Spanish Tortilla with Onions and Red Pepper

A couple of weeks ago, we had the first beautiful spring weather and were busy booking a holiday to Spain. Putting one and one together, we quickly decided to make a Spanish potato tortilla for dinner. This recipe is based on one I found in BBC Good Food Magazine from July 2003, to be found online here: picnic tortilla.

What worked and what didn’t:
I chose this recipe as it had a slightly different approach to cooking the tortilla by first adding the cooked potatoes to the egg mixture and then return it to the pan. I like this approach over adding the egg mixture to the potatoes as now the potatoes were covered better and were more evenly distributed in the tortilla. From experience, I prefer finishing an almost done tortilla under a hot grill, especially with a cheese topping, rather than trying to turn a semi-cooked tortilla in the pan and then adding the cheese.

The recipe:

We had some leftover red bell pepper that went into the tortilla, so my recipe would have been something like this:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
350g / 12oz new potatoes, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced and cut into 2½ cm/1″ strips
6 large eggs
100g mature cheddar, grated

Heat the olive oil in a small non-stick, ovenproof frying pan, add the onion, bell pepper, and potatoes and fry for 10-12 minutes, turning frequently until tender but not browned.
Meanwhile, turn on the grill of your oven (on medium)
Beat the eggs in a large bowl with plenty of salt and pepper, and stir in one-third of the grated cheese.
Remove the potato mixture with a slotted spoon, and stir into the eggs, leaving a little oil in the pan.
Pour in the egg and potato mixture back and leave to cook undisturbed over a gentle heat for 8 minutes until firmly set underneath but not set on top.
Top the tortilla with the remaining cheese and put it under the grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese is browned and the tortilla almost entirely set. The residual heat will cook it through.
We served it with some cherry tomatoes and mixed salad.

Recipe accuracy:
The recipe is accurate and would indeed serve 6 for a picnic, or supper for 4.