Cooking from the cupboards.

This week’s Kitchn Cure assignment was to cook something from the ingredients you still had in your cupboards and then go to the market and stock up on good things. Last week I made cupcakes so I had a bunch of eggs left over which seemed to be screaming breakfast at me, so I made a Vietnamese Omelet (recipe from my favorite vietnamese cookbook) with some stuff I had in my cupboards and the five eggs left in my fridge.

cupboard ingredients used
eggs
slightly freezer-burned bratwursts
dried shitake mushrooms
dried woodear mushrooms
shallots
fish sauce
peanut oil
salt
pepper

instructions
reconstitute the mushrooms in hot water (about 10-15 minutes). Chop the shallots, brats, and mushrooms (when they are ready)
Combine mushrooms, shallots, brats in a bowl and mix. Add 5 eggs, a 3/4 tsp pepper and 1 tbsp fish sauce. Whisk to combine.

heat 2 tsp oil in a 8” pan over medium heat. When heated pour half the egg mixture into the pan and wait until sides start bubbling. Cover for 4 minutes.

Remove cover and flip. Pour 1 tsp oil down the side of the pan and tilt pan to disperse. Cook 3-4 more minutes or until bottom is browned. Slide onto plate, cut into wedges and serve (with rice according to the boy).

Repeat with other half of egg mixture. Serves 4ish.

This week’s extra credit assignment was to beg, borrow, or steal a good chef’s knife and a good saute pan. I haven’t done either yet but I think it’s time to finally do so. This was especially apparent to me when I was making my omelet and needed to cover the pan. My cheap ikea pans don’t have any covers so a plate stood in as a lid – works well until you have to take the cover off!

Time to buy something with a lid.

I was also toying around with the idea of buying a frittata pan but was told that it would be silly to buy such a thing as when would I ever need two 8” pans? Good point. My whole reason for buying it would have been for the easy flipping but as you can see, I was able to flip my omelet just fine so do I really need a pan that flips things easier? I suppose not.

So no frittata pan, but definitely something with a lid. And a knife.

Oh and in case you are wondering, the omelet came out a bit salty (forgot to adjust the salt when I added salty fish sauce) but my kitchen taste tester liked it just fine. (Other than a request for rice to be served with it next time)