Thursday 30 June 2011

Spanish Omelette with Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Sauce

Kitchen Play List:    Celine dion ~ Taking Chances
                                        Melissa Etheridge ~ Secret Agent
                                        Billy Ocean ~ Love Really Hurts Without You
                                        Jack Johnson ~ If I Could
                                        Nicola Benedetti ~ Zigeunerweisen Op.20
                                        Black Eyed Peas ~ Let's Get It Started
                                        Booty Luv ~ Shine
                                        Slade ~ Bangin Man


Spanish Omelette with Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Sauce
It was a very happy day when we first tried this recipe out. It was a few years ago now and we were both newcomers to tofu. Everything we had tried up to that point we hadn't liked at all. We were very frustrated with the white wobbly stuff! lol. I had recently bought a copy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Romero's Vegan with a Vengeance

We had tried a few of the recipes and enjoyed them a lot but I kept skipping the tofu section. I was resigned to not enjoying anything that had tofu in it. As I often do...I sat and read the cookbook cover to cover one afternoon and I kept looking at the recipe for the Spanish Omelette and thinking how good it sounded...if it wasn't for that pesky tofu! lol. So a few weeks went by and then I was struggling to think of something to cook for an evening meal on an unusually hot saturday. And I kept thinking how nice it would be to have an omelette and salad. This was obviously long before I found Susan V's wonderful Omelette recipe also.

I had a couple of packets of silken tofu sat in the stores waiting to be used, new potatoes sat in the basket, plenty of onions and an abundance of red peppers in the fridge. So I decided to go for it. It was easy to put together and the only horrible bit for me was peeling the roasted peppers..I just have a thing about skins! lol.

Spanish Omelette hot out of the oven...
We were both a little hesitant to try it but it looked so good. So we took our first mouthful and fell in love with Spanish Omelette. The tofu was soft and creamy..the potatoes were perfectly cooked and the onions were crispy and soft at the same time. The Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Sauce is divine and adds a perfect sharpness to the omelette. From that evening we have tried tofu in many ways and are now converted completely. lol.

However this omelette has quite a lot of oil in the recipes and I do plan to try reducing the oil quota so I will update this post when I do. But we have this as a treat and look forward to it greatly. I hope you try it. It's divine. I also make a little extra sauce and use it as a salad topping for a couple of days after. Delish! lol

Spanish Omelette,,,perfectly crispy on the outside and creamy and succulent on the inside! 
Spanish Omelette 
(Recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance/Moskowitz&Romero)

A small pinch of saffron
3 tbsp soya milk
4 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sized onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
4 medium potatoes, unpeeled, halved and sliced into 1/4" slices
(make sure they are all the same size to ensure even cooking)
675g/1 1/2 lb soft tofu, drained (I use Mori-Nu Firm Silken Tofu 2 boxes~R~) 
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp salt
Dash of cayenne pepper

Place the saffron threads into a small cup and gently press the threads with back of a spoon a few times; don't crush completely. Warm the soy milk in a small pan till just about boiling. Remove from heat and pour over the saffron; stir briefly and set aside for a minimum of 25 minutes. The longer the saffron soaks in the soy milk, the more flavour and colour will be released. 

Pre-heat the oven to 190'C/375'F/Gas Mark 5. Pour 3 tbsp of the oil into a 10" cast iron frying pan. Add the sliced onions and potatoes. The pan should not be completely full; there should be about 5mm/1/4" left on top; remove some potatoes if it appears too full. Gently toss the onions and potatoes in the oil to coat. Place in the oven and roast for 30 - 35 minutes, stirring on occassion, till onions are very soft and the potatoes are tender. 

Meanwhile in a food processor blend till smooth the drained tofu, garlic and remaining 1 tbsp oil. Strain the soy milk mixture with a fine mesh sieve and add the to the tofu mixture along with the salt and cayenne pepper. Blend till creamy.


When the potatoes and onions are tender, remove from the oven. Pour the tofu mixture into the pan and gently fold the potatoes and onions into the tofu mixture. With a rubber spatula, smooth the top, making sure to make the centre slightly more shallow than the outside; this will help ensure the centre cooks evenly.

Return to the oven and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour till the top is deep yellow and lightly browned in places and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before serving. (Yeah..lol..this hardly ever happens! Smells too good! ~R~)

To cut; run a knife around the edges and to serve it the traditional way you need to turn it out onto a plate. 

Excellent served both warm and at room temperature. Serve as the spanish do with ketchup or with Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Sauce. 

Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Sauce
Roasted Red Pepper-Almond Sauce  Makes approx 300ml/1/2 pint
(recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance/Moskowitz&Romero)

3 red peppers, roasted, skinned, seeds removed and torn into pieces
4 tbsp finely ground almonds
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until thick and creamy. 

I usually serve this with a baby leaf and cherry tomato salad. I hope you try this meal...it's really good. 

Enjoy! 
~R~