More egg-inspiration

More inspiration from Spain again this week. I was rummaging in the fridge, trying to work out what to cook for a quick supper with a few leftovers – a couple of potatoes, half a red pepper, a few mushrooms and a bunch a parsley. What better than a ‘Spanish omelette’? Just add four or five eggs to produce a variation of this traditional Spanish Tortilla Española. The left-overs I used here can easily be substituted for tinned store cupboard vegetables making it an ideal campervan recipe.

There is always a plate of tortilla in any Spanish tapas bar; it’s one of the favourites that I never fail to order. The original Tortilla Española is just eggs, potatoes and onion. Legend has it that this peasant dish dates back to the siege of Bilbao in 1835 when the Carlist general Tomás de Zumalacárregui invented it to sustain his troops, or more likely he was given it by a local peasant. Other sources date the first reference to this ‘best of all omelettes’ to Pamplona in the Navarre region in 1817.

There are various regional variations including tortilla paisana which incorporates red peppers and peas. Combining eggs with leftovers in a frying pan or skillet is a common peasant meal. The traditional omelette is usually associated with France, where the word ‘omelette’ dates to the mid-sixteenth century, although earlier versions go back as far as 1393. There is also a military connection with the legend of a giant omelette served to none other than Napoleon. Elsewhere in Europe the Italian frittata is a type of omelette, not dissimilar to the tortilla and incorporating vegetables, leftovers and even pasta. Further afield, Chinese cuisine boasts the egg foo yung, there is an Indian masala omelette flavoured with chillies and spices and the Japanese tamagoyaki ingredients include soy and mirin. The Iranian nargesi includes fried onions and spinach – I have earmarked a very similar recipe to try later in the week.