Spanish Cuisine – Omelet & Pan Con Tomate

So I am here in the Spanish countryside, La Llacuna to be exact. Right in the middle of the beautiful Penedés. I have now been in Spain for over a month and I love it! Compared to France everyone is super friendly and all up it just seems more relaxed. I have sipped, spitted and drank over 60 different Cava’s (yes life is very hard!) alongside visiting 10+ wineries to see the Spaniards at work, obviously not during siesta hours though and of course I have gorged on the local cuisine.

So here are my two favourite simple yet tasty recipes I have come across so far and what would be a good Spanish vino match to accompany them…

Pan Con Tomate (Bread with tomato…. literally!)

This is a very typical dish of Cataluna that came about in the 18th century.

– All you need to do is to toast some nice solid rustic bread; my favourite is doing it on the BBQ.

– Followed by cutting the end off a bud of garlic and peeling it back so that you can scrap it all over the bread – if you like it garlicky go for gold and use that whole bad boy up.

– Next you will cut a tomato in half horizontally and proceed to rub it all over the bread so all the gooey seeds transfer to the bread and garlic.

– The final step is to find some delish olive oil and drizzle it on the top.
Bueno!!

In terms of wine I would go for a Rosé Cava… a particular producer I would lean towards would be Berdié due to its rather full-bodiness for a Rosé but it also has a lovely spicy character in amongst the forest of fruit that would really compliment the garlic. However saying that depending on how much garlic you like it may be better to just stick to a cheapie for this one and keep the Berdié for the BBQ meat.

Now my next Spanish treat is…

The Spanish Omelet

Being a bit of a dabbler in the kitchen I would like to add a lot of extra bits and pieces to the original recipe, so I will give you the original and you can modify to your liking as I do.

1. Peel 8 potatoes and VERY FINELY slice the potatoes into a big bowl. The best way to get the best possible slices is to use the peeler to slice them up.

2. Cut up an onion equally thin and place in the same bowl as above.

3. Fill the bottom of a decent size fry pan with oil… be generous… this is starting to sound very healthy isn’t it 😉

4. Put the potatoes and onion into the pan and constantly flip them for around 20minutes until they are cooked but not browned.

5. Whisk 5 eggs in a bowl.

6. Take the cooked potato and onion and plop it into the bowl with the egg – mix it up making sure it is all stirred in good.

7. Place the mixture back into the fry fan and using a wooden spoon gently go round the sides, pushing it down so that the edge is a nice neat circle… continue doing this for approximately 20 minutes on med-low heat.

8. Once you ‘get that feeling’ that it is ready, take a plate and put it over the top of the omelet and proceed to flip the omelet onto the plate.

9. Once it is onto the plate you need to carefully slide it back into the pan so that the bottom side can cook.

10. And after about 15minutes you will have a beautifully golden Spanish Omelet!

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) my palate is on a one-track mission and that is Cava so again I would have to suggest a Nature Cava to be the perfect mate for this omelet, the crisp bone-dryness of the sparkling liquid cuts through the egg and potatoes to leave your palate fresh and wanting more…. More of both the Cava and Omelet that is!