I’m going to assume anyone reading this knows how to make an omelet. Maybe you aren’t good at it, but you know what you’re supposed to do.
I thought about this one for quite a while. I was pretty sure that everything was going to taste good, if I did it right. But I had a few concerns. I wanted to keep the fresh hoagie taste, but it needed to specifically be an omelet, and a breakfast food. Hoagies are really stuffed; omelets CAN be really stuffed, but that doesn’t make a good omelet. If you overfill an omelet, you generally get the worst of both worlds; you lose the delicacy of the eggs, the filling becomes a mess, and it’s just unappetizing. Omelets need to have everything working together, either in complement or contrast. It’s not an everything pizza, eggs aren’t the same as pizza crust.
One really good sign: when I googled “Italian hoagie omelet”, I got NO hits. NOBODY has done this.
Here goes.
Mise en place. Or, the stuff. We got red wine vinegar, oregano oil, deli meat (spiced ham, capicola, salami), provolone, a basil crown for garnish later, in the ramekin is tapenade, habanero salsa, and roasted red pepper strips, there’s a nice piece of sourdough boule, some chopped lettuce tomato and onion, and three eggs. I think we’d all say that’s a nice hoagie!
First, I toasted that bread.
This is where inspiration hit. I was stuck on how to incorporate the elements that make a hoagie different from a sandwich: the oil, vinegar, and oregano. And I didn’t want to cook stuff that isn’t cooked in a hoagie: the tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. I’ve make omelets with tomatoes and onions sautéed in oregano oil before, and that’s always been unsatisfying. The heat takes something away from all the flavors. Then, last night, right before bed, it hit me: mix the tomatoes, onion, and lettuce together, and mix in the oil and vinegar! Use it to top the omelet! It keeps the hot stuff where that should be, and the cold stuff where that should be. So I mixed that all together.
And now we cook.
Heat the deli meat. I oiled the left side, in preparation for the eggs. The left side of the griddle is about 325°, the right is about 375°.
Lay down the eggs. Use the spatula parallel to the front edge to keep that from running all over, and pour slowly, moving the bowl from side to side and away from you.
Top, fill, fold. Roll it up like a burrito.
This is running about a minute beyond where I’d normally fold it, but pausing to take photos has a price. It’s just a choice, though. This is perfect for a rustic/country omelet.
Inspiration #2: how to make the hoagie aspect part of the game? Answer: serve on top of that piece of sourdough boule. I got a hoagie-like presentation, long and tall! The sun wasn’t up over the edge of the roof yet, so I had to search for a place to get a nice glamour shot. Who knew how versatile a BGE could be?
“Great, Mosca, but we can’t eat a picture! WHAT’S IT TASTE LIKE?”
Holy smoke. It’s frikkin’ awesome.
While forking at it, there were a couple different choices. You can cut through the omelet and the toast, and eat those together,
Or eat the omelet off the top, and then eat the crunchy toast with the vinegary oregano topping on it.
It doesn’t matter. Either way. There is plenty here; eat some one way, and some the other!
A+. Would make this again, especially for company. If you do tailgates, you can make up all the ingredients ahead, and knock these out in about 90 seconds each; once the prep is done, it’s just eggs and an idea.
I thought about this one for quite a while. I was pretty sure that everything was going to taste good, if I did it right. But I had a few concerns. I wanted to keep the fresh hoagie taste, but it needed to specifically be an omelet, and a breakfast food. Hoagies are really stuffed; omelets CAN be really stuffed, but that doesn’t make a good omelet. If you overfill an omelet, you generally get the worst of both worlds; you lose the delicacy of the eggs, the filling becomes a mess, and it’s just unappetizing. Omelets need to have everything working together, either in complement or contrast. It’s not an everything pizza, eggs aren’t the same as pizza crust.
One really good sign: when I googled “Italian hoagie omelet”, I got NO hits. NOBODY has done this.
Here goes.
Mise en place. Or, the stuff. We got red wine vinegar, oregano oil, deli meat (spiced ham, capicola, salami), provolone, a basil crown for garnish later, in the ramekin is tapenade, habanero salsa, and roasted red pepper strips, there’s a nice piece of sourdough boule, some chopped lettuce tomato and onion, and three eggs. I think we’d all say that’s a nice hoagie!
First, I toasted that bread.
This is where inspiration hit. I was stuck on how to incorporate the elements that make a hoagie different from a sandwich: the oil, vinegar, and oregano. And I didn’t want to cook stuff that isn’t cooked in a hoagie: the tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. I’ve make omelets with tomatoes and onions sautéed in oregano oil before, and that’s always been unsatisfying. The heat takes something away from all the flavors. Then, last night, right before bed, it hit me: mix the tomatoes, onion, and lettuce together, and mix in the oil and vinegar! Use it to top the omelet! It keeps the hot stuff where that should be, and the cold stuff where that should be. So I mixed that all together.
And now we cook.
Heat the deli meat. I oiled the left side, in preparation for the eggs. The left side of the griddle is about 325°, the right is about 375°.
Lay down the eggs. Use the spatula parallel to the front edge to keep that from running all over, and pour slowly, moving the bowl from side to side and away from you.
Top, fill, fold. Roll it up like a burrito.
This is running about a minute beyond where I’d normally fold it, but pausing to take photos has a price. It’s just a choice, though. This is perfect for a rustic/country omelet.
Inspiration #2: how to make the hoagie aspect part of the game? Answer: serve on top of that piece of sourdough boule. I got a hoagie-like presentation, long and tall! The sun wasn’t up over the edge of the roof yet, so I had to search for a place to get a nice glamour shot. Who knew how versatile a BGE could be?
“Great, Mosca, but we can’t eat a picture! WHAT’S IT TASTE LIKE?”
Holy smoke. It’s frikkin’ awesome.
While forking at it, there were a couple different choices. You can cut through the omelet and the toast, and eat those together,
Or eat the omelet off the top, and then eat the crunchy toast with the vinegary oregano topping on it.
It doesn’t matter. Either way. There is plenty here; eat some one way, and some the other!
A+. Would make this again, especially for company. If you do tailgates, you can make up all the ingredients ahead, and knock these out in about 90 seconds each; once the prep is done, it’s just eggs and an idea.
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