Cheat's roast pepper & halloumi tortilla

Summer time is tapas time, don't you think? And it might not be summer just yet, but it's worth practising your moves already so you don't get caught out later on in the year. So do put some sunscreen on, will you, and have a rehearsal for a laid-back late afternoon tapas feast!
What's the first thing you think of when you hear the T-word? Is it serrano ham and manchego? Olives? Bread and aioli? Gambas al ajillo? Padron peppers? For me it is tortilla. Funnily enough, I haven't much experience making it at all, I've always thought it to be too much hassle. I will happily fry some chorizo or toss a handful of prawns in garlic & chilli oil, but the first time my kitchen witnessed the making of a tortilla, it got really frightened.
We had an exchange student from Spain here and decided to have a tapas evening one day - and she wanted tortilla. I said I had never made it before and she insisted that it was so easy, she could make it. She might have watched her Mum make it a million times but she mustn't have looked very closely - she put the onions in at the beginning so by the time the potatoes were half-done, the onions were doing a near-perfect impression of charcoal. Then she added the egg mixture to the half-cooked potatoes and when she tried to turn the tortilla, it all fell to pieces... looking more like scrambled eggs with some left-over potato gratin mixed in for good measure than anything else. And that really spoilt my appetite for making it myself forever.
Tortilla is one of those dishes that look so simple, but they're really quite difficult to master. I don't have much experience of trying, but I have eaten way too many bad or rather bland-tasting specimens in my life - in Spain as well as abroad. Some were burnt, with others you could almost taste how often they had be heated and re-heated, some were devoid of any taste whatsoever... and then, every once in a while, you get one that makes you forget all the bad ones you've had before in your life and you suddenly understand why tortillas are as popular as they are in the first place.
A few months back, I tried to find a shortcut to making tortilla - a cheat's tortilla, if you will. If a tortilla master, just like a sushi chef, needs years of daily practice to get it just right, my first attempt would surely be a failure, so why spend hours on it and then not enjoy it, just do a simpler version instead. So I looked to its cousin, the frittata, and boiled the potatoes instead of frying them, then layered them with roast red peppers and the usual egg mixture and baked it in the oven instead, giving me time to get on with my padron peppers, gambas al ajillo, and other dishes.
It's not the real thing, I know. I was sadly reminded of that when I tasted it. But if you forget that it is a tortilla and stop comparing it with an authentic one, it tastes pretty darn good nevertheless. And skewered up, smothered in a little bit of aioli, and dressed up as if going to a party, everything tastes twice as nice already, doesn't it?

Cheat's roast pepper & halloumi tortilla

600 g waxy potatoes (peeled)
2 red ramiro peppers
3 large eggs
150 g halloumi (thinly sliced)
curly parsley, to decorate (optional)

For the aioli: (optional)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp mayonnaise

Cut potatoes into thin slices, about 3 mm thick. Cook them in salt water for 7 minutes (they should have softened, but keep their shape), then drain carefully.
Meanwhile, place the ramiro peppers under a hot grill until their skin starts throwing blisters. Transfer to a bowl immediately and cover tightly with cling film to make them sweat in their own steam. After 15 minutes, carefully peel off the skin and remove the inner membranes and seeds, as well as the stalks.
Beat the eggs with a fork. Slice the halloumi thinly.
Line a baking tray or square baking dish with alu foil and brush with oil.
Alternate layers of potato, peppers, haloumi and egg, finishing with a layer of potato.
Bake in the preheated oven (175C) for 20 minutes, then raise temperature to 200C and cook for another 15 minutes.
Leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a chopping board or a plate.

If you're serving this as finger food, cut into cubes and top with a bit of aioli, then garnish with some parsley secured by a toothpick.

Comments

[Meeta]

Oh man! That looks sooo good Johanna! Haloumi, roasted peppers and aioli - what a fantastic burst of flavors.

[James]

Here's another cheat's tip. To peel a pepper, use a swivel blade potato peeler. There is of couse slightly more wasteage, but no need for all that grilling and wrapping in cling film, and if it's good enough for my culinary god Marcella Hazan, it's good enough for me!

Also if you want to try again the traditional method, here are a few tips that help. Use waxy potatoes, so they don't fall apart when you fry them. Peel, chop into smallish chunks, and soak them in water for 20 mins then drain and pat dry in a teatowel, and they will fry much better. You are supposed to fry the onions and the potatoes together, as your exchange student said, so make sure the pan isn't to hot, and stir them about from time to time and all should be well, the onions should be just golden by the end. It took me two or three attempts to get it right, and I'll admit that the final cooking of the eggs is still tricky, as I have never managed to flip the omelette over for the correct authentic effect, finishing it under the grill instead, but even when if it's is a bit messy it's always delicious!

[Kit]

Looks delicious. I have only ever cooked frittata, which I remember eating in Rome served in a panino as a wonderful bar snack. I always finish that off under the grill too, rather than risking the dangers of unset egg over the kitchen floor.

[sarah]

600 potatoes?!? Wow, really?? Sorry for being the pedant ;) Should that be 600g?

[Celine]

Oh my god that looks so delicious! I need to try making some!