Eat for Less: This is How to Cook a Perfect Spanish Omelette

Last night, our Mexican visitor made Spanish omelette for us. Or to use its proper name ‘tortilla de patatas’.

“Maria, I can’t really cook. I like cleaning more.”

This is what she told me when I said that we like people staying in our house to be part of the family. This means eating together and we cook.

This doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate it when our visitors decide to cook something; only they have to cook for all of us.

I believed her. Until, our visitor decided to cook chicken mole; and enchiladas. And last night she cooked Spanish omelette for us.

Now, this is a very traditional Spanish peasant dish. You need eggs, potatoes and whatever else grows on your garden.

It is cheap and easy to prepare (what makes it especially easy is that I use some shortcuts).

This is what you need to make a perfect Spanish omelette

This products will make four generous portions of Spanish omelette.

• 3-4 large potatoes
• 1 average onion
• 8 eggs
• A bit of olive oil

These are the basic products you need. This dish is very versatile and you can add any vegetable you like (courgette, broccoli, red pepper etc.).

This is how to cook a Spanish omelette

Start by peeling the onion and peeling the potatoes.

Cut the potatoes in centimetre cubes (approximately) and boil until soft (this takes approximately 10 minutes).

Chop the onion and fry in a large frying pan. Make sure that there is enough olive oil in the pan to form a millimetre layer. Fry the onion for 4-5 minutes or until soft and golden.

Add the soft boiled potato to the pan with fried onion.

Break the eggs in a large bowl and mix them well (I beat them with a hand mixer). Add the eggs to the mixture in the frying pan and let the egg soak through the potato.

Fry until the egg is set (except at the very top).

Pu your grill on high and place the frying pan under it for 3-4 minutes so that the top of the Spanish omelette can cook.

Turn the Spanish omelette on an appropriately large plate.

Serve with fresh salad.

(If you put other vegetables in the Spanish omelette you will have to fry them with the onion.)

Why is this dish ‘eat for less at its best’?

Because it is fast to prepare, delicious and nutritious. And to feed four people costs approximately £1.80.

Go beat that!

Or even better: go and try making it. It will quickly become a staple of your diet, I’m sure. This is what happened to us.