Elver Omelette

angula con chorizo omelette

May 6th, 2011

angula

A friend of mine returned from Spain yesterday, with a present of angula (elvers) and chorizo. Elvers are baby eels, which are born in the sea and then swim up rivers in search of their juvenile and adult habitats.

eggs

Traditionally, in this country, elvers are caught as they swim up river at night and the fishermen fry them up in bacon fat, on the riverbank, before adding beaten egg to make an omelette, eaten with the previously fried bacon.

chorizo

I liked the idea of making an elver omelette with the spicy chorizo.

frying chorizo

Angula con chorizo omelette recipe:

eel and chorizo

a little extra virgin olive oil
a sprinkle of crushed chilli (optional)
3 or 4 eggs (beaten)
half a chorizo ring (chopped)
2 handfuls of elvers
sea salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)

elvers and chorizo

Pour a little olive oil into an omelette pan and sprinkle in some crushed chilli. Heat the oil and cook the chorizo for a couple of minutes until it releases some fat. Stir in a couple of handfuls of elvers and coat them with the orange fat that has come out of the chorizo (the orange colour is due to the paprika in chorizo). Cook for a few minutes before pouring in the beaten egg. When the omelette is almost cooked, use a spatula to fold it in half and serve with some good sour dough bread and butter (or to be Spanish, replace the butter with olive oil).

add the eggs

There was once a huge eel industry in Britain, particularly in the Severn River. Eels were once the food of the poor, like oysters, but these days Severn elvers cost a small fortune and are generally exported to the Far East.

omelette

 

See here for Keith Floyd catching elvers and making an elver omelette in Somerset.