I used to hate anything with egg in it as a main ingredient. I could just about handle egg fried rice, but eggs on their own, or as the main substance of the dish, na-ah!
I went to Tenerife last summer with my best mate, and his lovely Tenerifian wife, and got a chance to explore the local cuisine out there, dining on some fantastic seafood in places that tourists would never was a restaurant walking past it outside with this one ending up being 7 courses, followed by 4 of us sharing a free bottle of Jagermeister as an apertif! That was the start of an absolutely cracking evening, resulting in very little sleep and a very early trip on a sub holiday to Gran Canaria for a few days!
Prior to my trip, I’d been a little nervous about eggs playing a heavy part in foods out there – I knew that they were going to be involved at some point and I was apprehensive about it. More fool me, first taste that I trepidatiously placed in my mouth, and I was hooked on these Spanish Tortillas, or Omelettes as we might know them better in the UK.
I tried all sorts of variations, although my favourite ones were the ones that had Chorizo in them (as I get more of my recipes on here, you may come to realise that I am somewhat addicted to Chorizo, it makes just about everything taste even better). So, on returning, I decided to have a go at making them myself.
I’ve tried a few recipes, and didn’t really like any of them, so have mostly fudged myself this recipe together. Most elements of this are interchangeable – the basic ingredients of potato, egg and onion I would suggest are the only things that have to appear in them. If I were cooking this for a vegetarian, I would probably swap out the Chorizo and Smokey Bacon Lardons with some Sundried Tomatos, or jarred Spanish Peppers (to be honest, I add these to the basic recipe below anyway!
This recipe should make enough for 4 with a side salad, but if you are really hungry, perhaps just 2! I also love this cold the next day for lunch, and have had some admiring glances cast across at them in the office at times :)
What you need to make this great Spanish Tortilla Omelette with Chorizo & Smokey Lardons
2 Large Potatoes (or a similar amount of smaller ones, waxy spuds seem best)
6 Large Eggs (I usually get these from my mum who keeps chickens, but Free Range from shops are usually ok)
1/2 Chorizo Ring, chopped into chunky “coins”
200g Smokey Lardons
Large Onion (white is best, red onions can discolour a little if you are saving it for lunch the next day)
2 cloves of garlic
Handful of Chives
Chilli Flakes (to taste, and optional really!)
Salt & Pepper
How to make this great Spanish Tortilla Omelette with Chorizo & Smokey Lardons
Chop up the potatoes into small cubes, and boil until soft (most recipes suggested frying the potatoes, but I find it easier to par-boil)
Chop up the onion to a fine dice, the Chorizo into fairly chunky coin shapes, and fry for a few minutes to soften the onions and release the tasty Chorizo oil
Crush the garlic into pan, and when the potatoes are soft, drain the water off, and add to the frying mix.
Meanwhile, crack the 4 eggs into a mixing bowl, add the salt, pepper and chilli flakes and give it a quick little whisk – you don’t want or need to overdo this
Add the mixture that has been frying to the mixing bowl, chop in the chives and stir your mixture together
Give your frying pan a quick wipe down (the tortilla will stick to the pan in a horrible scrambled egg style mess if you don’t) and get it back on full whack to get the temperature up.
Pour in your mixture from the bowl and spread out across the frying pan to even out the top surface – you can use a spatula, but I find that giving the frying pan a shake is just as effective.
Cook for about 5 minutes, or a bit longer so that the whole thing starts to firm up a little, and then comes the tricky bit – turning it! I typically get a flat baking try and turn it out onto that (over the sink, as this has been messy a few times) and then carefully slide it back into the pan to finish up cooking the bottom.
It usually only takes a couple of minutes to finish the bottom, although I do like to leave it 10 minutes to set.
Slide it out of the frying pan, and you should be greeted with something like this:
Don’t be put off by the colour here – this is exactly what it is supposed to look like, and it’s damned tasty.
Slice into quarters and serve with a side salad and it’ll be a wonderful tasty quick easy dinner!
To be honest, this recipe would probably not be used in Spain – I think they typically use parsley, which I am not overly fond of, but as I said before, most of the ingredients here are really interchangeable, and I think this would work with all sorts of ingredients that I am yet to try out!
Let me know how you get on with this recipe!
