An Omelet For All Christmases

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

There were four of us kids growing up, ten years separating my older brother and the youngest with my sister and me sandwiched between. Christmas morning it was the job of whomever got up first to wake the others, jumping on each twin bed in the early morning light to announce that yes, Santa had indeed come last night.

But we were patient children in some ways. The rules (created and strictly enforced by our foursome) were that no one could go out to the hearth to see what presents filled our stockings unless we were all together.

We woke our parents and lined up youngest to oldest while our father padded out to the kitchen to put on coffee and the tea kettle. Then we walked one by one, touching shoulders, gently pushing. Thus began every Christmas morning.

Stockings were first, breakfast followed at some point later on, usually once our grandfather arrived for the ritual of opening presents under the tree. This is when we nibbled on cheeses, sliced fruits, maybe a frittata and cinnamon rolls my mother had made from scratch.

Food was meant to be leisurely. If firsts of the frittata were hot out of the oven, seconds and maybe thirds tasted just as good at room temperature. In a house as rule bound as ours--presents opened one at a time with each person watching the others, always in the order of youngest to oldest--the morning could stretch on for quite at while. Breakfast had to be the sort of thing that was easy to assemble, delicious to go back to again and again during the marathon of gift unwrapping.

We don’t line up anymore to get to stockings, but other than that our family Christmas remains mostly unchanged. Presents are fewer it seems but more thoughtful. And we still take our time. Breakfast benefits from the same elements as it did back then: an omelet or frittata, some fruits, a wheel of Brie, maybe a dozen easy muffins or loaf of country bread from the bakery.

For all our tradition in timing on Christmas morning, my family has been fairly open to new ideas in food over the years. Which is why this year I might change up the typical breakfast spread with an Asian bent.

A Vietnamese-type omelet is not that much different than a frittata. Instead of filling the egg mixture with vegetables and grated fontina cheese, I might toss in some green onions, bean sprouts, shallots and diced shrimp. Quickly assembled in an ovenproof nonstick frying pan, it needs little more than 15 minutes in a hot oven to set up.

Last year a combination of apples, pears, and dried cranberries stewed in cinnamon scented syrup was a warming and welcome change from the usual fresh fruit salad. To keep with the Asian theme, this year I will broil rounds of fresh pineapple just until the edges brown and sugars caramelize, then sprinkle each with some fresh mint once laid out on a platter. A crusty baguette (the Vietnamese love their bread) or a rice flour pancake for my gluten-free mother is all we’ll need to complete the lazy Christmas morning breakfast buffet.

Even as some members have passed on and new ones have joined, in my family Christmas rules still apply. But as long as there are presents to be opened and a nice spread of omelets, fruit, cheese and bread, I don’t think anyone will mind if I bend the breakfast rules just a little this year, for a different twist on our Christmas Morning classic.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large shallot
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 bunch green onions
• 10 medium cooked shrimp
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons chili sauce (optional)
• black pepper
• 1 handful bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro