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Tortilla Espaniola

We’ve done Spanish omelette before – this one really takes the biscuit, though, and deserves its own spot. Asparagus is appearing in the shops (early – it’s from continental Europe); tiny, sweet sugar snap peas (Kenya – the food-miles-goblin has been doing his work this week) are on the shelves, and suddenly my habit of buying emergency chorizo whenever I see it does not look so daft.

This recipe works best when the vegetables you use are sweet either through long, slow cooking (the onions and red pepper) or through their near-raw freshness (the asparagus and peas). Combined with soft potato, which takes on all the flavour of the onions, and with salty, spicy chorizo, these sweet vegetables become something very special.

I particularly enjoy this dish cold (it’s often served as a cold tapa in Spain). It’s also good hot, but try it if you have a lunch party in the summer; you can make it the night before and serve it at room-temperature alongside other nibbles. This quantity will make enough for six (or for three, hot, for dinner and three, cold, at lunch tomorrow). You’ll need:

2 large onions, sliced finely
2 red peppers, cut into strips
5 small potatoes, peeled (not new potatoes if possible)
2 rings of chorizo, cut into coins
10 stalks asparagus cut into thumb-sized pieces
1 handful sugar snap peas
10 eggs
1 handful cheddar cheese, grated
1 small knob butter
Salt and pepper

Start by sauteeing the onions gently in the butter for ten minutes in a large non-stick frying pan, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes and the peppers, and continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are not so soft they’re collapsing, but pleasantly toothsome. Mix the chorizo, peas and asparagus with the ingredients in the pan, and quickly beat the eggs with some salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the mixture and cook for another ten minutes.

Sprinkle the tortilla with the cheese (don’t smother it; this is for colour and a kick of flavour, not a duvet) and bung the whole pan under the grill for 5-10 minutes, until the egg mixture is cooked through and the top is bubbling and crisp. Serve with a green salad.

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Spanish omelette

No apologies here, but this is not quite a Spanish omelette, or tortilla. It’s Span-ish – Spain filtered through my fridge contents.

There’s only one trick here. It’s all in the onions. You’ll need:

3 red onions, sliced finely
1 chorizo ring, sliced into coins
2 pointed peppers, sliced lengthwise into thin strips
1 large potato, cut into 2cm cubes
8 eggs, beaten gently
1 large knob butter
50g grated parmesan
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter, and put the onions in the frying pan with a large pinch of salt over a medium heat. Now go and do something else, and don’t look at them again for twenty minutes. Give them a stir. Do something else for another twenty minutes; if your house is like mine, something somewhere is crying out for a duster. Stir again, and add the potato cubes. Surf the web for the next twenty minutes (you’ll find some interesting links on the right). Stir again, this time adding the peppers.

Your onions have been sauteeing now for an hour with a little salt, which has driven lots of the liquid out of them. They will have turned soft, brown and caramelised. They will be sweet and buttery. You will have trouble not eating them straight out of the pan; restrain yourself. Better things are on the way.

Continue to saute, stirring now, for five minutes, or until the peppers have become soft. Spread the sliced chorizo evenly over the top of the pepper and onion mixure, and then pour over the beaten eggs, which you’ve grated some pepper into.

Keep the pan on the heat until only the top is wet. Sprinkle over the parmesan, and then put under a medium grill until the egg has set and the cheese is turning brown. Gorgeous red juices will be leaking from the chorizo. Slice and serve with some salad and crusty bread. This tortilla is also absolutely wonderful served cold as part of a picnic.