Grandmother's Infamous "Omelet" on Father's Day

With Father's Day being around the corner, one always tries to think of special things to do and special dishes to make.  In my house - except the kids of course - we are major meat eaters.  To make matters more complicated, we are also very picky when it comes to quality, taste and preparation.  You can also say that we can get a little competitive!  I have come to realize that most men like to make their own meat dishes - this includes my lovely hubby of course.  I think there was only a handful of times that I succeeded (in his eyes) making him his favorite cut of steak.  Now that he has his own smoker and dual gas/coal grill in the backyard, I'm not even going to try to come up with a "meat" dish for this father.  I have decided to prepare a special breakfast for him.  I call it a breakfast since in Iran we didn't have brunch.  You can translate it to whatever you'd like.  I am a huge fan of brunches now, but for the sake of keeping the Persian tradition, I called it a breakfast.  This breakfast is something that my grandmother used to prepare for us, not only for breakfast but also for a quick and tasty dinner.  You can easily prepare this dish with your little ones.

Grandmother’s Omelet

2 hot dogs – sliced ½” thick (preferably skinless)

1 small onion – peeled and finely diced

2 small tomatoes – washed and finely diced

4 eggs – beaten

4 tablespoon of milk

¼ teaspoon sea salt (or less depending on the saltiness of the hot dogs you are using)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Bread of your choice

In a medium non-stick pan, melt the butter then add the onions.  Sauté the onions over medium-low heat until they are soft and translucent.  Add the tomatoes and mix well.    Add the sliced hot dogs and sauté with the mixture for another 3-5 minutes.   

 In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk with salt and pepper, then add to the mixture in the pan.  Mix well and allow for eggs to form.  Be careful not to overcook the eggs.  Take the pan off the heat.  Serve hot with your favorite bread.

Grandmother's Omelet

A Persian breakfast is traditionally served with sweet hot tea.  So basically, you brew your black tea and when you want to drink it, you add about a tablespoon of sugar to it.  I figured I can add a little twist to this tradition...  So I thought the best compliment to this breakfast is iced tea with my mint syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice.  You can use either green tea or any kind of black tea (i.e. Earl Grey or Darjeeling) for this purpose.

Here's how you make the syrup:
Start out by making simple syrup.  Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar together in a sauce pan, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture starts to boil.  Add about a bunch of washed mint to infuse the syrup and let it simmer.  You don't want the mint to turn so dark because it will give syrup a bitter taste.  Just watch and stir every now and again.  Then take the mint out.  You should be able to smell a minty mixture in your sauce pan.  Let cool and pour in a glass bottle then store in your fridge.  You can keep this in your fridge for about a year.

I poured this syrup in an ice tray with a mint leaf in each one and froze overnight.  I also noticed that they will NOT exactly turn into ice cubes since the sugar content is high - they are soft and sorbet-like.  You can scoop out these cubes by using a small spoon.  Add a couple of these cubes to your iced tea with freshly squeezed lemon juice.  You or HE will love it.

Mint Syrup and Ice Tray

Have a wonderful Father's Day weekend.

 .روز پدر مبارک