No-potato Spanish omelette

I love traditional tortilla, but it is jam-packed full of potatoes and so really quite high GI. So, I thought I’d experiment and see if I could come up with a low GI version. This worked really well (though not as popular with the children as the traditional one).

Ideally, you’ll need a (non-stick) sauté pan (deep frying pan with a lid), but I’ve also used two frying pans of the same size, with one used as a lid with no problems.

Ingredients

2 red onions
1 large courgette
2 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
2 handfuls of black (pitted) olives
3 handfuls frozen peas
1 block feta cheese (250–300g)
8 eggs
Salt and pepper

Method

Chop the onions into chunks (about 2 cm).

Slice the courgette lengthwise into quarters and then cut into chunks about 1 cm wide.

Put the oil in the sauté pan and heat it up to medium.

Fry the onions and courgettes for 5 minutes.

Chop the feta into cubes (about 2.5 cm).

Chop the olives in half.

Add the frozen peas and continue frying for another 5 minutes (or until you’ve finished mixing the eggs).

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl.

Add the salt and pepper.

Use a fork to break the yolks up and mix the yolks and whites together, but do so very slowly and gently. Do not whisk like you would an ordinary omelette. The idea is to mix it together without getting any air bubbles into the mixture.

Put the fried vegetables and feta cubes into the egg mixture and mix thoroughly.

Put the whole mixture back in the pan, put the lid on and place on a very, very low heat (if you have a gas cooker with different-sized rings, put it on the smallest ring at the smallest setting). Cook for 30 minutes.

Get a large plate, remove the sauté pan lid, place the plate over the top, take the pan over to the sink and flip it over while over the sink (sometimes some liquid will escape, so it’s safest to do it over the sink). Once the omelette is on the plate, slide it gently back into the pan to cook the other side.

Put back on the very low heat and cook for 15 minutes.

Flip out onto a large plate again, as you did in Step 13.

Adaptations

You could try different vegetable and cheese combinations – asparagus and pecorino go very nicely (I would use a white onion, rather than red onion); sundried tomato, rocket and goats cheese would also work well; you could also try a winter root-vegetable omelette with sweet potatoes, swedes and carrots, with strong cheddar.

Accompaniments

Perfect with a Greek salad or just a nice simple green salad. It’s also lovely with a tomato and bean salad (which would give a great low GI boost, too).

Drinking suggestions

Red or white wine, or grape juice with fizzy water.

 

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