serves
4
prep
30 minutes
cook
1:15 hour
difficulty
Easy
serves
4
people
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
1:15
hour
difficulty
Easy
level
Fuel up on this combination of complex carbs - cracked freekeh (toasted green wheat) and starchy potato and sweetcorn, which come together in a Spanish tortilla with a crisp, crunchy golden exterior. This is slowly cooked as one giant tortilla in a frying pan, then inverted and flipped back into the pan to cook the other side.
This is a great way to use up leftover grains - we’ve chosen freekeh but you can replace with any grain you have in your fridge (like quinoa, brown rice, pearled barley).
This is a straightforward one-pan dish. You can streamline the prep by parboiling the potato and sweet potato the night before.
Ingredients
- 1 large waxy potato (about 250 g)
- 1 small purple sweet potato (about 250 g)
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- ½ tbsp thyme leaves
- 1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
- 2 small pinches smoked paprika
- 150 g (1 cup) cooked cracked freekeh (see Tips)
- 140 g (1 cup) sweetcorn kernels (from 1 large corn cob)
- micro herbs and thick natural yoghurt, to serve
Instructions
- Par-boil the potato and yam. Scrub the potato and sweet potato but leave whole and unpeeled. Place in a saucepan of cold, salted water and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Cook until they are par-boiled and you can just begin to insert the tip of a knife into them easily - the purple potato will take longer to cook. Drain well then leave until cool enough to handle. Thinly slice on a mandolin to 3 mm thick.
- Layer the tortilla in the pan. Heat 3 tsp oil in a 27 cm diameter heavy-based non-stick frying pan until hot, swirl the oil to coat the base and up the sides well, then remove from the heat. Arrange the potato in single overlapping layer over the base of the pan and a little way up the sides of the pan, scatter over half of the thyme and garlic, sprinkle over a pinch of paprika and season with salt and pepper. Scatter over the freekeh and corn kernels, leaving a 5 mm border on the edge (this is important so that when it comes to flipping, the insides don’t fall out), scatter over the remaining thyme and garlic, sprinkle over a pinch of paprika and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the sweet potato in single overlapping layer, all the way to the edge and up the sides just a little (as it shrinks while it cooks), without pressing down, and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook on low heat, undisturbed, for 20 minutes, then increase the heat to medium and cook for another 10 minutes.Don’t be tempted to cook on too high heat or the potato will burn. Carefully lift up an edge of the tortilla with a spatula and check the potato is crisp and nicely golden.
- Flip the tortilla. Run a spatula along the edge of the tortilla to loosen. Place a large plate over the top of the pan and quickly but carefully flip the pan so that the tortilla ends up on the plate and let the tortilla settle for 10 seconds or so before lifting off the pan. Neaten up the edges of the tortilla, if it’s bit a messy.
- Slide tortilla back into pan. Heat 3 tsp oil in the pan, swirling to coat the base and sides well. Carefully slide the tortilla back into the pan. The easiest way to do this is to position the plate almost directly over the pan and using a spatula push the tortilla into the pan while pulling the plate out from underneath. Neaten up the edges of the tortilla. Cook on low heat, undisturbed, for 20 minutes, then increase the heat to medium and cook for another 8-10 minutes or until the sweet potato is nicely golden and crisp - sweet potato caramelises faster than potato so check that it’s not burning on the base.
- Serve. Slide the tortilla out of the pan onto a serving plate, cut into quarters and serve with micro herbs scattered over and a dollop of yoghurt.
Tips
• Gently boil 110 g (½ cup) cracked freekeh in 1 litre of water until grains double in size and are slightly chewy (about 30 minutes) - yields 250 g (1 ⅔ cups). (You can also use whole freekeh - you will need about cook in about 1.5 litres of water for about 45 minutes.) Drain well and use in dishes or freeze. Freekeh is available from the health food aisle in supermarkets, select greengrocers, and health food stores.
Photography by Benito Martin, styling by Lynsey Fryers, food preparation by O Tama Carey and creative concept by Belinda So.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
Fuel up on this combination of complex carbs - cracked freekeh (toasted green wheat) and starchy potato and sweetcorn, which come together in a Spanish tortilla with a crisp, crunchy golden exterior. This is slowly cooked as one giant tortilla in a frying pan, then inverted and flipped back into the pan to cook the other side.
This is a great way to use up leftover grains - we’ve chosen freekeh but you can replace with any grain you have in your fridge (like quinoa, brown rice, pearled barley).
This is a straightforward one-pan dish. You can streamline the prep by parboiling the potato and sweet potato the night before.
