Baked tortilla with McCain

How’s January going? Busy? Cold? A little bit, ahem, all over the place? Same here. I always feel that as a family we plod through January in a fug of minor disorganisation, sleep walking our way back to normality after all the stodgy delights and late nights of yuletide. So culinary shortcuts, albeit delicious healthy ones, are very much part of my January plan to get us all back into the swing of things.

Now you guys know I’m a freezer obsessive. Mine is full to the brim with meals for a rainy (or snowy or even sunny) day, so it should come as no surprise to you that I keep a pack of McCain Home Chips on hand. It may surprise you to hear I don’t just serve Home Chips in their honest, simple form. That is, as delicious chips. Oh no, I also like to use them in my recipes too.

We all love Spanish tortilla in this house; it’s healthy, it’s deliciously moreish and it works well warm, as well as cold. It’s the meal that keeps on giving where leftovers are never a chore to gobble up. My only bugbear with traditional Spanish tortilla is the 30 + minutes of slow, gentle and attentive pan frying required to render the potatoes tender. So instead, for a less hands on alternative, I use @McCainUK’s Home Chips, along with frozen peas, frozen sliced peppers and frozen ready diced onion to make a baked version of this classic dish. Using all these frozen ingredients works so well, tastes great and makes for very minimal prep – all in all helping us mums and dads get teatimes #BacktoNormal. And even better, you can pretty much add anything you like to it. Want the recipe? Here goes…

(Plus don’t forget the other recipes in this series: thyme & lemon pork chops with rainbow roasted veg and onion gravy and garlic, lemon and sweet chilli chicken with sweet potato fries.

Baked tortilla with McCain

Serves 4 adults or 2 adults and 2 – 4 children depending on age

Ingredients:

500g McCain Home Chips
2 tbsp olive oil
140g frozen ready diced onions
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
180g frozen mixed sliced peppers
170g frozen peas
5 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 230ºC/220ºC fan/gas mark 8. Spread your McCain Home Chips evenly in a single layer onto a baking tray and pop it into the top of the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes (a few minutes less than you would bake normally), turning them every now and again, until they’re crisp and light golden. Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.

In the meantime, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the onions, garlic and black pepper.

Fry for 10 minutes, over a medium heat, until starting to soften. Add the peppers and peas, turn up the heat, stir well and fry for a further 5 minutes until soft and any liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat.

Line a roasting tray approximately 24cm x 18cm x 6cm with baking parchment or foil and alternately spoon the baked McCain Home Chips and onion mixture, in layers.

Pour over the beaten egg. Give the tin a little shake to ensure the egg doesn’t just sit on the top and use a fork to squash the top of the tortilla down a little. Bake for 15 minutes until firm.

Slice into squares or triangles and serve hot or cold with a large salad. Be sure to keep any leftover tortilla in the fridge, well covered.

NB: For a speedy salad dressing whisk together 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice and 1 tbsp Dijon mustard. Season to taste and add in any fresh herbs (finely chopped) you have to hand. I especially like dill.