Hello dear neighbors ! I hope you are all in good health. With summer well on its way here I am blogging today to share an omelet recipe, something that can be quickly put together if you plan ahead. All you will need, besides eggs of course, is baked eggplant slices and red pesto (pesto rosso, which can be homemade). This rolled omelet can be eaten cold as well, as it is done in Spain and Portugal, so you really don’t have to worry about having leftovers.
Ingredients ( serves 3 – 4 people)
– 500g eggplant (my personal favorite varieties are graffiti or white) + olive oil
– red pesto – my homemade dairy-free recipe here
– 5 large eggs + a little all natural sea salt + a little margarine for the skillet
Equipment: a large baking tray + a non-stick skillet with a fitting lid + a large plate to slide the omelet onto
How to:
1. Baking the eggplant: to be done ahead – can be frozen.
Peel and slice 500g eggplant, about 1 cm / ¼ inch thick.
Place slices in a lined baking tray and brush with oil. Don’t be afraid to be generous! Bake in a 195°C / 385°F oven for 25 minutes, turn the slices over, brush with more olive oil and bake another 20 minutes.
2. Making the omelet:
Beat 5 eggs with a little salt. I use about ¼ tsp, which isn’t much at all, but keep in mind that the red pesto adds more salt to the dish.
Pour the beaten eggs in a warmed greased skillet, arrange the baked eggplant slices so they form an even layer covering the entire surface and cook on low heat, covered. If you do not have a fitting lid, loose foil will do the job. Cooking time is approximately 5 minutes.
Transfer the omelet to a plate, sliding it gently. Spread red pesto on top and roll before serving.
So this year with the lock down we decided to keep busy by growing more vegetables than usual. My husband took care of the tilling, sowing, planting and the necessary watering also, while my main responsibility is harvesting, which I truly enjoy. I find being outside first thing in the morning so peaceful. Very early, as soon as I get up, I go pick our beans. My love for little creatures knows no limit: at breakfast time I selflessly let hungry bugs (chiggers?) feast on me 😇!
I have been harvesting so many beans for the past two weeks that I have had to rent some space from my parents’ freezer in order to stock them. For the first time also this year we managed to grow a lot of lettuce, enough to share with people around us while it lasted. The potatoes are already in (this is unusually early) and both our tomatoes and hot peppers are beginning to ripen, something the local birds didn’t miss! We had to get the nets out again, to protect the tomato plants from the very same opportunists that had pecked at our strawberries earlier on 🙄!
On the other hand, I must confess we are not very good at growing carrots. I feel funny thinning them, like I’m being wasteful, but as a result our carrots are not very big at all. And this year our pea crop was pitiful: barely a handful!
In our “secondary garden”, down at the bottom of our yard, we have sown dry beans and pumpkin seeds… The patch is turning into a jungle, with huge leaves! Either we missed a step in the process (probably should have snipped some off)… or Cinderella’s fairy godmother came by!
Let me end this post, dear neighbors, with a photo of my latest “baby”: a red hot poker (kniphofia) or papaya popsicle, as the label said, that I planted in the spring. It seems to thrive in its new environment. Its bright colors are a real pleasure to look at, and so is the neighboring royal mallow, a gift from a dear blogger-neighbor. Have a nice week everyone 😊!
sulfite-free cooking 
Good to hear about your garden Joëlle. Sounds like the produce is coming along very nicely indeed. I went back to growing carrots again this year after previous efforts were poor due to stony soil. This year I had more time (thank you lockdown!) and managed to sow the seeds thinly to start with. When it came to thinning them out, I managed to replant most of them and now they seem to be thriving. I am so looking forward to seeing how they turn out. All the best and enjoy all your efforts. Love the poker flowers by the way. They look stunning. Kathryn 🙂
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Thank you Kathryn! Well, we probably should have mixed the carrot seeds with coffee grounds to start with. I read that you can simply snip the tops to thin the seedlings instead of pulling. Maybe I should give this method a try. You successfully transplanted them, bravo 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. I tried that also last year, and got nothing. It seems we are best at growing beans, which is no feat at all: isn’t that what biology teachers use to teach school kids about photosynthesis? Oh well. Live and learn. We will try the carrots again next year. Did you amend the soil or sowed them in a raised bed?
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I grew potatoes on the plot last year which helped improve the soil condition and I did also spend some time picking out some stones before I planted them – again, thanks to lockdown! You know that you can eat the thinnings in salads I’m sure, so not completely wasted. R.e. bean growing at school, I can remember planting beans in jam jars with blotting paper and watching the roots grow but have no idea what this was teaching us!!! Have a good week. Kathryn 🙂
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This is such a great recipe, but then I’ve already admired it in the French version. I can see serving it in slices, garnished with fresh herbs.
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