TORTILLA DE PATATAS (SPANISH OMELET)

I have been trying to avoid adding this recipe to the blog as there is something a bit too obvious about Spanish people cooking tortilla. But a tortilla with a glass of beer and good company on a sunny day is hard to beat. And a hot  'bocadillo de tortilla' (omelet inside a piece of crusty bread) on a cold day is pure indulgence.

There are as many recipes of tortilla as Spanish people: some like it with onion, some with leeks, some with just potatoes and eggs, some prefer it 'blonde' some 'dark', some 'runny' some 'dry'…just try a few times and find the recipe that you prefer.  My advice: do not add chorizo, nor peppers- a tortilla with that is just a bit of a mess. Be generous with the salt. Also, you need a good non stick (medium size) pan and very hot oil.

You need:
- 500 gr potatoes
- 5 eggs
- lots of olive oil
- salt
- an onion

Chop the potatoes into really thin slices (by hand or with a food processor). Cut the onion into small squares. Mix the onion and the potatoes and add salt. Put a really generous amount of olive oil in the pan ( medium heat), add the potatoes and onions, lower the heat to its minimum setting, cover with a lid and let it fry the until the ottos are golden and soft ( more or less twenty minutes). When the potatoes are done put them into a colander to get rid of the excess oil (but keep this oil).

Beat the eggs. Add the potatoes to the eggs and add a tiny bit more salt.

Put three spoonfuls of oil (you can use the oil from the potatoes) in the pan and heat it under it is very hot. Add the eggs and potatoes mixture and lower the heat to medium/low. Once you see bubbles on the surface (10-ish minutes) turn the tortilla around. This really seems more difficult than it is - you can do it with a big plate or a lid  (I do it over the sink just in case some of the eggy mixture falls down) Let the tortilla cook on the other side (another 8 minutes more or less). You can eat it hot or cold.

RED CABBAGE

This has a sweet-ish taste, so it is a good way to get children to eat cabbage. It works very well with roast pork or beef.

You need:
- one red cabbage (cut it into thin slices)
-2 onions (chopped thinly)
- one apple (peeled and chopped)
- salt
-two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil (three tablespoons)
-half a glass of water

Heat the oil in a pan (medium heat). Add the onion and fry it until it becomes golden (light) - this will take 5-6 minutes. Add the red cabbage and the apple and let it fry for 5 minutes. Then add the salt, balsamic vinegar and water. After 4-5 minutes reduce the heat and let it all simmer for 50 minutes until the cabbage is soft.

MUSHROOM SOUP

Since my children finally approve of mushrooms we have revived an old recipe for mushroom soup. You can do this with any sort of mushrooms really. We did it with porcini, which makes the flavour more intense, simply because we had friends for lunch and wanted to make something a bit more special, but it tastes very nice too with fresh mushrooms only (we used chestnut mushrooms but white cup mushrooms work well too). You need:
- 500 gr mushrooms (sliced)
- 30 gr porcini
- water (for the porcini) - 2 glasses
- 2 onions (diced)
- 1 clove of garlic (sliced)
- olive oil ( 3 table spoons)
- a knob of butter
- a sprinkle of chopped parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 750 ml stock (or water if you do not have any stock)
- 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche
- salt

Heat the oil and butter in a deep pan. Pour two glasses of boiling water over the dried porcini and let them rest until they become soft)  Add the onions and garlic and let it cook over slow heat until they become soft and translucent. Add the sliced mushrooms, then the porcini (without the water)  and the parsley and let it all cook for 10-15 minutes. Add salt, the bay leaf and the stock and let it all boil for 20-25 minutes. Add the creme fraiche and mix with a hand held blender. We fried slices of mushrooms and served the soup with them on top.

COURGETTE FRITTERS

You can do this with courgettes, carrots, potatoes or any combination of the three.

You need:

-three courgettes (grated)
- one potato (also grated)
- 2 eggs
- half a clove of garlic (grated)
-50 gr of self raising flour
- a handful of parsley
- a pinch of grated nutmeg
- salt
- olive oil to fry.

Mix all the ingredients. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the oil. Wait for 2 or 3 minutes until the fritters get a golden colour, turn them around, fry them on the other side and take them out. It is best to put them on a plate lined with kitchen paper to get rid of the excess oil.

You can eat this on it own, with pesto, hummus, yogurt sauce (yogurt, salt, lemon and mint)...

As always be careful with the grater as children forget that a grater is similar to a knife.

OATMEAL BISCUITS FOR CHEESE

We got this recipe from the 'Delicious' magazine. You need:

1. 
   

1. -150 gr of wholemeal flour

1. - 50 gr of oat meal

1. - 100  butter (cold)

1. - 2 tsp of baking powder

1. - 3 tbsp of sugar

1. - half a tsp of salt

1. - 5 tbsp milk (the original recipe calls for 3 but that was too little)

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients and then rub the butter in. Let it rest for 15 minutes in the fridge. Roll it out (the mixture is very dry so it is easier for the children to roll it out between two pieces of cling film - and it makes much less mess) Cut it in rounds or squares and bake for 12 minutes. They keep for a week. 

BABAGHANOUSH

This is a very easy Middle Eastern dip.

You need:
-two aubergines
- a large cloves of garlic
- 5 table spoons of a good olive oil
- a pinch of salt
- juice of a lemon
- 2 table spoons of tahini
- parsley and a drizzle of olive oil for decoration (coriander works too and it is also nice with pomegranate)

Preheat the oven at 250 degrees. Put the aubergines on a tray covered with foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until they are 'almost burnt' (you can also do this by putting them under the grill but you will need to keep watching them from time to time) Get them out of the oven and when they become cold (-er) scoop the flesh out. Mix the aubergines flesh with the garlic, salt, olive oil, tahini and lemon juice and mix it all together (this is better if you just 'pulse it' a few times so that you retain some texture, but my children prefer it smooth). Sprinkle the parsley on top and drizzle with a bit of olive oil when you serve it.

It works with pita bread, as a garnish to meat or chicken, on its own...

ORANGE AND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

These started with a (very good) Nigella recipe for orange muffins that we use sometimes (though generally children prefer pancakes to muffins in the morning). The orange  muffins are so simple that they require jam, so one of my sons tried the recipe with blueberries and the result is much better.

You need:
- 250 gr self raising flour
- 25 ground almonds
- 75 gr sugar
- one tsp baking soda
- half a tsp bicarb of soda
- zest of one orange
- 75 gr butter ( melted)
- 1 egg
- 100 ml orange juice
- 100 ml milk
- 4-5 blueberries per muffin

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Mix the flour, ground almond, sugar, baking soda, bicarb and orange zest. Separately mix the egg, milk, orange juice and melted butter. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and mix (not too much). Fill in the muffin cases (you should have enough for 12). Put the blueberries on the muffins, pushing a bit down so that half of each blueberry is hidden in the mixture. Bake for 20 minutes.