict...

"This is really good," he says.  

Score!

{Testing out my Adventure in Omelette on a live human being - other than myself - for the first time, was lots of fun.}