Mediterranean Omelette

My favorite breakfast is simply a bagel and coffee, but Jhan leans more toward eggs, particularly omelettes.

So we made a big omelette. We had quite a bit of trouble flipping the omelette (that was not a pretty sight, with both of us holding spatulas and pushing the omelette around the pan), and we had even more trouble getting it out of the pan and onto the plate. I was holding the plate and trying slip the omelette out from below. Jhan was holding the pan and trying to push the omelette down from the top. We were both yelling at each other that we were doing it wrong. Ah, married bliss!

Finally, we managed to get the uncooperative mass onto the plate with only minor damage. Honestly, it wasn't the prettiest omelette in the world, but it tasted fine.

The Food

A few mornings ago, I decided to make a three egg omelette stuffed with bell peppers, red onions, tomato and black olives. I added fresh rosemary, chopped chives and some flat leaf parsley to the eggs as I whisked them.


The omelet was cooked in a little EVOO and butter. Shredded jack and cheddar cheese, and some extra herbs, were melted over the top of the dish before plating.

I really like my omelets to have a little color and a bit of "crust" on them - I know many people like the yellowy very lightly cooked look but an omelet that is just browned a bit and that puffs up in the pan really makes me feel like I'm digging into a treat prepared in a mom and pop cafe in France. Yum!

The Photography

I wanted to play with color in this shot. We've really been focusing on getting contrasting colors into every shot so that the food doesn't look monochromatic. But I was getting tired of having to have some red or green in every shot, so for this shoot I said 'screw it!', and decided to play off the food's natural color.

Eggs are yellow, so I ran with yellow. Yellow table top, yellow napkin, yellow mug. And it worked!

I like the simplicity of the color palette, I like the color reinforcement that the yellow components provide, and I like the cheery summer morning feeling that the yellow provides. In fact, this breakfast was the start of a really great day.

Lighting

This was my first three light shoot! Though I've had a Vivitar 285 for a long time, I have no way to trigger it remotely, and I hate shooting tethered. But for this shot, I decided that it was worth it. I put the Vivitar in the front at 1/16th power. I shot another flash through an umbrella at the right rear and bounced another off the wall at the left rear. The flash bounced off the wall provided the nice glare on the table.

Lessons Learned

1. Sometimes a monochromatic palette communicates what you want best
2. Three lights can give an effect not too different from large lights
3. Don't fight with your wife over food