FLOWER POT KITCHEN: SPANISH GARLIC POTATO CHORIZO TORTILLA

11 Jun 2020

SPANISH GARLIC POTATO CHORIZO TORTILLA

Such a simple dish the first mouthful sends me straight back to a old bodega in a little village in Spain, goats crossing the road and chickens wandering around, I’m sitting at the bar watching all the activities of the bodega with a glass of wine, Serrano ham and this gorgeous tortilla, no one speaks English and the bar man is writing our bill in chalk on the wooden bar top in front of us each time we order something else It is just magical.

Beautiful soft and slightly crisped garlic saffron chicken stock infused potatoes pillowed in a chorizo and egg tortilla, this just melts in the mouth soft, light and fluffy. By not cooking the chorizo first the chorizo’s gorgeous paprika and pork fat oils ooze out and swirl around randomly through the tortilla some infuse the potatoes and some infuse the eggs every bite is a delight.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 30minutes

Ingredients

(serves 2)

1 glug olive oil

1 tbsp butter

8 eggs beaten

100g cooking chorizo

1 large floury potato small diced

1 ltr chicken stock

3 strands saffron

6 garlic cloves finely sliced

1 small white onion finely diced

1 handful kale or chard finely sliced

Himalayan sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer add the saffron and the diced potatoes, simmer for 5 minutes only remove from the stock with a slotted spoon and reserve to one side. Keep the saffron chicken stock as a base for a soup.

Season your beaten eggs with sea salt and black pepper

Heat a cast iron skillet medium hot add the olive oil and butter once melted add the onion and garlic and soften for 5minutes then add the potatoes and pan fry for a further 5 minutes so that the potatoes take on all the flavours, add the kale, chorizo stir to combine and then turn the heat down to low and pour in the eggs, leave to gently slowly cook when there is wobble but not runny eggs place a plate on top of the skillet and turn the skillet over so that the tortilla is now on the plate, then slide the tortilla back in to the skillet to finish cooking the top which is now the bottom! Alternatively you can pop the skillet under the grill to finish cooking the top.

That’s it serve immediately and enjoy.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.