Preparation time: 3/4 hour; serves 2-4
Ingredients:
| 450 g | Fresh spinach OR |
| 225 g | Frozen spinach |
| 225 g | Potatoes |
| 3 tbsp. | Oil |
| 50 g | Onion |
| 4 | Eggs |
| 1/2 | Organic lemon |
| Salt and pepper |
Method:
First and foremost note that the preparation time does not include cleaning the fresh spinach. Depending on the state of it you can add on between 5 and 30 minutes!
Secondly note that this used to be plenty for the four of us but that was a while ago. Yesterday we ate it with a loaf of bread and it was enough food, but if this is all you are serving for a person with a normal appetite you may only get 2 portions out of it. You can also use it as a starter, in which case you should get 8 small servings. Another idea would be to cut it into cubes, stick tooth picks in it and serve it as finger food.
And a small third note before you get started. You need a lid for your frying pan. If you don't have one fashion one out of aluminium foil before you get started.
Fresh spinach: put the clean and still wet spinach into a pot with a lid and cook on medium for about 5 minutes or until the spinach is tender.
Frozen spinach: put in the microwave for 1 minute. Check if it is defrosted, if not put it in for another minute. Continue until the spinach is defrosted. The good thing about this recipe is that you don't mind if the spinach is cooked, or how well it is cooked. So you don't have to waste your time using the defrost setting of your microwave. If you do use the defrost setting you will be adding on a considerable amount of time to the preparation time.
While your spinach is cooking/defrosting you can peel and dice your potatoes and onions. The smaller you dice your potatoes the quicker they will cook and the better the omelette will hold together when cut. I cut mine really fine, maybe about 2-3 mm dice. ("Dice" just means cut into cubes.) The onions you can cut a bit larger.
By now the spinach is either cooked or defrosted. You now have to squeeze out as much water as possible. I use the method of squeezing it between two plates. It works especially well if your spinach is hot, as is the case in this recipe, because you don't have to touch it. Place all the spinach on a regular sized plate. Put an identical plate on top of it. The second plate should NOT be upside down. Put it in the same orientation as if you were stacking the plates for storage. Then hold the plates over the sink, perpendicular to the ground, and squeeze hard. I shake mine a bit to get the excess liquid out faster.
You can now let your spinach stand for a bit while you finish dicing the onions and the potatoes. Once you are done dicing them put a heavy bottomed frying pan or skillet on the cooker on medium high and add 2 tbsp. oil. Once the oil is hot add the potatoes and fry for 5 minutes. To make them evenly brown you will need to stir them every now and then. After 5 minutes add the onions and continue to fry until the potato is just tender. Here again, how long this takes will depend on the size of your dice. For me it took 5 minutes but it could take up to 10 (unless you have REALLY large dice!). Remove from the heat and set aside.
Now while the potatoes and onions are frying it's the perfect opportunity to finely chop the spinach and put the rest of the omelette together.
In a large bowl lightly beat the eggs. Then grate the rid of half of the lemon and add it to the eggs. Because you are using the rind you have to check carefully if the rind is suitable to eat. If it is organic it probably is, hence I try to always use organic lemon. But even some non-organic lemons have a note on them saying that the rind can be eaten. If you use non-organic ones and it does not say anything I would be cautious and not use the rind. Then add the juice of half the lemon, the spinach and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything well and then add the fried potato and onion and mix.
If you like, once the omelette is cooked you can put it under a grill to make the top a bit brown. If you want to do this make sure that for the next step you use a frying pan or skillet that can be put under the grill. If you don't have such a frying pan, don't fret you can just leave the grill out altogether. It will do nothing to the taste.
Heat your frying pan over medium heat and add the oil if necessary. If you use the same pan that you used to fry the potatoes it is highly likely that you have enough oil in the pan. I usually do. Once the oil is hot add the mixture. Put a lid on the frying pan. If you don't have a lid cover it with foil. Cook gently until the egg is just set i.e. no longer soggy. The bottom of the omelette should not burn if you keep the heat on medium. It takes 10-15 minutes to set.
If you like you can now stick the whole thing under the grill to brown the top.
I served this with a fresh loaf of pumpkin seed bread and salted butter. It was a hit! But you could also serve it with a salad.
Enjoy!
Secondly note that this used to be plenty for the four of us but that was a while ago. Yesterday we ate it with a loaf of bread and it was enough food, but if this is all you are serving for a person with a normal appetite you may only get 2 portions out of it. You can also use it as a starter, in which case you should get 8 small servings. Another idea would be to cut it into cubes, stick tooth picks in it and serve it as finger food.
And a small third note before you get started. You need a lid for your frying pan. If you don't have one fashion one out of aluminium foil before you get started.
Fresh spinach: put the clean and still wet spinach into a pot with a lid and cook on medium for about 5 minutes or until the spinach is tender.
Frozen spinach: put in the microwave for 1 minute. Check if it is defrosted, if not put it in for another minute. Continue until the spinach is defrosted. The good thing about this recipe is that you don't mind if the spinach is cooked, or how well it is cooked. So you don't have to waste your time using the defrost setting of your microwave. If you do use the defrost setting you will be adding on a considerable amount of time to the preparation time.
While your spinach is cooking/defrosting you can peel and dice your potatoes and onions. The smaller you dice your potatoes the quicker they will cook and the better the omelette will hold together when cut. I cut mine really fine, maybe about 2-3 mm dice. ("Dice" just means cut into cubes.) The onions you can cut a bit larger.
By now the spinach is either cooked or defrosted. You now have to squeeze out as much water as possible. I use the method of squeezing it between two plates. It works especially well if your spinach is hot, as is the case in this recipe, because you don't have to touch it. Place all the spinach on a regular sized plate. Put an identical plate on top of it. The second plate should NOT be upside down. Put it in the same orientation as if you were stacking the plates for storage. Then hold the plates over the sink, perpendicular to the ground, and squeeze hard. I shake mine a bit to get the excess liquid out faster.
Now while the potatoes and onions are frying it's the perfect opportunity to finely chop the spinach and put the rest of the omelette together.
In a large bowl lightly beat the eggs. Then grate the rid of half of the lemon and add it to the eggs. Because you are using the rind you have to check carefully if the rind is suitable to eat. If it is organic it probably is, hence I try to always use organic lemon. But even some non-organic lemons have a note on them saying that the rind can be eaten. If you use non-organic ones and it does not say anything I would be cautious and not use the rind. Then add the juice of half the lemon, the spinach and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything well and then add the fried potato and onion and mix.
Heat your frying pan over medium heat and add the oil if necessary. If you use the same pan that you used to fry the potatoes it is highly likely that you have enough oil in the pan. I usually do. Once the oil is hot add the mixture. Put a lid on the frying pan. If you don't have a lid cover it with foil. Cook gently until the egg is just set i.e. no longer soggy. The bottom of the omelette should not burn if you keep the heat on medium. It takes 10-15 minutes to set.
If you like you can now stick the whole thing under the grill to brown the top.
I served this with a fresh loaf of pumpkin seed bread and salted butter. It was a hit! But you could also serve it with a salad.
Enjoy!
