Last year on holiday in the French Basque country the Spanish influence was clearly visible on the menus and in the supermarkets. One of these was the Tortilla, sometimes called a Spanish Omelette – a Spanish word being used just over the border. In Italy the word used for this type of dish is Frittata. The French word is, of course, Omelette, which is the English word too: usually a very plain dish, but not an easy one to perfect and made with a few added herbs – very different from the rather substantial Tortilla. In its simplest form, the Tortilla is a potato and onion filled omelette, sometimes including bacon or ham. In a French supermarkets we found a pre-cooked Tortilla which just needed reheating in a frying pan. We tried one out of interest and it wasn’t too bad, but not a patch on the home cooked version. Tortilla is so simple to make and the basic ingredients (eggs, onion, potato plus, if you wish, meat, tomato, or a green vegetable) are usually readily available in the kitchen. It is a good way to use up leftover meat, especially ham, bacon, poultry or sausages – I have made Spanish style omelette on many occasions without a recipe. Tortilla is an inexpensive and substantial quick and easy meal, whether for a family supper or eaten with friends at lunchtime and can be served hot or cold, although I have to say I much prefer the hot version.
Nevertheless, this time I decided to look for a basic recipe with correct quantities as I wanted to post the Tortilla here. I found a good recipe in one of my favourite cookery compendiums, Leith’s Cookery Bible: Completely Revised & Updated Edition – Prue Leith & Caroline Waldegrave. My adaptation of the basic recipe is given below with the added ingredients separately shown, but next time I might choose different ones. One good addition would be chorizo, a spicy Spanish sausage, which would help add a little Spanish authenticity to the dish. I found that having a very low heat under the tortilla from when the eggs are added helps to keep the underneath from burning before everything is properly set, plus the finished Tortilla is much easier to remove from the pan.
Minted Smoked Salmon & Fennel
Tortilla Omelette – with Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach
(Serves 4)
Basic recipe
Knob of butter and 1tbsp olive oil for frying
45og/1lb potatoes, peeled, sliced and par-boiled until just cooked
1 small onion thinly sliced
Salt & Pepper
4 eggs, beaten
5fl ozs/¼pint/140ml single cream (Elmlea low fat is ideal) – optional
Additional ingredients for this version
100g/4ozs bacon pieces, chopped
50g/2ozs button mushrooms, quartered or sliced if large
50g/2ozs chopped spinach, well washed and drained
50g/2ozs grated cheese, Spanish Manchego or Mozzarella if available, or Cheddar
1. Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan and very gently fry the onion until soft.
2. After about 5minutes stir in the cooked potato and season with salt and pepper. If you are adding extra ingredients you can add them now, apart from spinach and others which need very little cooking.
3. Leaving just a thin film in the pan, pour any excess oil into the beaten egg.
4. Quickly stir the spinach, if using, into the pan at this point and then pour in the egg mixture. Beat the egg well, mix with the cream if using and then pour back into the pan over the potatoes and onions.
5. Cook over a very gentle heat, stirring a little to work the egg through the mixture so it can set evenly.
6. Be careful that the underside does not burn and when it is golden gently ease the Tortilla away from the pan.
7. You can either turn the Tortilla by inverting the pan onto a plate, inverting onto a second plate and then gently returning to the pan or instead of inverting you can finish cooking the top under a medium grill. If you want a cheesy top then scatter over the grated cheese before grilling until it bubbles
8. Serve in wedges with a salad, either hot or cold. This could also be cut into small pieces and served as part of a buffet.
Vegetarian Variation:
It goes without saying that Tortilla in its simplest form with just egg, onion and potato is vegetarian, but the addition of other non-meat ingredients is popular. Mushrooms and/or chopped fresh tomato is delicious as is a cheesy topping.
Basic recipe as above, including potato
plus
Red onion in place of white (optional)
1 small packet of smoked salmon offcuts
1 small fennel bulb, finely diced
2-3 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
Fry fennel with onion in butter/oil mixture. Par boil potatoes, preferably new ones, with sprigs of mint. Cook gently for about 10 minutes with partly cooked onion and fennel to allow flavours to be absorbed. Combine with the salmon, cut into large pieces, pour in the egg mixture and cook, as above. Serve with salad or peas.
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