We’ve all had those days when you get back from uni, and the idea of having to go to the kitchen and cook makes you want to cry. So, counteract this with this perfect Spanish tortilla recipe that’ll have you eating well for the week.
As a student, eggs should be your best friend when cooking. Not only are they cheap and a great source of proteins, vitamins and minerals, but they can be used for such a diverse range of recipes. Using six in one tortilla might sound like a lot, but this is giving you about four portions worth of food to be chilled and eaten throughout the week, while also using very little other ingredients.
If you want to get into Spanish or Italian cooking, deep frying is a must-know skill, but can quickly become an expensive one, so you’ll need to learn to fight the waste. I’ve found the best way to do so is to get yourself a designated oil jar where you can put your used oil when you’re done, and then have it on hand to reuse whenever you want. This will cut down your cooking cost and save your drains from getting blocked, although I wouldn’t recommend reusing it more than four times.
I usually serve my tortilla with rocket and chilli but please experiment with your own. If you’re willing to put a bit more money in, using a more expensive oil would give the onions and potatoes a richer flavour, or you could even pull together a tomato salsa to top the tortilla.
| Ingredients | Cost |
| 300ml sunflower oil | 33p of £1.10 Tesco Pure sunflower oil 1L |
| 1 brown onion | 17p of £0.50 Tesco brown onion 3 pack |
| 3 large potatoes or 4 medium potatoes | 33p of £1.38 Tesco white potatoes 2.5Kg |
| 6 eggs | 46p of £1.15 Herron Foods 15 pack of eggs |
| 1 teaspoon salt | |
| Total: £1.29 |
1) Pour 300ml of oil into a pan, or until there is about a 3.5cm layer of it, and turn on the stove to high heat.
2) While the oil is heating, peel and half the onion, finely slicing it then placing it in the oil.
3) While the onion fries, half the potatoes and finely slice them (the thinner the slice, the better but more importantly the size should be regular) putting them into the oil once all of them are chopped.
4) Leave the onion and potatoes to fry for about 15 minutes.
5) The onion should have gone dark while the potatoes are crispy and golden, at this point line a tray with paper towels and carefully remove the onion and potatoes from the oil, placing them on the towels.
6) Leave the onion and potatoes to cool for another 15 minutes then press them with the paper towels to drain any excess oil.
7) In a large bowl, crack six eggs and mix in the onion and potatoes until just combined, then leave to sit and thicken for 15 minutes.
8) Put a tablespoon of oil in a pan and heat to high temperature.
9) Pour in the mixture and leave for a minute, then turn down the heat to medium for another two.
10) Put a plate on top of the pan and flip the tortilla on to the plate, then slide the tortilla back into the pan on its opposite side, leaving it on high heat for another minute then on medium for two more.
11) Take the tortilla off the heat and serve; it should give about four portions.
Luke Webb