A Lovely Meal

We opened the cabin for the season last week which is our only excuse for being so lackadaisical with the blog. With a five night stay in Central Oregon under our belt we had plenty of opportunities toprepare delicious meals. Since the cabin was closed over the winter its reading material was limited to last summer's magazines. While flipping through a past Gourmet issue I found the following recipe and two hours and a few adjustments later we feasted on the best omelet we've ever had. The texture was so delicate and light and I'd recommend the recipe's advice to wait to eat until the omelet is room temperature. We dusted ours with freshly grated parmesan and served it with goat cheese on rye toast and mixed greens tossed in a tangy lemon vinaigrette. Truth be told it's good enough to eat all by itself.

A Note: WARNING: Gourmet's directions are a bit (unnecessarily) wordy, we limited the salt, and substituted Italian seasoning for the marjoram. Highly recommended.

ingredients
1 lb small zucchini
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh marjoram flowers or leaves, or a pinch of dried marjoram
2 large eggs
1 large pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

preparation
Trim ends of zucchini, then coarsely grate on large holes of a box grater. Toss zucchini with 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and let stand 30 minutes.

Transfer zucchini to a colander, then firmly squeeze handfuls to remove excess liquid.

Heat olive oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté zucchini, stirring until golden, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in marjoram, then let mixture cool to warm, about 15
minutes.

Lightly beat eggs with zucchini, pepper, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl, using a fork.

Heat butter in a 7- to 8-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides and butter has a nutty fragrance. Add egg mixture,distributing zucchini evenly with a heatproof rubber spatula,and cook,lifting up egg around edges occasionally to let any uncooked egg flow underneath, until egg mixture is set around edge, about 1 minute.

Reduce heat to moderately low and cook omelet until softly set but top is still moist, about 3 minutes.

Shake skillet to loosen omelet from pan, then slide omelet onto a large plate.

Wearing oven mitts, invert skillet over omelet, then holding skillet and plate together invert omelet, browned side up, into skillet. Cook omelet until underside is set, about 1 minute, then slide omelet onto a serving plate.