If you like the peppery taste of bitter greens, you’ll love this! It’s a great alternative to pizza, especially if you’re avoiding wheat, and you can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I have nasturtiums growing wild in my garden and even if you’re not so lucky, they’re all over the place in South Africa for large parts of the year. They literally grow like weeds, self-seeding themselves all over. Just choose where you pick them from – I’m not sure I’d want to eat nasturtiums from the side of the road, covered in exhaust fumes, for example.
Nasturtium leaves, flowers and buds are all edible and they are exceptionally good for you. They’re very high in all sorts of nutrients, especially Vitamin C and lutein, which is excellent for eye health.
When you pick them, the smallest, youngest leaves are the least peppery, so choose accordingly. I really like strong peppery tastes so am happy to pick big leaves, but if you’re new to eating them, maybe start with the small ones. Depending on where they’ve been growing, they may need a rinse (you’ll notice they’re practically waterproof – water just runs off them).
If you’re using the flowers too, blow gently into them in the garden to dislodge any little bugs (you should see them if they’re there, right down at the bottom of the flower). You may want to hold them open under running water too afterwards (the flowers, not the bugs), just to be sure. I haven’t used the buds myself, but feel free to experiment there.
Other than nasturtiums and the obvious eggs, you can add anything else from your fridge that takes your fancy and seems like it would work. The leaves go particularly well with onion (red or white), celery and tomatoes. I also sometimes add red or yellow peppers, preserved cucumbers, olives or whole corn kernels, or use sundried tomatoes instead of fresh.
Cheese adds another dimension to the omelette, so feel to add something like cheddar, mozzarella, feta or any combination of those – or leave it out if you prefer. If you’re a meat eater, sautéed bacon bits, ham, chopped chorizo or any other sausage of that type works well too. Just make sure the meat is cooked before you start putting the omelette together. Really the only limit is your imagination/what’s in your fridge at the time.
The recipe below is for one omelette, using 2 eggs, and the amounts of everything else are completely to your taste. If you are feeding two people, you could probably double everything up and the omelette will be a bit thicker. More than that though and you may need another pan, or you will end up with something more like a Spanish omelette. That would take longer to cook, but I’m sure would still be delicious.
Oh, and if you really like nasturtiums, you might like to try my nasturtium pesto recipe too.
Experiment and enjoy!
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Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1T yoghurt, milk or cream
- Salt and pepper
- 1-2t butter
- A few nasturtium leaves, washed and stems removed
Optional (use whatever you have on hand):
- Onion, peeled and sliced
- Celery, sliced
- Yellow or red peppers, seeds removed and peppers sliced
- Whole kernel corn, drained
- Baby tomatoes, halved, or chopped normal tomatoes, or a few sliced sun-dried tomatoes
- Nasturtium flowers, washed, for inside the omelette and/or on top as garnish
- Cheese e.g. grated cheddar or mozzarella grated, or chopped feta
- Meat e.g. bacon bits or sausage, already cooked
- Preserved baby cucumbers, sliced
- Olives, pitted and sliced
- Anything else that might work
Method
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion, celery and anything else you are using that needs a bit of cooking. Saute till slightly softened but still a bit crunchy.
Meanwhile break the eggs into a bowl and add the yoghurt/milk/cream, plus salt and pepper. Beat it all up with a whisk or a fork until it’s evenly mixed.
Cut or tear up the nasturtium leaves. You can also tear up the flowers if you like, or leave them whole.
Switch on your oven grill and put a plate under it to warm.
Add the tomatoes and nasturtium leaves to the pan, plus any other ingredients that just need warming, and cook for just a minute or so. You are not trying to cook the tomatoes, just warm them through, and the leaves will wilt quite quickly.
Spread everything as evenly as possible in the pan and pour over the beaten egg mix, trying to cover the whole pan with it. Sprinkle the cheese over, if you’re using it.
Cook just another minute or so then place the whole pan under the grill for 30 – 60 seconds to finish cooking the egg on top, depending on how soft you like your egg. Just don’t leave it too long or you will end up with rubbery eggs. Personally I like mine soft, just short of a bit runny, with the cheese just melted.
You can either slide the whole thing onto the warmed plate, or flip it in half like a traditional omelette and slide/lift that onto the plate. If you don’t get it out whole, don’t worry – it will still taste good!
Sprinkle over slices of preserved cucumber and nasturtium flowers to serve, perhaps with a garnish of a few salad leaves, herbs and/or cucumber slices. Serve immediately.
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© Alexandra Lawrence and Inspired Nourishment, 2019
Inspired Nourishment 