I like to make good use of leftovers. It saves money, and it can also provide a chance to be creative. Sometimes I eat leftovers just as they are, but sometimes I get inspired! This was such a time. I had some leftover steak, medium rare, and some spinach salad. I had just watched some Good Eats with Alton Brown on the Food Network, and I was inspired to make an omlette at about 10:00 p.m. So here's the recipe loosely presented...which is to say that I'll be giving you a concept but not an exact recipe.
First I chopped up about half of a red bell pepper and tossed it into a skillet with some butter, and stir-fried it just until it started to soften, then took it out and set it aside. Now, with just a little more butter in the skillet, I tossed in some chopped onion. Once the onion is softening, I toss in the left over steak sliced into small, thinly sliced pieces. (Did you know that onion helps to tenderize beef?) I only want to heat the steak, not cook it much further since it's already been cooked (leftovers, remember?). I stir in a bit of garlic chili sauce to add some flavor and spice, and then toss the red bell pepper back in. Then I add a good amount of crumbled gorgonzola cheese (which is similar to bleu cheese). (If you're not sure about the stronger taste of gorgonzola, go easy on it!) I give this a mixture a good stir, turning off the heat as the gorgonzola cheese melts, and then I set this aside.
I've wisked together 3 eggs with some fresh ground black pepper, a small pinch each of parsley and basil, and about a tablespoon of milk. (Adding salt to the raw egg can cause the egg to get tough when cooked, so salt to taste later!) I pour this mixture into a buttered skillet on medium or so heat. As the egg mixture firms but before it's fully cooked through, sprinkle a light covering of finely shredded cheese. (My favorite is the Mexican style four-cheese mix of cheddar, asadero, queso quesadilla, and monterey jack.) As the egg gets done and the cheese melted, add the steak, veggie, and gorgonzola mixture to just less than one-half of the omlette (of the egg circle), and then turn off the heat.
Gently shaking the skillet, slide the omlette onto a plate, the filling side first, folding the other side over to make a beautiful omlette. Cut the omlette in half to make two triangular shaped servings, and put a portion of the spinach salad next to each. I topped the omlette with a dollup of black rasberry preserves, but would have used chopped fresh tomato and sour cream if I'd had those in the fridge. Add some apple slices on the side (because they nicely offset the richness of the omlette, and they're healthy!), and then you're ready to dine on some kicked-up leftovers!
Omlettes offer a broad opportunity for creativity, and they're not just for breakfast! This one was delicious even after 10:00 p.m. Mmmmm!
There are a lot of different traditions when it comes to food at Thanksgiving. A wonderful family that I've had Thanksgiving with the past couple years has a couple food traditions that I hadn't run across before having Thanksgiving dinner with them.
