Fricasé — Chilean chard, potato and fried bread skillet bound with egg

1 ✓

Boil the potatoes

Put the potato cubes in a pot with cold water to cover by about 2 cm and a teaspoon of salt. Starting from cold lets them cook evenly, so the edges do not break up before the centre is done. Bring to the boil over high heat, lower to medium and cook for 7-9 minutes, until the tip of a knife slides in without resistance but the cubes keep their corners: they still have to brown. Drain them and leave them in the colander for 5 minutes to steam off; a dry potato browns evenly, while a wet one spits and sticks to the pan. If you have potatoes boiled the day before, use them: they are firmer and brown better.

2 ✓

Chop the onion, pepper and chard

While the potatoes cook, slice the onion thinly and cut the red pepper into 1 cm dice. Wash the chard (700 g is roughly one large bunch) leaf by leaf under running water, paying attention to the base of the stalks, where soil collects, and shake it dry. Separate the leaves from the thick stalks and cut the leaves into 1 cm ribbons; you can discard the stalks or chop them finely and cook them with the onion, since they take longer to soften. Cut the marraqueta into 2 cm cubes and the sausages into 1 cm rounds.

3 ✓

Fry the bread cubes

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat in a large frying pan, about 28 cm across and ideally non-stick. Add the bread in a single layer and cook for 4-5 minutes, moving it often, until golden and crisp on every side. Transfer it to a plate lined with paper towel. Day-old bread, being drier, soaks up less oil and holds together; if the heat is too high it browns outside and stays soft inside. Do not wash the pan.

4 ✓

Sauté the onion, pepper and chard

In the same pan over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the onion (with the chopped stalks, if using) and a pinch of salt for 4-5 minutes, until it softens and turns translucent. Add the red pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Add the chard a handful at a time, letting each one wilt before adding the next, and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring, until it shrinks to a fraction of its volume and the liquid it releases has evaporated: the bottom of the pan should look almost dry. Any water left behind dilutes the egg and makes the fricasé watery. Tip the vegetables into a bowl.

5 ✓

Brown the potatoes and sausages

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan over medium-high heat and add the well-drained potatoes in a single layer. Leave them alone for 3 minutes to form a crust, then turn them every 2 minutes, 8-10 minutes in all, until golden on several sides; salt them lightly. For the last 3 minutes add the sausages and let them take on some colour. Since they come already cooked, they only need to be piping hot in the centre (74 °C if you use a thermometer). If you swap them for raw longaniza, brown it before the potatoes until no pink remains in the centre (71 °C) and set it aside.

6 ✓

Bind with the egg and milk

Beat the eggs in a bowl with the milk, the merkén, a pinch of salt and some pepper until no strands of white remain. Return the chard to the pan with the potatoes and sausages, add half the fried bread, mix and leave for 1-2 minutes over medium heat, until everything is steaming. Lower the heat to medium-low, pour the egg evenly over the top and fold gently with a spatula, lifting from the bottom, for 1-2 minutes. It is ready when the egg forms soft, glossy curds that coat everything and no liquid egg is left on the bottom (71 °C). Take the pan off the heat at that moment: residual heat keeps cooking it, and overcooked egg turns dry and rubbery.

7 ✓

Serve right away

Divide the fricasé between plates and finish each one with the rest of the fried bread, which stays crunchy that way, a pinch of merkén and chopped parsley, if using. Serve it at once, because within a few minutes the bread goes soft and the egg dries out. A tomato salad on the side adds a fresh contrast.