At the Women in Film (WIF) Celebrity Golf Tournament in Malibu, CA in July and I got a chance to talk to Canadian entrepreneur Rhonda Goldberg of Olive-It International. Her welcome included a perfectly mixed dirty martini and when I found out that she was Canadian we were soon talking like old friends. She was in the US to spread the word about this Canadian company in an effort to increase their presence in the US market. Olive-It carries over 19 kinds of stuffed olives in their gourmet line and in Toronto you can find their olives at Sobeys, Kitchen Table, several independent shops in the city and online at Olive-It International.
I took some olives home and created a simple breakfast recipe the next day after rummaging in the fridge to see what ingredients I had. The olives got me thinking about a sandwich I had in New Orleans called a muffaletta; it originated in the French Quarter and is made with good crusty bread and an olive salad. I decided to use the ingredients in my fridge to make a Muffaletta Omelette or at least my version of one. The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients:
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. whole milk
• 1 serrano pepper (you can substitute with ¼ cup green pepper if you don’t like the heat or remove the seeds for less heat)
• 2 strips of bacon crisply fried
• 2 oz goat cheese
• ¼ cup Bick’s® Hot Mixed Pickles
• 4 garlic stuffed olives, chopped (I used Olive-It’s Garlic Stuffed Olives)
• ¼ teaspoon sweet basil, dried not fresh
• Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. clarified butter or whole butter
Preparation:
1. Fry the bacon and lay the strips out to drain the oil off them. Crumple them in a bowl.
2. To create the muffaletta mix, chop the Hot Mixed Pickles, serrano pepper, and garlic stuffed olives and add them to the bacon and mix them together.
3. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, dried spices, milk, a pinch of black pepper and sweet basil.
4. Heat a heavy-bottomed non-stick sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the butter and let it melt.
5. When the butter in the pan is hot enough to make a drop of water hiss, pour in the eggs mixture. Let the eggs cook for up to a minute or until the bottom starts to set.
6. With a heat-resistant rubber spatula, gently push one edge of the egg into the center of the pan, while tilting the pan to allow the still liquid egg to flow in underneath.
7. Pour the muffaletta mixture into the middle third of the pan, add the goat cheese and fold the omelette over it.
8. As the egg mixture cooks keep folding it over until it is ready to be lifted it out of the pan.
9. Gently transfer the finished omelette to a plate. Garnish with the remainder of the chopped muffaletta mix and goat cheese if desired.
10. Take a large croissant, slice it open, decorate it with romaine lettuce and put the Muffaletta Omelette on top and serve it sandwich style immediately.
Juicy Tip: Do not add salt to your egg mixture before cooking – the muffaletta mix should have all the salt needed. You can always add to the sandwich later.
For more pictures and a step by step process you can check out The Blunt Instrument. Bon Appétit!