Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")

How to turn this:


to this:


[ts]
Being the resourceful cooks that we are, we used leftover potatoes from our meat and potatoes meal to conjure up a Spanish tortilla.

To make it authentic (is there any other way to make things), I consulted this tome.



But of course, I made some very, very minor changes. ;)

First of all, I was using already cooked potatoes. Then, as per Culinaria Spain, I just sliced my potatoes thinly.



The recipe called for a lot of oil. We also saw someone in the Spanish episode of that Food Safari show (mentioned here) make a tortilla, and she also dumped a huge amount of oil into her pan. This here is only about 1/4 cup of oil.

I couldn't resist. I sneaked in a few cloves of garlic in there.





I used 8 eggs. I was supposed to beat them until they were frothy. So I beat and whipped...



...and whipped and beat.



Ta-da!
(Although, I don't know if one is really supposed to beat the eggs until that frothy.)



The potatoes go into the eggs and I was supposed to let it stand for a bit. I don't know what letting it stand was supposed to do, but I followed Culinaria.





Showtime. I heated the pan once again (it still had the residual oil from the potatoes) and poured in the mixture. I waited for the mixture to set, then...





Great difficulties arose.

I was supposed to move the tortilla onto a plate first, then flip it over back to the pan to cook the other side. However, I realized that we didn't have anything -- absolutely NOTHING -- that was larger than the pan. I finally used a "large" oval plate that still had two sides that were narrower than the pan. It was a 2-man process as I had to make sure nothing disastrous happened to the tortilla (like, say, it falling into a messy pool on the floor). But, finally, after much manoeuvering, all was well. Here's the 2nd side cooking:



It didn't take long. The only thing able to accommodate the finished product was this large deep serving dish. (I love taking pictures of my hand/fingers for scale, can't you tell?)



Culinaria says that you can serve it hot or cold.



[js]
I was surprised at how well this turned out. Personally, I had my doubts about this -- because, well, potatoes and eggs? I knew about the Spanish tortilla, but I can't imagine myself sitting down to potatoes in eggs.

There is something to be said for tradition so I am glad to be proven wrong in this case. I absolutely love how humble ingredients such as potatoes and eggs can be transformed into something quite goodly nourishing.

[ts]
Yes, I was really surprised that this didn't just taste like some potatoes in egg. The two ingredients became one entity; you didn't know when the potatoes ended and the egg began.

Simple. Good. Food.


eatingclub Spanish
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Roast Duck and Orange Crêpes with Orange-White Wine Sauce
Sardinas na Bangus (Milkfish in the style of Sardines)
Red Wine-braised Squid with Potatoes and Chorizo
Philippine Beef Salpicao (and a Spanish variation)
Stewed Tripe, Spanish-style
Lengua Estofada (Beef Tongue Braised in Red Wine and Veal Stock)
Bacalao con Patatas (Baked Salt Cod and Potatoes)
Salsa Romesco ("Queen of the Catalan Sauces!")
Grilled Calçots (Green Onions) with Salsa Romesco
Empanada de Pavo
(Galician-style Meat Pie with Turkey Filling), plus Turkey Cracklings!
Fideuá (Spanish Seafood Noodle "Paella")... and Paella
Cocido (Spanish Stew with Various Pork Cuts)
Slow-Roast Pork Shoulder, Two Ways

eatingclub vancouver dishes inspired by Food Safari episodes:
Spanish: Tortilla de Patatas
Thai: Waterfall Beef Salad
Lebanese: Tarator-style Sauce
Thai: Thai Basil Stir-Fry (gka prow)
Lebanese: Lamb Kafta (Turkish: Lamb Kofte)
Indonesian: Belado
Moroccan: Preserved Lemons
Moroccan: Chicken Tagine

Some eggy eatingclub dishes
Tarragon-Carrot Deviled Eggs
Golden Egg Torta
Hunanese Stir-fried Eggs with Green Peppers
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Piedmont Marinated Eggs
Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes
Stir-fried Egg and Tomato
Oyster Torta
Torta with Pork and Kecap Manis
Curried (Easter) Egg Salad
Taiwanese Stewed Eggs (滷蛋) with Stewed Minced Pork (魯肉 or 肉燥)
Longsilog (Longganisa + Sinangag + Itlog)
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu
Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice Meal with Sambal)
Home-style Chinese Steamed Egg with Pork
Golden Shrimp Torta (Philippine Shrimp Omelette)