Garden Vegetable Omelette
The Italians are passionate about their frittata, which roughly translates as ‘fried’, while the Spanish adore their tortilla (‘little cake’). The French know it as an omelette à l’espagnole, and to the British it is also Spanish omelette. This recipe celebrates some of the wonderful ingredients from our vegetable garden at Le Manoir. There’s a whole glut of produce from June to September, so use your favourite seasonal vegetables. Or keep it really simple, with just potatoes and onions. Here I have used Jersey Royal potatoes but they can be substituted with any waxy potato (floury varieties will break during cooking).
This recipe is from my cookbook: Simply Raymond: Kitchen Garden
Ingredients
- 150gJersey Royal potatoes (or any waxy potatoes)
- 1/2 largeOnion
- 1Carrot
- 1/2Romano pepper
- 1Courgette
- 2 largeGarlic cloves
- 1 stickCelery
- 1 smallRed chilli
- 60gBaby spinach
- 3 tbspOlive oil
- 2 pinchesSea salt flakes
- 2 pinchesGround black pepper
- 2 sprigsTarragon
- 1/4 bunchFlat leaf parsley
- 8Eggs, medium
- 80gBroad beans (leave the skin on for extra flavour)
Method
- 1
Halve the potatoes and then cook them (skins on) for about 15 minutes in a saucepan of boiling, salted water. While the potatoes are cooking, the other vegetables can be prepared, putting them to one side as you go. Coarsely chop the onion. Halve the carrot lengthways and finely chop it. Halve the pepper, remove and discard the seeds, and slice the flesh lengthways (about ½cm thick). Halve the courgette lengthways and slice it. Slice the garlic and the celery. Remove and discard the seeds from the red chilli, and finely slice. Wash the spinach, pat it dry with kitchen paper, coarsely chop it and keep to one side.
- 2
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Now to cook the omelette, first on the hob and then in the oven … Use a large sauté pan that has a lid. Heat the oil over a medium heat, and add these prepared vegetables – the potatoes, onion, carrot, Romano pepper, courgette, garlic, celery, red chilli. Add a couple of pinches of salt and pepper, cover with the lid and sweat for about 13–14 minutes to sweeten them, stirring every now and again to avoid colouring.
- 3
While they cook, now is a good moment to chop the tarragon and parsley and beat them into the eggs. Don’t overbeat; just break down the eggs and have them ready. Add the broad beans to the pan and cook for about a minute. Add the spinach, cover with the lid, and cook for about 30 seconds – just long enough for the spinach to wilt. Pour in the beaten eggs. Increase the temperature to brown the base of the omelette, and cook for 2–3 minutes, then transfer the pan to the preheated oven. Cook for 18–20 minutes.
- 4
Once cooked, remove the omelette from the oven and leave it to rest for about 5 minutes. Cover the pan with a large plate, board or round tray and carefully upturn the pan so that the omelette slides from the pan. Slice the omelette into four to six pieces and serve warm.
Cooking is always an expression of care and generosity. Enjoy this dish.
Bon appétit!