So recently, I found myself with a bunch of spare egg whites. (Stay tuned to find out what happened to the yolks sometime later this week…) I was starving when this happened. I whipped them together quickly with a handful of stuff I had in the fridge, and…voila! A super light omelet that was packed with flavor.

This would also be really yummy made with whole eggs.

I love to make omelets in a pinch. They’re such a great way to use up odds and ends from the fridge.

For this omelet, I quickly sauteed chopped sun-dried tomatoes and oil-cured black olives to infuse their flavor into a little olive oil.

Then I tossed in a handful of chopped green onion, sage, and thyme. (Use any fresh, green herbs you like.)

I finished it with a little grated ricotta salata, goat cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper. As with most omelets, this recipe is all chopping and very little actual cooking.

Fresh Herb Egg White Omelet: A note on ingredients

I used a mix of grated ricotta salata and fresh goat cheese. It was the perfect salty, creamy, tangy mixture to balance the fresh herbs.

Fresh goat cheese

Ricotta salata is a rindless sheep’s milk cheese. It reminds me of feta in a lot of ways. It’s a little bit sweet and kind of milky tasting. In terms of consistency, it’s fairly firm, but tender and crumbly. (Again, kind of like feta.) It’s fabulous grated onto hot pasta with a little garlic butter.

Ricotta Salata

It’s really soft when you grate it:

For the sun-dried tomatoes, I used the kind that weren’t packed in oil. (If you use that kind, just squeeze the excess oil off them, or omit the oil in the frying pan.)

The olives were black, oil-cured olives tossed in an herbes de Provence mixture.

Get to the omelet, already, Mouse!

Yep, yep! Here you go. Oh, one last thing. Salt. Don’t add any until the end, and even then, sprinkle lightly. The olives and cheese have plenty already.

Fresh Herb Egg White Omelet with Black Olives & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

2 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 Tbls. fresh sage and thyme, chopped (or other combination of green herbs you like)
4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
4-5 oil cured, pitted black olives, chopped
2 Tbls. olive oil
4 egg whites
3 Tbls. ricotta salata, grated
2 Tbls. fresh goat cheese
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper

Serves 1 hungry person, or 2 people who just want a nibble

Fresh Herb Egg White Omelet: Prep your ingredients

Like I said, this recipe is all chopping. Chop up the green onions. Cut them into thin-ish rings. They’re not going to cook for long, so you don’t want giant pieces of them.

Chop up the sage and thyme or whichever green herbs you like. You want to wind up with about 1 1/2 Tbls. of chopped herbs.

Dice up the sun-dried tomatoes.

Grate the ricotta salata.

Separate your eggs. Set the yolks aside in the fridge and use within a day. Put the egg whites in a medium-sized bowl.

Whip them up with a whisk until they’re light and frothy.

Fresh Herb Egg White Omelet: Cook the omelet

Put the olive oil in a non-stick pan on the stove over medium-high heat for a minute or two to heat it up.

Toss in the tomatoes and olives.

Mix them around to coat in oil. Cook for a minute or two like this to infuse some of the flavor into the oil.

Add the green onions to the pan.

Toss in the herbs.

Stir around to coat in oil. Cook for a minute or two more over medium-high heat. Then spread the ingredients around in the pan so they’re fairly evenly distributed.

Drop the heat to low. Pour in the beaten egg white.

Pick the pan up and tilt it around to distribute the egg around the pan.

Cook for a minute or two like this, until the egg starts to solidify.

When most of the egg looks cooked (the top will be a little jiggly), sprinkle on the grated ricota salata.

Break the goat cheese up into pieces and drop it on. Cook for another minute or so.

At this point, the egg white should be pretty much set (i.e. not jiggly or raw looking). Watch it carefully. Don’t overcook the omelet, as it will make the egg whites rubbery and tough.

Run a rubber spatula around the entire edge of the omelet to loosen it a little. Then flip one edge over into the center of the omelet, like this:

Flip the same edge over one more time, so the omelet is folded in thirds. (The goat cheese will melt once the omelet is folded.)

Slide it off onto a plate. Toss on a little kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper if you like.

Serve immediately. Enjoy!

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So it finally stopped raining in Boston. While the rain’s been bad for just about everyone and everything lately, my veggies have been loving it. I have more peppers and tomatoes than I know what to do with.

Here’s a quick and easy chopped salad that goes really well with a grilled steak and a glass of sangria. Using a few different types of peppers lets you add lots of peppery flavor—and control the amount of heat.

Fiery Tomato Salad

6-7 good-sized beefsteak or plum tomatoes
1 jalapeno pepper (cayenne or habanero for more heat)
1 green bell pepper
1 poblano pepper
1/2 a shallot, minced
1 Tbls. fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, mashed
1/2 cup of olive oil
salt to taste
freshly cracked black pepper
juice of half a lemon

Seed the peppers, remove the ribs, and cut them up into a fairly small dice. Seed the tomatoes and cut them up into a chunky dice. Set them aside in a medium-sized bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the shallot, parsley, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice. Pour over your diced peppers and tomatoes and toss to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve immediately.

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Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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Despite being plagued by the dreaded Tomato Horn Worm (if you’ve ever grown tomatoes, you know how horrifying these beasts are), this summer has been a remarkably good one for my vegetable garden.

Like a lot of the country, Boston’s had a silly amount of rain this season. In fact, as I sat down to write just now, the sky darkened and it started to thunder.

My herbs (except the mint) aren’t looking too hot, but the veggies are positively thriving. I’ll definitely expand my veggie patch next year. I’d like to see if I could grow some heirloom varieties from seed.

Here’s what we picked this weekend.

These are Health Kick Tomatoes, which seem to be a cross between a plum tomato and something rounder, like a beefsteak. I’ll report in when they ripen and we taste them.

Here’s the rest of the produce. From left to right: Kentucky mint (awesome for mint juleps), Husky Cherry Tomatoes and Health Kick Tomatoes, hot peppers (green and red), and eggplant-colored bell peppers.

Anyone feel like a salad?

***
Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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Husky Cherry Tomatoes. I’ll definitely plant these again. They’re by far the sturdiest and lushest tomato plants I’ve ever had.

Health Kick Tomatoes. I haven’t tried this variant before, but the first fruit looks really promising. I think they’re some kind of cross between a plum and a beefsteak.

***
Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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