Spanish new potato and cheddar frittata

5 new potatoes
6 very good quality organic eggs (eggs are the main ingredient, so it's worth buying the best you can get, the taste and colour is so much better)
A good handful freshly chopped chives
75g extra mature cheddar (we used Davidstow)
Salt and pepper to taste

Serves 4

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees 
2. Thinly slice the potatoes into medalions
3. Pour over cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 6-8 minutes, covered
4. Beat the eggs with salt, pepper and half of the chives
5. Layer the potatoes across the bottom of a deep dish baking tray
6. Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes
7. Add the rest of the chives and grate the cheese over the top
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until firm and the cheese is a light golden brown

Guest blogger, Jack.

Manchego omelette with patatas bravas and olive and feta salad

This is a recipe cooked with the other half for guests, can you tell? He is far more adventurous when it comes to cooking, probably because he doesn't limit himself to a predominantly vegan diet. I don't call myself vegan though, so a bit of cheese and egg isn't completely off my menu. Also, when I cook with him my portion sizes treble in size.

We decided to make a tapas style Spanish meal. I absolutely love the punchy flavours of Spanish food, and this meal didn't disappoint. Patatas bravas are Spanish roasted potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce on top. Manchego is a firm cheese made using sheep milk in the origin of La Mancha in Spain.

We had friends around so I took the photo quickly in bad light. It is much more colourful in real life, and packed full of flavour as Spanish food should be.

Manchego omelette with patatas bravas and olive and feta salad

Serves 4
Omelette
8 free range eggs
Knob of butter
50g Manchego cheese, sliced
Oregano
Salt and freshly

Patatas bravas
A good drizzle of olive oil
New potatoes (I kept the little ones whole and a few bigger ones I chopped into about 1inch chunks)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed and finely diced. 
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tsp hot chilli powder (or to taste)
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp sugar

Olive and feta salad
Spinach
1 red pepper
4 tomatoes
Half a cucumber
Half block of feta, crumbled in chunks
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Green olives

Garlic bread
1 half baked baguette
50g lightly salted butter
1 garlic clove, crushed and finely diced
Dried oregano

1. Heat the oven to about 220 degrees and preheat a roasting tray
2. Par boil the potatoes in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes.
3.  Drain the potatoes and add to the roasting tray with plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes, turning very occasionally.
4. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and garlic and add to a saucepan on a medium heat with a glug of olive oil. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions have become translucent.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli, paprika, stock cube and sugar, cover, turn the heat to low  and let simmer and reduce for about 10 minutes
   
6. Make the garlic butter for the garlic bread by beating the butter, garlic clove and oregano together. 
7. Make slits in the the garlic bread, not cutting all the way through, so it can be teared once cooked. 
8. Stuff the garlic butter into the slits and place in the oven on a tray for about 10 minutes
9. Chop and combine all the solid ingredients for the salad, and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice
   
10. Beat the eggs and herbs along with some salt and pepper
11. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, melt a good knob of butter and add the egg mixture
12. Break the sliced manchego into chunks and scatter over the omelette whilst it is cooking
13. Flip the omelette after 4-5 minutes to ensure it is cooked all the way through
14. Cut the omelette into 4 pieces and serve with a tearing of the garlic bread and a big portion of the salad.
15. Take the potatoes out of the oven, and serve with the sauce on top
    

Homemade cheesy hash browns, fried egg and roasted tomato brunch

If I owned a cafe, I would strive to make the best breakfast in the area. Being a bit of a foodie, I am awful to eat out with as I just pick apart the meal and moan about how they could have done better. Breakfast is definitely a meal that I have rarely found a cafe that is close to the homemade meals my partner and I can cook. I'm not saying I am a better cook than the professionals, I just think that breakfast is often pushed to the side, and not given the limelight it deserves.

Homemade hash browns are one of the most wonderful additions to a breakfast. They are 100 times tastier than shop bought hash browns, and are well worth the little bit of effort. They will make an average breakfast something special, and you won't want to return to that over processed sorry state of a potato you thought were the don before.

Homemade cheesy hash browns, fried egg and roasted tomato brunch

Serves 3

4 small-medium potatoes

1/4 onion, finely diced

1 garlic clove, finely diced

25g mature cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

25-50g plain flour

4 eggs

3 tomatoes

Olive oil

Spinach, rocket and watercress

Ciabatta

Butter

1. Heat the oven to 220 degrees.
2. Grate the potato into a colander over a mixing bowl. Press the potato and try to squeeze as much liquid out as possible.
3. Pour away any liquid extracted from the potato and add potato to the mixing bowl. Mix in the diced onion, garlic, cheddar cheese and 1 egg.
4. Season with plenty of salt and pepper (you need more than you think) and mix well.
5. Place the whole tomatoes onto a roasting tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and season. Place in the preheated oven.
6. You may notice there is a fair bit of liquid now in the potato mixture. Drain off about 75% of this liquid. Sprinkle about 25g of flour on the potato mixture and mix well. The egg, liquid and flour should make a thin batter that should keep the hash browns together.
7. Heat about 4tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and mould the potato mixture into flat patties. Squeeze out any excess liquid so they keep their shape, and place into the hot pan. Depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to fry 3-4 at a time. Once the hash browns have browned on one side, flip to brown the other side, adding more oil if needed. If you are cooking them in batches, place the cooked hash browns in the oven with the tomatoes to keep warm.
8. Cut 6 slices of ciabatta and place in the oven to warm. Wash the salad and divide onto 3 plates.
9. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and crack the other 3 eggs into the pan. Once it has cooked on one side, season in the pan with salt and pepper, and flip to seal the eggs.
10. Place the hash browns, tomato and ciabatta on the plates, butter the ciabatta and place the eggs on the hash browns.