After a Day in the Garden...

As we spend more and more time in the garden through the spring and summer the challenge to produce tasty but quickly-made food ensues. A favourite standby is any variety of tortilla, this is the Spanish version of omelette, but much easier to produce.

Basically anything available in the fridge or kitchen garden can be used to create Spanish tortilla. Last night we used some bacon, mushrooms, herbs and cheese; and the whole process, including a green salad, took just 20 minutes.


Fridge and Plot Tortilla
Serves 2
Ingredients
a glug of light olive oil
1 thick (or 2 thin) rasher of bacon, diced
5 large chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
4 eggs, beaten with a little cream or milk and salt and pepper
2 ozs strong Cheddar, grated
a few chives, chopped

Method
Heat a small, heavy bottomed frying pan (about 6"-8" diameter) add the oil and the bacon. After a few minutes add the mushrooms and continue frying until the bacon is cooked. Meanwhile make the green salad and heat the grill to maximum temperature.

When the bacon and mushroom mix is cooked, add the eggs and mix gently. Leave to cook until the eggs are set around the edges, this should take only a few minutes as the pan is hot.

Spinkle the chives and grated cheese over the tortilla and then place under the hot grill. The tortilla will rise like a souffle and when the eggs are set and the cheese is golden remove from the grill and serve with the green salad and a good bottle of wine.

Note: The filling for the tortilla can be varied according to what you have available and vegetarian versions are simple. Other fillings we've tried include combinations of: spinach, red and green peppers, onion, chunks of cooked ham, leftover chicken; topped with almost any cheese you can think of!