Omelets with Garden Peppers

Last Sunday morning my daughter and I took a walk around Silver Lake which is located at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon, in Brighton, Utah. Fall is officially here and I wanted to show you.

There's a trail around Silver Lake and it's a popular fishing spot. Near the beginning of the walk you pass a grove of friendly old pines. Back in "the valley" (Salt Lake) fall is everywhere. Pumpkins are spilling out of grocery stores (near the entrances) and Halloween costumes are on the brain so when my husband sent me a photo of peppers, it seemed a little random.

I didn't understand until later, that these little beauties were coming home. One of the guys at his work was sharing the bounty of his garden. (Thank you!) They arrived Monday night and my husband has been asking me why I haven't used them yet. I can see his point, I blog about cooking after all and he  brought home some cool fresh ingredients. So why the hesitation? One big reason: I don't know what kind of peppers they are. They didn't come with a key to heat levels. If you happen to know, please comment. :)

So last night I made omelets and chose three peppers to work with.

I hadn't seen the purple peppers before. They're a pretty shade, like eggplant. Today I'll be chopping up the rest of the peppers to dry in the oven. Last night I sautéed the peppers shown above in olive oil and then added them to our omelets.

Omelets with Garden Peppers

Olive Oil

2 eggs (per omelet)

1 T water

1/2 C peppers (green and red bell peppers, chopped)

2-3 T onion (chopped)

2 Mini Babybel cheese, light (sliced), or 1/4 C grated cheddar (per omelet)

Wash the peppers and clean out the seeds and white membrane. Chop the peppers and sauté with onion in 1 T olive oil using a non-stick pan. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and add the water and whisk together with a fork. When peppers and onions have cooked put them aside in a bowl. Pour the eggs into the hot pan. It'll look like the eggs are staying wet on the top, don't try to flip it, just use a spatula to lift the edge of the omelet and tilt the pan to lit the runny egg run under the omelet to cook. If you get a hole in the omelet it's no big deal, let the runny egg run into it to cook. Repeat until the egg is mostly set then sprinkle peppers/onions (to taste) over 1/2 of the eggs (covering 1/2 circle). Add cheese over the half of the omelet that you added the peppers to. Sprinkle some cheese along the edge of the omelet so the cheese will fry and get a little crispy. This really makes the cheese flavor "pop!" When the cheese is melting, fold the plain half of the omelet over the side with the peppers, onions and cheese. To get the omelet onto a plate, tilt the pan and allow the omelet to slide out onto the plate (using your spatula to guide it.)

I learned to make omelets from my Betty Crocker cookbook and watching Julia Child. Great teachers! :)

Enjoy!

Suzanne