What follows is NOT a Spanish omelette for purists, which would have as its base just potato and onion and maybe parsley. This is the Andy version, but I’m not alone in adding other ingredients, and at least in this case it’s ingredients sympathetic to Spanish cooking. It’s dead simple to do, which should make it useful for my student daughter.
A couple of words to the wise: firstly, use the best quality and freshest eggs you can find, by which I mean find a farm shop or a someone local to you with a flock of chickens (further information in my blog on eggs here.) You could also try duck eggs for a change. The omelette pictured below was made with three large eggs and would have served two people with salads and other accompaniments, but you could add 1-2 more for another portion.
One technique some people practice is the soufflé omelette, achieved by separating the yolk and white, whisking the white and folding the yolk back in before cooking. This will give you a light, fluffy result but in all honesty I couldn’t be bothered – the results achieved were just fine. As for the veg, choose quantities to suit you. For my purposes, the more packed the omelette the better!
Ingredients:
- Eggs (see note above)
- 1-2 potatoes, cubed and boiled til al dente, left to cool then dried
- 1-2 shallots, finely sliced
- Slices of red and green pepper
- Cubed courgette
- Finely chopped garlic
- Finely chopped mild chilli (optional)
- Finely chopped chorizo (optional)
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
Method:
Sweat the shallots, potato, peppers, courgette and chorizo in a little olive oil for a few minutes, using a good heavy non-stick frying pan or similar. Add garlic, chilli and season. Turn heat down and allow to cook slowly.
Beat eggs lightly with a fork or small whisk. Add to the pan and tip to even out across all the veg. Put on a low heat and allow to cook slowly for c10 mins until the top is nearly set.
Take a plate and cover the pan. Turn it over carefully so the omelette slips out on to the plate. Put the pan back on the heat then slide the omelette back in so the underside can be cooked. If necessary, flip more times until both sides are evenly coloured and the omelette looks like a perfect pillow, just slightly gooey at the centre.
Serve immediately with anything you fancy!