Salami and Potato Tortilla

Tortilla Espanola, otherwise known as Spanish Omelette, is a really simple dish that is great hot or cold, for breakfast, lunch or dinner, on its own or with accompaniments. Traditionally it is just prepared using vegetable oil, eggs and potatoes and served as a tapa (picnic dish) cut into bit sized pieces.

Legend puts the origins of the Tortilla as being created by General Tomas Zumalakarregi Imatz, during the seige of Bilbao, as an easy, fast, nutritious dish for his troops. It hasn't been confirmed whether this is true, it is known that the Tortilla gained popularity and spread throughout Spain during the early Carlist wars.

Today many variations exist ranging from just the addition of onions, garlic and mushrooms to chorizo, peppers or ham. You can practically put anything you want into your tortilla.

This will serve 4-6 people depending on hunger

6 tbsp oil (I used olive oil but any kind of veg oil will do)
450g potatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
50g salami, thinly sliced
6 eggs, lightly beaten

Start by heating the oil in a pan, one about 18cm is good. Add the potatoes, onions and garlic and stir together until thoroughly coated in the oil, cover with a lid. Gently cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes (the potatoes should be firm but soft). Season.

Turn on your grill to a medium high heat. Add the Salami to the pan and stir round. Season your eggs and then pour over the potato mixture. Turn up the heat to a medium high for 5 minutes or until the edges start to brown and the egg is about three-quarters set. Put the pan under the grill and brown the top. Take out and place to one side.

Leave to cool slightly (about 2 minutes) then carefully loosen the tortilla around the edges and underneath with a knife, cut into desired serving portion and serve.

The whole process takes about 20-30 minutes from start to finish. This makes it ideal for a quick lunch. It is also great cold, so you can make it beforehand for picnics or pack lunches.

Salmon Ravioli with a Thyme brown butter sauce

This week I want to look at ravioli. Ravioli is a stuffing mix between two thin layers of pasta dough, it is normally served with a sauce or in a broth. They were made popular throughout the world due to the Italian Army tinning them in tomato sauce during WW1 which then was picked up by the Heinz company.

Ravioli can be as simple or as complex as one desires but I think simple works better as it involves less time and experimentation. The one here is a case of using some leftover ingredients with a simple sauce.

To make enough for four people you will need:-

200g roasted salmon
150g mash potato
1 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
4 Fresh pasta
150g butter
seasoning
1tbsp fresh thyme leave
100g parmesan cheese

You want to start by sweating the onion and garlic in a pan with some olive oil, this will take about 5 minutes. Put your sweated onions in a bowl and add the salmon, mash potato and some seasoning into it. Mix together until well mixed, put to one side.

Cut your pasta block into four pieces and then roll each piece out flat. Cut in half place one half in a greased ravioli tray (if you don't have one don't worry, I will get to that in a bit). Place a teaspoon of your salmon mixture into each ravioli well, once all done place the other half on top and roll a pin over the top to cut them. Repeat with the other pieces.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. While this is happening put your butter in a small pan over a medium heat. Stir the melting butter until it browns, about 5 minutes, then take off the heat. Stir in some seasoning and fresh thyme leaves. Now it is time to add your ravioli to the boiling water, place in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, take out and serve straight away with your butter sauce and grated parmesan.

This is a great lunch meal.

Slow Roasted Sabbath Chicken Dinner

We all know what it's like, we wake up on Sunday morning, rush around getting ourselves and the children ready for Church, then after Church come home to start cooking dinner, kids screaming, tempers rising and all of a sudden all that nice spiritual feeling is leaving us. We all just want to come home and have dinner ready. Well I have the perfect solution, I present, THE SLOW ROASTED SABBATH CHICKEN DINNER, [enter ta-da here]. This meal isn't just for Sundays but for any day of the week, you can prepare the day before hand and just pop in the oven on the day. It is simple, easy and can be done on a small budget.

Sunday Dinner for me as a child was a highlight, it had Yorkshire Puddings, Gravy, Vegetables, Roast Potatoes and of course, Roasted Meat. As my family wasn't all that well off, we ate a lot of Roast Chicken with the dark meat for us children and the white for my parents. It was always very tasty and I remember my mother in the kitchen for hours and then when I was old enough, helping with it.

First we will start with the chicken itself:-

1 1.5kg whole chicken
1 lemon, halved
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp aromatic salt
1 tsp oregano
50g butter, softened

Preheat your oven to 125oC. Mix the herbs and salt with the butter. Squeeze half the lemon over the chicken, rub in all the butter everywhere. Squeeze the other half into the cavity and put in the two halves. Cover with tinfoil, make sure it is completely sealed. Put into the oven for 4 hours. Remove the foil and increase heat to 225oC and place for a further 30 minutes (if making Roast potatoes, see below, add now). Take out and serve.

For the Roast Potatoes:-

1 kg potatoes, peeled and halved
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp flour
Salt and Pepper

Boil your potatoes in a large pan. They should take around 5-10 minutes, they should be par boiled (hard but soft enough to stick a knife in), strain into a colander. You can do this the day before, put them in the fridge overnight. Now put them in an oven dish and sprinkle the flour, paprika and seasoning over them, mix till coated then pour over the oil, mix again until all fully coated. Put into the oven with the chicken. When the chicken comes out, turn them and put them in for another 15 minutes.

Serve it with vegetables and Gravy. I love spiced carrot and turnip mash, Broccoli and Cauliflower but you can put anything. They also go great with Yorkshire puddings.

Corned Beef Hash

Corned Beef Hash has been part of British home cooking since the early 20th century. It became very popular during the second world war, mainly because rationing made it hard to get fresh meat. This dish comes in many different varieties from frying cubes of corned beef with par boiled cubes of potato to cooking the beef with onions and layering mash on top. The one Hash I remember from my childhood was one where the corned beef was fried, added to some mash potato, salted and buttered and then topped with cheese. It was almost always served with baked beans, fried onions and bread. It was a family favourite. This version is a casserole that is simple, can be made up before hand (up to a day) and  nutritious.

So for this you will want to have:-

340g Corned beef (1 tin)
400g Potatoes (Maris Pipers or King Edwards work best)
75g Butter, melted
100ml double cream, warm
salt and pepper
75g Cheese, grated (I used a mix of Edam and Cheddar)

Optionals: Baked beans and one medium onion

So start off by rough cutting your potatoes and putting them into a pan of water to boil. I like to keep the skin on them as this is where most of the nutrients are held. A trick to getting the right mashed potato is not to over boil, so around 20 minutes, where they are soft but not breaking up.

While your potatoes are boiling take the corned beef out of the tin and slice. In a frying pan, add a teaspoon of oil and heat. Add your corned beef slices and brown on both sides. Take out and put to one side. You can use the same pan now to fry your onions if you are choosing to add onions.

Drain your potatoes and add back to the pan. Add the corned beef, cream, butter and seasoning and mash. I like to mash mine until they are all mixed together, not really caring if there are chunks.

If you are making for cooking later, let cool down and put into the fridge. About an hour before you want to serve, preheat oven to 175'C and put the hash inside. Cook for 20 minutes and then add the cheese. Turn up to 225'C and leave for another 15-20 minutes and the cheese has browned.

If wanting to make right away, preheat oven to 225'C, top with cheese and cook for 15-20 minutes and the cheese has browned.

Serve with your baked beans and onions if you want. Then watch as all the contents disappear into the mouths of your family and guests.