Tortilla

I made my first proper tortilla the other night. They always seem such simple things, I was surprised at how much time and prep it took, but the end result was just about worth it and it's a marvellously cheap dinner.

The recipe I followed fairly faithfully from the first Moro book which I like but rarely use.

The first stage is preparing your onions and potatoes. I used 1 and a half medium onions and about 5 small-medium potatoes, which worked out well (I don't have scales, so I always have to estimate if the recipe gives me grams).

You slice both fairly thin, and then put the onions into fairly hot olive oil in a frying pan, turn the heat down and let them cook slowly for 30-40 minutes until they are dark and sweet and soft (stir every couple of minutes to prevent sticking).

Potatoes you can do in a deep fat fryer or - as I did - in a couple of inches of sunflower oil heated up in a big heavy-based pan. The oil should be hot enough to cook them but not too hot - they take about 20 minutes to get tender. Drain and reserve the oil once they reach this point.

(As an aside - I added rosemary and garlic to my oil thinking it would add a nice 'twist', but any flavour they imparted was completely overwhelmed by the sweetness of the onions, so it was pretty pointless. Don't skimp on the onion cooking by the way - without their deep flavour I think it would have been much the poorer).

Once your onions and potatoes are cooked, beat 5 eggs, and mix in the vegetables. Season.

Heat some olive oil until it's just smoking in a frying pan, then pour the mixture in with one hand whilst shaking with the other. This bit is fun! After about 3-4 minutes, once the underside is golden brown, put a plate on top of the pan, and carefully flip the whole lot over.

Put a little more oil in the pan and let it get hot, then slide the tortilla back in, runny side down. Breathe a sigh of relief as it all stays together.

3 mins more cooking and it should be cooked through.

I served mine with a hastily put together ratatouille-type-thing, and a simple salad. It was a pretty good dinner...