Omelette with prawns and sea greens

Serves 4

(Jason Lowe)

It is important to keep this omelette slightly undercooked so that it stays nice and moist. I would also recommend buying raw sea-prawns in their shells as the flavour will be far better than buying pre-cooked prawns; and then you can make a second meal out of the shells. If you live near the coast then you will easily be able to access sea vegetables; if not, just use some baby spinach instead.

Allow about 400g of head-on prawns or 300g of headless prawns to yield the amount below. My favourites are the fresh Red Sea prawns (available from Waitrose from next Thursday; £22.99 per kilo).

A good non-stick frying pan is an essential piece of equipment for omelettes. Gone are the days of proving your pan for hours with salt and oil.

12 medium eggs, beaten
120g butter
120-150g shelled weight of good-quality salt-water prawns
100g wild sea vegetables like sea spinach or sea purslane (if you can't get hold of them, baby spinach will do instead)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt about half of the butter in a hot frying pan, add the prawns and sea vegetables, season lightly and cook on a medium heat for 3-4 minutes or so, turning them as they are cooking. Put to one side and keep warm.

Season the eggs with salt and pepper then rub a little butter into a non-stick

frying pan, heat gently then add a quarter of the egg mixture for one person.

Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the egg begins to set.

Remove the pan from the heat and slide the omelette flat on to a cold plate to prevent it cooking any further.

When the omelettes are all cooked, warm them through in a moderate oven for a couple of minutes, then serve with the prawns and sea greens scattered on top.