Wednesday 1 June 2011

SPINACH AND POTATO TORTA


 Sometime ago, there was a series of television adverts for eggs where they show a nearly empty fridge with just a carton of eggs and one other ingredient such as a sausage or an onion inside. In one of them, a young girl was in such a situation with her Dad, who was a clueless cook. So she then decides to cook the last remnants of food in the fridge and whipped up an omelette (of course). The Dad said, as a form of thanks, "You are like your Mum. You can make something out of nothing."  



Although our fridge never reaches such a desperate state, I always try to make use of all the odds and ends in the fridge before I embark on another supermarket expedition. Some cooked beef, spinach and a potato were put into good use as ingredients for torta (tortilla in Spanish, fritata in Italian). I like to dip it in an Oriental dip of soy sauce, vinegar and chilli but it goes well with catsup, too.


Ingredients:


1 cup spinach
2 tsps. salt
1 potato, diced
cooking oil
cloves garlic
about 1/4 c. cooked meat (optional)
4 eggs


Method:


Mash the spinach with the salt until it goes limp and the juices are extracted. Squeeze out as much of the water as you can using a clean kitchen cloth or potato ricer. Set aside. 


Cook the potatoes on full power in the microwave for 2 minutes. Set aside. 

Saute the garlic in two tbsps. of cooking oil for 1 minute. Add the potatoes and fry until it begins to colour. Turn the heat off and transfer to a mixing bowl. 

Add the eggs, meat (I used beef) the spinach and mix well. 


Heat up a non-stick pan and add 3 tbsps. of oil. 

Tip all the contents of the bowl into the pan and cook on medium heat until the bottom is well browned. 

Carefully turn it over and cook the other side until browned. You can invert this on a plate and then slide it back into the pan, uncooked side down. You can add a little bit more oil at this stage if the pan is too dry. 


Let rest for a few minutes before slicing into squares or wedges. 


Ingredients for the dip:

1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsps. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1" x 1" piece of ginger, cut into shreds
1 tsp. chilli shreds
1/2 tsp. sesame oil


Mix all of the ingredients for the dip and serve with the torta.


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17 comments:

  1. Hi Adora! Beautiful Spinach & Potato Torta! :D
    What is the meaning of "Mash the spinach with the salt until it goes limp"?

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  2. Andora,
    These tortas look lovely. Who would have thought of adding the soy dip to go with it? Sounds super. Great idea for using up leftovers. :-)

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  3. Aside from cooking well, you are getting better at taking beautiful shots of foods. What's going on? Are you taking lessons? New camera? New lens? hmmmm? I like it. It's really NICE! :)

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  4. Lyn, add salt to the spinach and squeeze the leaves as you mix. This will wilt the leaves and draw out the water.

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  5. Thanks Ray, you are such an expert. Yah, new camera. Still have a lot of techniques to learn from you though.

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  6. Hi Adora! You always know what "I" like... These look delicious! Even though I have spinach and potato in my kitchen, I wouldn't be able to come up with this. I'm saving this recipe (I've been accumulating too many of your recipes already...they all look great to pass!).

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  7. The only word I can think of is "nomnomnomnomnom". This is definitely something I can cook at home especially since I get home late after work usually starving!!

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  8. I took one look at this torta you made and immediately knew my kids will love eating this! I've got to try making something out of nothing a lot more, and your recipe has just inspired me to do that. ;-)

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  9. Oh, how divine!!! Beautiful, vibrant and delicious! Love this dish~

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  10. Are you sending me some?? Hahaha! Looks very tempting...... It's been a while since we last exchanged words. Hope u're well!

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  11. this looks delicious! i wanna eat it all!!! and that means a lot coming from someone who doesn't usually like tortillas!!!!

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  12. Wow such a beautiful recipe :) I will have to try this with a little adaption because my husband don't like potato :)
    Tes
    http://tesathome.com

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  13. What a great torta! Love the combination of spinach and potato =)

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  14. Wow, how yummy! Your photos look wonderful...I would love to try this!

    xx,
    Tammy

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  15. I make an egg and spinach quiche but this is so much faster and easier. I'll have to make this soon.

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  16. What a beautiful torta! I love spinach and stick as much in hear and here as often as I can.

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  17. Yay - someone else who uses their potato ricer to squeeze excess water out of veggies. Your way of preparing the spinach is a new method for me, and I will try it. About once a week I make some sort of a potato tortilla/frittata "thingamee" - I'll be adding this recipe to my bookmarked pages so I can try it soon. The amount of spinach in yours looks amazing; Yummo!!!!

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