The chances are that you'll have heard of and probably tried a Tortilla Española. A very simple, easy to make but wonderful Spanish dish. But the chances are you'll probably have never heard of the San Sebastian version.
Well, it's not really a version of it as such. Bill Clements sort of made the name up! In his own words:
"I am the cook at home and often rustle up a Spanish style meal. Many years ago, a girlfriend of mine was half Spanish. Her mother, who I loved to bits, came from San Sebastián and gave me my initial interest in cooking. A regular dish she prepared was a tortilla, but rather spicy and absolutely delicious. Not in the usual 'tortilla de huevos con patatas'.
I named the recipe to remind me of the woman who gave me the inspiration to cook."
By the way, if you cannot find Maris Piper potatoes out there, then a similar large floury textured potato will do. The type that roast very crisply.
So here you go, here's how to make this wonderful Tortialla Española de San Sebastian:
Ingredients
7 or 8 eggs according to size
6 to 8 large Maris Piper potatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 large onion
1 medium strength chilli
5 slices of roast ham
About 1.5 inches of Chorizo sliced wafer thin from a deli counter
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Method
Preheat oven to 220C.
Prepare ingredients: Finely chop the onion, peel and dice potatoes into 1 cm cubes, deseed and finely chop the chilli, cut ham into 1cm pieces. Set aside 5 slices of chorizo for decoration and tear the rest into pieces. Crush the skinned garlic cloves. Beat eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper.
Pre heat corn oil in a baking tray and roast potatoes until golden.
Remove and place to one side.
Turn down oven to about 180 C.
I use a 10” non-stick ovenproof frying pan with at least a 2” depth.
Heat a little Olive oil in frying pan. Soften onions but do not burn and set to one side. Fry ham just prior to crisp, turn down heat and add chilli, chorizo and garlic, quick fry without burning garlic. Set all to one side and clean frying pan.
On a medium heat, add back all cooked ingredients except egg.
Warm through.
Stir eggs containing the seasoning and add to pan.
Mix until eggs begin to set then evenly spread omelette. Cook for a minute or so until it is almost fully set.
Place the 5 rounds of chorizo on top for decoration. Remove from hob and place frying pan in oven.
Bake until omelette rises and is golden brown on top, usually about 5 minutes.
Delicious served hot; or cool in pan before removing otherwise it will break.
Turn out cold and remove excess oil from bottom with paper towel.
When fully cold, wrap in foil and chill in fridge.
Ole!