Fresh Herb Gaza Omelette, or Ijee

I would eat them in a boat, and I would eat them with a goat. 

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, we are celebrating Palestinian style: 

Green eggs.

Hold the ham. 

From Gaza, with Love

I remember the first time I had this omelette.  My teta, my grandmother, was living with us in our home outside of Jerusalem and one evening we were having a simple supper of eggs and labani and bread and my grandmother made one of these omelettes for us. It is your father's favorite omelette, she said, I made this for him when your mother and father were newly wed.


My parents lived in Gaza until I was born, in a large echoey apartment.  Gaza was beautiful then, my father tells me.  The sandy beaches.  The sea.  There was room to breathe.  There was a future.  As my mother's belly swelled, my parents decided that they did not want their child to have "Born in Gaza" on her passport for the rest of her life, as they were worried about the political situation, so my mother made the trek up north to my grandmother's home in Nazareth, so that I could be born inside of the state of Israel.  

This omelette is a traditional Gazan recipe, born near those sandy beaches.  Gaza's food culture is slightly different from the food served in the West Bank and the Galillee, as their food shares some of the flavors of their Egyptian neighbors.  In the years since I was born, this small strip of land has become the most densely populated place on earth, and also, perhaps the most isolated place on earth, surrounded by walls on three sides and the sea on the third.  Though it was really fifty miles from my home, and I was almost born there, I have never been able to go to Gaza. This recipe, though, has sneaked out and I cannot help but think about the people who live behind those walls, and pray for their peace, as I crack the eggs for this omelette. 

Eggs and Herbs

This take on an omelette is fresh and satisfying to me after years of cheesy, gooey french-style omelettes.  This simple egg dish features fresh herbs:  parsley, scallions, mint.  It is fried golden brown in peppery olive oil, so that the egg tastes almost like a fritter, slightly crispy around the edges, puffed and soft in the middle.  This simple dish can be served for any meal of the day.

And is there anything more simply nourishing than a pastured egg?  Clean air, clean food and plenty of room allows the chicken to live a healthier, more natural life, and to create happier, more nutritious eggs.  Eggs are one of God's perfect foods, in my opinion, full of protein, fat, Vitamin A and omega -3 fatty acids.  Don't you just feel better if have had eggs for breakfast?  And if you have never tasted the rich orange yolk of a pastured egg, you deserve to taste it.  Even though eggs are really a seasonal food, more rich and abundant in the spring and the summer, we still eat them year around, and just savor their spring flavor all of the more. 

Fresh Herb Omelette, or Ijee

Scale this recipe up or down for to serve as many people as you would like-- this is the ratio of herbs to eggs.  If you want two eggs, double the herbs, three eggs, triple the herbs, and so on. 

1 egg, pastured
1 tbsp parsley, finely minced
1-2 green scallions, finely minced
4 fresh leaves of mint, chiffoned
Crushed garlic, to taste
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1.  Beat the eggs thoroughly, mix in herbs, salt and pepper to taste. 

2.  Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat and add a little crushed garlic, and saute until just fragrant for about 30 seconds.  Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and fry until golden brown on one side.  Flip and fry on the other side until golden brown.  Slide out of the pan.



Sahtain.
May this double your health.  



Linked up at Whole Foods Wednesday.