Living in Spain nine years, I obviously became a huge fan of tapas, those small shared dishes that you eat along with a drink at any time of the day or as an appetizer. A “tapa” is originally a courtesy small plate served along with a drink in bars and restaurants to cover the glass, and offer a sample of the dishes available. Probably also to mitigate the effects of alcohol! It became, over time, an emblematic Spanish dish from which the Spanish omelette is probably the most famous one. Nowadays you can still have a free tapa with your drink, specially in the South of Spain, but most of the time you have to order it.
You can find a huge variety of tapas, with meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, rice, pasta, potatoes etc. In the Basque country the equivalent of tapas, pinchos, are a little piece of bread topped with various ingredients and held together with a toothpick. Of course one of the most famous ones is the potatoe Spanish omelette or “tortilla de patatas”.
What I propose today is a Spanish omelette filled with ingredients I used in France to make my favourite “omelette”, ie potatoes, chorizo and mushrooms or spinach (I love both versions and can’t really choose which one to display). I now fry the potatoes and cook the eggs differently than when I was in France, so now it is a Spanish ‘tortilla’ instead of a French ‘omelette’..
Cooking the eggs is the most delicate part of the recipe, and it also depends of each ones tastes: either you prefer the eggs a bit undercooked , so that the inside of the tortilla is slightly liquid, a bit like scrambled eggs, ie my favorite version, or you prefer to heat the omelette until the inside is well cooked as well.
I love it because:
- Served along with a “Pan con tomate” (Spanish tomato bread), another Spanish speciality, it is a good way to make a simple and original aperitif, it is perfect as a quick meal, served with a salad or in a sandwich.
- The combination of potatoes, sausage and spinach or mushrooms is delicious, and also works in a gratin or a quiche.
Tricks:
- At first I found it difficult to make a tortilla that didn’t fall apart, until the day I bought two pans that you can overlap with each other. Since then, I turn the tortilla effortlessly.
- I add 2 beaten eggs into the pan just before turning it, so that the uncooked eggs take the round shape of the pan on both sides. I am not sure if it is best practise to do this, but it works perfectly.
- It is important to heat the second pan before you transfer the tortilla in it, so that the second side cooks evenly.
- I use white potatoes because they are milder, but that is just a personal choice …
- Use cooking chorizo, Asturian chorizo type
OMELETTE INGREDIENTS FOR A 24 CM PAN
- 125 ml olive oil
- 2 large potatoes
- 100g cooking chorizo sausage
- 100g spinach or sliced mushrooms
- 8 eggs
- Salt, pepper, ground coriander seeds and any other seasoning that you like.
Spanish omelette with potato, spinach & chorizo recipe
- Heat the olive oil in one of the pans while you peel the potatoes if you prefer, and cut them into 2 mm slices.
- When the oil is hot, fry the potatoes over medium heat for 15 minutes more or less, turning them often to avoid them to stick together.
- Just before the potatoes start to brown, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and put them aside in a sieve. Remove the remaining oil from the pan, keeping roughly six spoons for frying the next ingredients. The rest can be saved for other frys or recycled.
Spanish omelette with potato, spinach & chorizo - In the same pan, heat two tablespoons of the oil and make the spinach or mushrooms sweat until the water is evaporated, usually 2 minutes for the spinaches and 5 minutes for the mushrooms, and put them aside in the sieve.
- Finally cut the chorizo into pieces and fry them a couple of minutes to remove the fat. Then add them into the sieve. Turn off the heat.
- Break and slightly whisk 6 eggs in another large bowl, then incorporate all the fried ingredients and the seasonings. Melt them all very well with a large spoon.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the cooking oil in the same pan, very low and pour the mixture inside for 3 or 4 minutes. In the meantime, break and beat the last 2 eggs, and heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the second pan.
- When the first side is cooked, but still a bit liquid on the top, pour the 2 last eggs into the pan over the tortilla, and turn it straight after in the second pan.
- Continue the cooking 3 to 4 minutes on the other side and turn off the heat.
Spanish omelette with potato, spinach & chorizo
The omelette is ready and can be eaten either hot in the moment, or later when it is cold.
Bon appétit!