Fridge-raid tortilla sandwiches

You might think that as tortilla generally has carbs of its own it doesn’t need to be stuffed between two slices of bread. Wrong! The Spanish do it so why shouldn’t the rest of us? Particularly if you have leftovers to use up.

This was based on some amazingly fragrant peppers we bought in the market at Arles a couple of days ago (for 99 cents a kilo!). Add some fried onion, a few slices of chorizo and some eggs and you’ve got a great filling to stuff into a baguette or roll. Or even a pitta bread. Perfect student food for those who have just gone up to uni for the first time.

You can vary it endlessly depending on what’s in the fridge although I’d say that onion - and, some would say, potato - was essential. Ham or bacon instead of chorizo, a bit of crumbled up feta, some chopped herbs - feel free. Just make it a bit thinner than you would a normal tortilla.

Serves 2-3 - or 1 if you’re utterly starving (leftovers will keep in the fridge till the next day)

4 tbsp olive oil + extra for drizzling

1 large mild sweet onion, peeled and thinly sliced

2 green peppers - preferably like these small tasty ones on the right - de-seeded and sliced. (You can find them in middle-eastern and Turkish greengrocers)

About 50-75g sliced chorizo

4 large eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper

a baguette or ciabatta loaf

Heat a medium-to-large frying pan over a moderate heat, add 3 tbsp oil and start frying the onion. As it softens add the sliced peppers and chorizo and fry until the veg start to brown (about 5 minutes).

Add the eggs, cook for a minute then lift the edges of the tortilla to let any uncooked egg run to the bottom of the pan. Leave for 3-4 minutes or so then invert a large plate over the pan and tip the tortilla onto the plate. Add another tbsp of oil, slide the tortilla back into the pan, cook for another minute then turn off the heat. Leave for 8-10 minutes if you can bear it then cut into thick strips and tuck into a split baguette or a couple of rolls. Drizzle over a little extra olive oil or a dollop of aioli. A few fresh basil leaves wouldn't go amiss either.

What to drink: Well probably anything you've got to hand but a glass of Spanish or southern French red would hit the spot nicely

For more recipe inspiration buy my Ultimate Student Cookbook here.

Menestra

I first had this wonderful vegetable stew - a northern Spanish equivalent of a spring vegetable minestrone - in a restaurant in Pamplona and dreamed about it for several years before managing to recreate it.

This version comes from winemaker Maria Martinez of Bodegas Montecillo in Rioja who I was interviewing for a feature in Decanter. We bought the ingredients together from the market in Logrono.

Like cassoulet and bouillabaisse, menestra is one of those dishes about which huge arguments rage. Basically it can be made from any seasonal green vegetables, “from two up to twenty” as Maria puts it, but the ideal time of year to prepare it is in the spring when artichokes and spring vegetables such as peas and beans are in season.

There are apparently certain ground rules though. You mustn’t use dried beans or other pulses or peppers (too slimey). Jars of vegetables are permissible but should not be mixed with fresh ones. Spinach is fine if added at the end. Opinions differ as to whether you should use onions, garlic and herbs, whether the vegetables should be cooked separately or together and whether or not hard boiled egg should be added. The consistency should be more that of a stew than a soup though some cooks like to make it more liquid.

Serves 6-8

10-12 baby artichokes
2 heads of borraja* (borage)
1/2 a large head of chard
250g asparagus, trimmed
250g green beans
3-4 potatoes cut into small dice
125g thickly cut panceta (streaky bacon), diced
A thick slice of dry cured Spanish ham (about 100g)
About 75g chorizo, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Olive or corn oil
Salt and pepper

Trim the artichoke bottoms and strip off the outer leaves until you are down to the yellow leaves at the heart. (Handling artichokes can stain your hands black so you may want to use plastic or rubber gloves for this). Trim off the very top of the remaining leaves and cut the artichoke hearts in half and drop them into a pan of acidulated water. (Water with lemon juice added to stop them discolouring).

Cut the top and bottom off each stalk of borraja then peel away the fibrous strips (rather as you would the edge of a runner bean). Remove the green part of the chard leaves saving them for another recipe and chop the white stalks. Trim and chop the asparagus and roughly slice the beans.

Tip all the vegetables into a large pan of boiling, lightly salted water and cook until tender - about 30-40 minutes (Some cooks cook each vegetable separately) Meanwhile fry the cubed potato and cook until tender, then add the panceta. Once the fat starts to run add the diced ham and chorizo and finely chopped garlic. Drain the vegetables and tip the fried potatoes and ham into the pan. Mix well, adjust the seasoning and serve.

What to drink:
Breaking one of the cardinal rules of food and wine matching that red wine and artichokes simply don't go, we drank a 1975 magnum of Montecillo Gran Reserva Especial throughout this meal, including the menestra. As you’d expect for a wine of that age it was quite delicate but still full of seductive damson fruit which we were surprised to find worked perfectly well with the soup. Whether that was due to the long cooking time, the smokey notes provided by the chorizo or the age of the wine we weren't sure but the experiment would be hard to repeat successfully. A more conventional pairing would have been a white Rioja or Rioja rosado.