Spanish Omelette Incident

It wasn't just recipes for Mojos that I picked up when we went to Fuerteventura in October; there were plenty of other dishes that inspired me during our time out there and one of these was a Spanish Omelette. It was a regular meal of choice when we dined at the hotel in Fuerteventura.

This weekend was a good one; I caught up with some good friends on Friday after I had driven to their place straight from my new job, on Saturday I had some enjoyable frames of snooker with an old workmate who now is employed in a well-deserved role at a quality organisation and the weekend was topped off today by having a walk with my travelling companion to Fuerteventura. Even though we had an enjoyable walk the weather was cold and we were hungry by the time we had finished it. Therefore we decided that to buck us up we would have something to eat that reminded us of our holidays.

As I was cooking I decided what music we should listen to while I prepared the food and I chose Steely Dan's well-produced, highly polished and perfectly sung album " Can't Buy a Thrill," which includes the jazzy funk of "Do it again," and the ever popular "Reelin' in the years,"

Spanish omelettes differ from others in that potatoes are one of their primary ingredients. For this omelette I peeled three white potatoes and sliced them length ways into circular pieces that were about 5 centimetres wide and 1 centimetre thick. I then steamed them in a steamer so that they were subsequently soft enough to fry in a frying pan without them burning. The potatoes took about fifteen minutes' steaming to be soft enough to add to the frying pan. I checked they were soft enough by putting a fork through them.

While the potatoes were steaming I topped and tailed two white onions and then sliced them up into 1 centimetre by 1 centimetre pieces. I fried them lightly in olive oil and after they had started to become translucent, which was after about ten minutes, I added the potatoes to the frying pan that I had previously steamed them. I stirred the mixture regularly to stop it getting stuck to the pan or burnt. I also added a tablespoonful of dried basil to the mixture and a pinch of black pepper.

In the meantime I whisked five eggs together in a bowl and as soon as they were properly whisked together I added them to the onions and potatoes. I tilted the pan a little to be sure that egg mixture covered all parts of the pan and fried the mixture on a medium heat for five minutes while ensuring it did not stick to the bottom of the pan by regularly thrusting a wooden spatula underneath it.

After around five minutes I placed the frying pan containing the omelette under the grill checking it regularly; once the egg yolk atop it had dried and the omelette began to brown I knew it was ready.

I served the omlette with some baked beans, another Spanish Staple Food, and it certainly revitalised us after our walk. The potatoes gave the omelette both an unexpected sweetness and made it much more substantial than many omelettes are.

The omelette in a frying pan not long after its grilling

It was delicious with baked beans.