A tortilla, frittata sort of thing

I found myself wandering around Bicester Village last Saturday, at loss as to where to keep myself occupied among all the posh outlets, the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Jimmy Choos and Alexander McQueen. I’m not the world’s greatest shopper, unless there is something involving food, wine or books on the agenda. Or cooking gear. I really love my pots and pans.

Then, in the distance, glimmering like the promised land I saw a sign emblazoned with “Le Creuset”. In a retail outlet park (albeit disguised as an Oxfordshire village built by the Asda architect) no less. Rubbing my hands with glee I ambled in to marvel at the wonders within.

There, with a full £55 off the asking price was an enamelled cast iron, non-stick frying pan. As heavy as you could wish for and in a bright cerulean blue. I was in love. After scuttling out before I completely denuded my bank account, I ran into a shed commandeered by Phaidon and availed myself of three great cookbooks.

What does all this have to do with my Tortilla? Not a lot except with my old pans I was only ever able to make a teeny-weeny one. Now, with my glorious new purchase I could make a full size, grown up beauty of a tortilla (or is that frittata – what exactly is the difference?). To understand my excitement, you must realise that I fetishise very few things, but pans, along with cooking knives and books are one of those things.

And sure enough, when we got back to London, the first thing I did was to break some eggs, grate some veg and get cooking. I love tortillas (frittata’s, whatever the frack they’re called) because they taste great, and they’re so versatile. And pretty damn easy to make. When you have the right pan that is. Did I say how much I like my pan? You can see the edge of it in the photo above… *sigh*

The tortilla/frittata
Serves about four, or two greedy folks if that’s all your having

One of the great things about tortillas is that you can put almost anything in them. I was using up veg so i added what was in the fridge. Other good stuff includes lardons/pancetta, spinach, leeks, basil, pesto, cheese (I particularly like feta, but it could anything – compte is good too for a nuttier taste), mint, finely sliced cabbage, peas, sausages, tomatoes – all sorts of god stuff basically.

This is the prefect arena for experimentation. So try something new – gherkins and minced beef, pine nuts and spinach, duck and hoi-sin. I’d be really interested if anyone has any particularly way out suggestions/examples/experiences with tortillas. Particularly now that i have my new pan to play with. Did i mention i had a new pan?

6 eggs
2 medium potatoes
1 red onion
2 courgettes
Half a red pepper
1 long red chilli – a bit hot, not searing
2 coves garlic
A handful each parsley, coriander and rocket leaves
.5 tsp sweet smoked paprika
.5 tsp cayenne pepper

Peel and grate courgettes, put in a colander and season lightly with salt and leave for up to an hour. Beat the eggs and season with a little black pepper. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in an oven proof, non-stick pan.

Finely slice the onion and gently cook it in the oil over a low heat, stirring occaisonally to prevent it colouring too much.

Peel and grate the potatoes, finely slice the pepper and chilli and crush the garlic. Add the pepper, chilli and garlic to the onion and continue stirring and frying slowly. When the pepper has softened add the cayenne pepper and paprika, stir it around for about a minute.

Squeeze all the liquid from the grated potato with your hands and mix it in. Do the same with the courgette. Let it all cook for 4 or 5 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent it sticking. Roughly chop the leaves and add them to the mix and cook for a minute or two more. Turn on the overhead grill.

Pour in the eggs making sure they get right to the bottom of the pan and leave everything – do not stir – for about five minutes. Then transfer the pan to the grill and heat for another five minutes, or until the surface of the egg starts to bubble and brown.

Remove and leave to cool while you make the rest of your meal. This goes great with green veg, salad and is even better cold for lunch the next day. I also served with sweet chilli because i think sweet chilli makes pretty much anything, particularly egg based, taste better.

Tags: eggs

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 20:34 and is filed under Eating in. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.