Tortilla de patata

Spanish omelette

You won't be surprised to hear that in Spain there's no such thing as a Spanish omelette (there is a French omelette, which is just a folded omelette). In Spain, a Spanish omelette is called tortilla de patata (potato omelette). The basic recipe just has eggs, potatoes and onion, but you can make it more interesting by adding chorizo, spinach or roasted peppers. Contrary to what you might see on TV, a tortilla should never be cooked under the grill like a frittata. A tortilla is always turned over, which is, after all, the fun bit. No cheating now!

Ingredients:

7 new potatoes, thinly sliced
6 eggs, well beaten in a large bowl
1 onion, halved and then sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

In a 20cm frying pan with a lid, fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and translucent and set aside (about 10 mins.). Next, fry the potatoes until soft. This takes a while, so you could aid things by adding some water at regular intervals and covering to steam them. You could cheat and microwave or parboil the potatoes, but I always find it tastes better if they're fried. Don't skimp on the olive oil now! And make sure they're fully cooked before you take them off the heat, as they won't cook much more when you add the egg.

When the potatoes are done, mix with the onion and garlic and pour into the beaten eggs. Mix well and pour the mixture back into the frying pan. Cook over medium heat, using a spatula to slowly work around the circumference of the omelette. When the egg has more or less solidified around the edges, the omelette is ready to turn over. Cover the pan with a lid and flip it over, then slide the omelette carefully back into the pan. Cook for another couple of minutes checking with a fork that the egg is fully cooked.

Eat hot or cold with some good bread, or slice in half and put in a sandwich.