Colm O'Gorman: Sumptuous Spanish tortillas stuffed with pepper, feta and chorizo

Pair these tortillas with a glass of Chianti for a mouthwatering dish that's perfect for sunny summer evenings

Spanish tortilla originated as an easy dish that you could cook to use up leftovers or whatever you had to hand. 

This week’s recipe is one of my ‘go-to’ recipes whenever I am feeling a little lazy but want something quick, tasty and comforting to eat. It is a bit of a cross between a Spanish tortilla and an Italian frittata, a beautiful one-pot dish that can be made in about 20-30 minutes. A Spanish tortilla is made with fried potatoes and other ingredients cooked in egg, (a sort of pastry-less quiche) and cooked fully in a pan on the hob. A frittata is very similar but does not always feature potatoes and is cooked on the hob, and then finished in the oven. For my version, which uses more Spanish ingredients, I par-boiled the potatoes rather than fried them for a dish that is a little lighter.

You could make this as part of a  tapas feast if you are having a gang over for lunch or dinner. I have shared lots of tapas recipes previously in this column. Just cut the tortillas into snack-sized portions and serve them alongside some Padrón peppers, pil pil prawns, stuffed dates, and maybe some patatas bravas. You will find my recipes for all those lovely tapas dishes on ieFood. All of them are easy to make and perfect for feeding a crowd. 

Beautiful tapas, a sunny evening, and a few glasses of decent Chianti, what could be better?

Spanish tortilla originated as an easy dish that you could cook to use up leftovers or whatever you had to hand. So, feel free to experiment and play around with the fillings you want to use. For a vegetarian version, skip the chorizo, or swap the feta for goat's cheese, and add some spinach maybe.

For convenience and to save some time I used shop-bought roasted peppers. Lidl stocks really good roasted sweet red peppers in big 400g jars which come stored in olive oil. If you wish, you can make your own roasted peppers, it is quite easy to do. Just heat your oven to 200° Celsius for a fan oven. Pop three sweet red peppers on a non-stick baking tray and roast them for 30 minutes until the skin is blistered and a little charred. Remove from the oven and transfer the peppers to a bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it for another 30 minutes. Finally, peel the peppers and remove the stalks and seeds. You could also just blister the skin of the red pepper over the open flame of a gas hob, but that is a lot more fiddly and time-consuming.

A reminder that if you are using fine sea salt rather than the flaked variety, reduce the quantities by half. As always, taste, and adjust the seasoning to your own taste.

Spanish tortillas stuffed with pepper, feta and chorizo

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

If you are making these tortillas as a main meal, serve with a leafy green salad dressed with some extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, some flaky sea salt, and a grind of black pepper.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 32 mins

Total Time

 52 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Spanish

Ingredients

• 700g potatoes

• 250g roasted red peppers

• 200g feta cheese

• 8 large eggs

• 2 plump cloves of garlic

• ¾ tsp flaky sea salt

• A good grind of black pepper

• 150g chorizo

• A handful of flat-leaf parsley to finish

Method

1. Heat your oven to 200° Celsius. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices, about 5mm thick. Put them into a pot of boiling water and cook them for 5-7 minutes until they are tender but still holding their shape well. Drain into a colander and set to one side.

2. Peel and grate the garlic. Lightly whisk the eggs, and then add the garlic, salt, and pepper. Use a good grind of black pepper, about a teaspoon, would be perfect. Whisk the egg mixture again to combine everything.

3. Heat a heavy-based, oven-proof frying pan over high heat. If you made your own roasted peppers, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to the pan, and then a layer of the potatoes. If you are using shop-bought roasted peppers, you will not need to use any olive oil in the pan as there will be plenty still on the peppers when you remove them from the jar. Add a layer of roasted red peppers over the potatoes. Next, crumble one-third of the feta over the red pepper, and then use the remaining potatoes to add a final layer.

4. Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes, it should pretty much cover them over, and then crumble another third of the feta on top. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5-8 minutes until you can see that the mixture has cooked around the edges. Transfer to the oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the tortilla is cooked through and starting to brown a bit on top.

5. While the tortilla is in the oven, slice the chorizo. Heat a pan over a high heat and fry the chorizo until it is nicely crispy. You do not need to add any oil to the pan, there is plenty in the chorizo. It will only need about five minutes in the pan but do keep an eye on it and stir it regularly so that it cooks evenly and does not burn. When it is done, use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan and set it aside.

6. Remove the tortilla from the oven. Crumble over the last of the feta and the cooked chorizo. Wash and roughly chop the flat-leaf parsley and sprinkle that over the top. Serve immediately with lots of fresh baby leaf green salad on the side.