Spanish Tortilla

This week’s recipe is made to warm our chilly spring cockles, and give a little culinary squeeze-hug of comfort because Mrs Green is back at the office taking care of business. The boys miss her. I miss her. We cannot wait for the weekend. Meanwhile, she gets home late every night. This is something to make everyone feel a little better.

This recipe is a compromise between the tofu-based Frittata recipe that I love and the gram (chickpea) flour-based Quiche recipe that is Mrs Green’s fave. It is pretty easy to prepare and would be a great accompaniment to a very cold beer on a very warm day, if you lived closer to the equator, that is. In the absence of sunshine, this tortilla nevertheless remains a comforting bite of a rainy spring’s evening and is very satisfying in oh so many ways.

While we try our best to use the seasonal ingredients of our weekly Growing Communities veg bag, this recipe basically crosses all seasons and is brilliantly accompanied by the vegetables that we eagerly anticipate and gratefully receive each week. This time we enjoyed it with a raw courgette (zucchini), red pepper, tomato, parsley and chive salad - zing!

I have tried to use only as much oil and frying as is strictly necessary and in my eyes this dish definitely rivals its eggy cousin. On the whole, I really don’t miss eggs, but for anyone who would notice, the gram flour does a great job at adding an eggy edge. If you do try this recipe and, as part of the creative cooking process sample a few of the pan-fried potatoes (possibly with a dousing of chilli sauce), I would not think any less of you.  In fact, were you to stop in your tracks after pulling this beautiful thing out of the oven, hide in a closet and eat the lot with a good bold squeeze of sriracha, I would sympathetically agree that sometimes you have to eat the whole tortilla yourself. If that is the route that you want to take, I suggest including some fresh rosemary when cooking the potatoes.

We used a cast iron skillet for this recipe which makes flipping the tortilla out onto a plate more challenging than if you were to use a teflon frying pan because A) cast iron skillets tend to be heavy and B) the bottom can stick, making a smooth turning of the tortilla a little tricky unless you use a lot of oil. The flavour to my mind is better with an iron skillet, but it could also be an unconscious bias for old-school awesome cowboy-style manly-man iron skillets. In any event, the tortilla can always be flipped over again on the plate to show its good side to the world. It would be much easier to use a non-stick frying pan but they are not what awesome cowboys use in London.

Ingredients:

• Extra firm tofu 2 X 280g
• Potato 600g, we left the skin on
• Olive oil 4 tbsp, divided
• Chickpea flour 4 X tbsp
• Turmeric 1/4 tsp
• Low salt bouillon 1 tbsp
• Baking powder 1 tsp
• Onion 1 medium white
• Garlic 1 large clove
• Milk 1 cup, we used soya
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Place a 10 inch (25cm) skillet or non stick frying pan on medium heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil.
• Dice the onion and garlic and add to the skillet.
• Dice the potato into 1/2 inch (2 cm) cubes and add to the skillet along with a pinch of salt, mix ingredients and cover with a lid for 20 min or until the potatoes are cooked through. Stir the mixture every 5 minutes and scrapes and bits that have stuck to the pan.
• Drain the tofu then blend with the milk, bouillon, chickpea flour, baking powder and some black pepper until smooth.
• Preheat oven to 200C, fan assisted.
• Place the tofu mixture into a large bowl and when the potato mixture is ready, add it to the tofu. Mix well.
• Scrape the skillet clean and add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil making sure to coat the pan well.
• Pour the tortilla mixture back into the pan and place into preheated oven for 25 minutes or until top of tortilla is slightly charred. Cooking times can vary according to the tofu used, I've had it take from as little as 25 minutes to 45 minutes.
• Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan, the tofu will firm up as it cools.
• Turn the tortilla onto a plate and allow to cool for a further 10 minutes before slicing and devouring.