Friday, November 16, 2007

Stephen's Braised Beef Omelette


I am so proud of my husband. He called me at work very excited about this spectacular omelette. Stephen has always been an accomplished omelette-maker, which is a matter of pride in the Young family, and this adventure reflects a new flair for experimentation.

He started with three eggs beaten with a spoonful of yogurt and a dash of cinnamon, chili, and curry powder. He poured them into a preheated, buttered pan and let it set a bit, lifting the edges to let the uncooked egg slip underneath. As it was cooking, he shredded on some braised beef and Colby cheese.

The beef had cooked in the crock pot earlier this week with two shank bones, a sliced onion, half a teaspoon of cumin, ten cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick, five whole cloves and filtered water to cover. After the stock had simmered for several hours, I removed the bones and mixed a tablespoon of cashew butter and half a cup each of whole yogurt and cream. It could have had a bolder hand with the spices, since the final dish was very mild. Fortunately it marries very well with other brightly-seasoned accompaniments.

Everything in this omelette except the spices (eggs, yogurt, butter, beef and cheese) came from local Amish farmers. I am so grateful for them. Their organic, small-scale farming methods yield much more nutritious products than today's industrial farms. I don't mind cooking with such rich ingredients when they're produced naturally, from pasture-fed livestock, the way humans have had them for all but the last fifty years of agricultural history. Check out eatwild.com for more on the nutritional benefits of pastured produce.

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