The Spanish omelet, or Spanish omelette, is also known as tortilla Espanola or tortilla de patatas and it is an omelet with potato filling. It rather looks like a cake than like a French omelette, because it is much taller and more compact than classic omelets. Unlike plain omelets, this one is also good when it’s cold. This dish has lots of variants, depending on the taste of the cook. It can be thicker or thinner, it can contain eggplants, courgettes, red peppers or mushrooms, or even peas sometimes. Chorizo, ham or bacon are other popular choices of ingredients for this omelet.

This is a basic recipe to which you can add those ingredients you like most. It’s suitable both for starter or for main dish.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 average size potatoes, peeled, cut in halves, then sliced evenly
• 4-5 eggs
• 1 onion, peeled, chopped
• Olive oil (as much as to cover the potato slices when you fry them)
• Salt according to taste

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Cooking procedure:

Pour the oil in a frying pan and bring it to medium temperature. You can try it with a piece of potato: if it sizzles, then the oil is ready for cooking and you can now fry the potatoes and the onions. Before putting them into the pan, mix them in a recipient and salt them. Then fry them until the potatoes turn yellow. Keep the temperature low, because otherwise the potatoes will remain raw inside and get burnt on the outside. The potatoes are done when they can be easily broken apart with a fork. Now it’s time to get them out of the frying pan and let them drain for a while. Beat the eggs and pour them on the potatoes - onions mix. Carefully mix everything, then pour it in the frying pan heated at medium temperature. In about 4-5 minutes, the omelet should become brown on the bottom side, but because of its thickness, the upper part will still be raw. Now you’ll have to flip the omelet, which is not an easy task. An easy method is to use a second frying pan, fit it over the omelet then turn it upside down and either continue cooking it in the second pan or let it slide inside the first pan. Now the cooking will take about 4-5 minutes until the omelet is done. Serve it sliced like a cake.

Omelet is a meal that can help you reuse many food leftovers. Parties and holidays are usually followed by a kind of competition of trying all kind of leftover recipes. That’s common, as nobody wants to cook less for their dinner guests, so this is how they end up by cooking too much. Ham is one of these dishes people cook for Christmas or other holidays, then they put their creativity at work to incorporate the leftover ham into other tasty meals. Here’s an idea of what you can do with ham, cheese and some eggs:

Ingredients for a one-person omelet:

• 2-3 eggs
• 2 slices of ham, cut in small pieces
• 2 slices of cheese
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Preparation time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Cooking the omelet:

Break the eggs and mix them with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the ham and cook it for one minute, stirring continuously. The smaller you cut it, the less it takes you to cook it. When ready, put it aside in a dish and pour the eggs mixture into the pan. With a wooden spatula, move the edges of the omelet in such a way as to allow the top layer which is not cooked yet to penetrate below and get in touch with the pan bottom. After two minutes, flip the omelet, so it gets cooked on the other side as well. Keep it like that for one minute, then put the ham and the cheese on half of the omelet surface, then fold the other half on top of it. Cook it for about one minute or until you start smelling the cheese melting. Serve it hot with dried oregano sprinkled on it and with salsa or with sour cream.