Spanish Omelet

More than 10 years ago I posted this recipe; the key to the recipe was good chorizo, and I really liked Goya. It wasn't packed in grease; and it wasn't as hard as similar packaged chorizo products. I hadn't been able to find it during the shutdown; finally it was back in Winn-Dixie so I bought it without paying too much attention to the package.

When I opened it up, I noticed it was packed in grease, and when I cut it; it was very hard. I could smash the older stuff and it would crumble; this stuff was like jerky. I compared the ingredients and nutrition to the old picture of the package I had below. It's completely different.

At this point I tasted the sauce I was making, and it was terrible. I had to throw it out. I ended up throwing the chorizos in the garbage. I can no longer recommend this product.

So what to do? I had a plan and now I had no edible chorizo. So I took some Italian sausages (1.5oz), cooked it with the onion and the garlic and added some cayenne pepper and paprika in order to mimic the spicy, earthy taste of good chorizo. I didn't have manchego, so I used aged cheddar instead. I also used 1 egg + egg beaters to keep the calories down.

A superb result. Of course I'm a better cook than I was 10 years ago; but this was very enjoyable.

The exact recipe:

• 33g Johnsonville, Sweet Italian
• 26g White Onion, minced
• 40g Fresh Tomato
• 1/2 cup Gia Russa Tomato Basil
• 1 Extra Large Egg
• 46g Egg Beaters
• 26g Sargento 18-Month Aged Cheddar
• 8g Minced Fresh Garlic
• Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika to taste

Original Post 10/10/2010

If I go to one more diner in Fort Lauderdale that serves a "Spanish Omelet" made with peppers, onions and salsa, my head is going to explode. How can so many places be doing the same wrong thing? Salsa is not Spanish; its Central/South American. The only thing I can think of is that they're all copying each other.

Now there are different kinds of "Spanish" omelets, so there's room for confusion there. One popular one is made with potatoes; that's not what I'm referring to here. The best Spanish omelet I have had was made with a chunky, spicy tomato sauce. I've been making it for myself for years. Its time to clue in the "chefs" of South Florida.

If you want to make a Spanish omelet you need to use Spanish ingredients. I use Spanish chorizo, which is the cured kind rather than the fresh, crumbled kind. There are a lot of brands of chorizo you can buy at Publix; but I don't like most of them. The one that's the best is Goya Chorizo, and its also the most difficult to find. They used to have it in the Sunrise Publix; but no more. I last found it at the Andrews Avenue Publix.

If you can't find Goya, you can probably find a different brand to use. I don't like Quixote and Palacios. There was one other that I liked but I can't recall the name. El Riejo or something like that. Goya is the best to me.

I also use Manchego Cheese, which is a Spanish cheese.

Manchego is available in Publix in the specialty cheese display and also (sometimes) in the dairy section. A chunk like this will cost you about $9. If you can afford it it's worth the price; but you can use any white cheese with this dish, even shredded mozzarella. Actually, even cheddar would be good with this. But Manchego is ideal.

Recipe

We start off by making a chunky tomato sauce. I use a bit of jarred sauce to speed things along as I'm usually not interested in making sauce from scratch in the morning. Heat a skillet with some cheap olive oil (not EVOO) on one burner and in a saucepan on another burner saute the garlic, onions and chorizo on medium heat in the olive oil until the onion is clear. Stir occasionally so the chorizo cooks through. Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to break down. All of the juice should reduce so that you a paste. Add the tomato sauce and lower the heat until the sauce is just bubbling. Sprinkle with Cayenne or the hot sauce, and stir to incorporate.

The skillet should be good and hot now, so beat the egg mixture and pour it into the skillet. Cover the skillet until the eggs are visibly set. Once set, use a spatula to flip the omelet to cook the other side. The tomato mixture should be fairly thick by now; spoon it onto half the omelet and spread the cheese on top.

Cover the skillet until the cheese is melted, and then fold it in half and slide it onto a plate.