watercress, wild garlic, cheddar and potato tortilla

Like many people around the world right now, we’ve been thinking a lot about holidays and this watercress, wild garlic, cheddar and potato tortilla has brought that all back. Sometimes when I see the news I wonder if we’ll ever get to go away again.  As regular readers will know, the island of Mallorca is almost like a second home to us.  My family and I started going there when I was 8 years old, when I was a teenager I went with friends and now I have a family of my own, The Viking and I go there as often as we can. I have many, very special memories of the beautiful place, the lovely people and the exceptional food.

Whilst some of the food can be fancy, I much prefer the more traditional and countryside style cooking and there’s nothing more beautifully basic that the Spanish tortilla.  More of a meal than a regular omelette, it usually includes olive-drenched potatoes and herbs.  I have added some of the divine watercress sent to me from The Watercress Company, but of course the star of the show here has to be the eggs.

One of the many things I love about living so rurally in the Lincolnshire Wolds is that we’re surrounded by some incredible producers. One of those producers are the brilliant Scaman’s Eggs. A family-run business just down the road from me, their gorgeous free-range chickens are Freedom Food certified, which is the only UK farm assurance and food labelling scheme dedicated to farm animal welfare and of course their eggs are rather tasty! Because I’m on the at-risk list during this crisis, going out to the supermarket is a no-go so getting hold of eggs can be a sporadic thing, so I feel very fortunate that the guys at Scaman’s got in touch.

• 400g new potatoes – un-peeled and thickly sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives – roughly 5 or 6 chive stalks (kept flowers for sprinkling)
• 1 bunch of watercress (150g) – roughly chopped
• a few wild garlic leaves (optional)
• 150ml extra-virgin olive oil and a large nob of butter
• 100g strong cheddar – grated
• a sprig of fresh thyme
• 6 large free-range eggs

Heat the oil and large nob of butter in a large frying pan, then turn down the heat to the very lowest and add the potatoes and chives and stew gently, partially covered, for roughly 15 minutes, then place the watercress and wild garlic on top of the potatoes and leave for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are softened.

Carefully pour the potatoes and veg into a colander over a large bowl and pour the oil back into the pan. Once drained, place the veg into the large bowl.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl, stir in the grated cheese and then pour over the potatoes and veg with plenty of salt and pepper and stir it all together, then let it sit a while whilst you re-heat the pan.

Tip everything into the pan and cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes without doing anything, then use a spatula to shape the omelette into a cushion by softly pulling the edges in and slowly rotating the pan to flood the empty space

When it’s almost set with a little liquid still visible, take the pan off the heat and leave for 4 mins to cool a little, then place a large dinner plate on top and carefully flip the pan so that the tortilla is now on the plate, then slide it back into the pan and cook a few more minutes. Invert twice more, cooking the omelette briefly each time and pressing the edges to keep the cushion shape… slide it back on to a plate and cool for 10 minutes before serving.