If there's one thing I want to eat over and over again, it's a tortilla. I know what you're thinking. Why would I want to eat a plain tortilla? It's not what you think. I know many who lived on the American continent would think it's the Mexican tortilla, which is used to eat tacos or wrap burritos. What I'm talking about is the Spanish Tortilla.
The Spanish Tortilla is a potato, egg, and onion dish. The potatoes are thinly sliced, layered, and swimming in an egg batter. As a child, I love eating this dish that my Granny so carefully prepared for breakfast.
I've attempted to make this dish once, which turned out to be a bit disastrous. The recipe I followed wasn't the right recipe. Instead of slicing the potatoes thinly, the recipe called for dicing them. The potatoes didn't hold up. It didn't look like what my grandmother made.
I tried again. This time, I followed my instincts and not the recipe. I thinly sliced the potatoes, parcooked them, layered them in the order of potato, onion, egg, and cooked them on the stovetop for 4 minutes to get the bottom to set. Then, I placed the cast iron in the oven (a small convection bake oven) and baked at 350ºF for five minutes, flipped the tortilla and cooked it on the stove for another four minutes. The results were fantastic. It's just like how my grandmother made it, minus the heaps of garlic she puts in it enough to ward away vampires.
As you can see, when you cut into the tortilla, the potatoes and eggs are layered. The egg batter holds the layered potatoes in place. It's almost like a pie, but not.
The dish is easy to make and takes about forty-five minutes to prep and cook. Here's the recipe. The serving size is for two to three people.
Spanish Tortilla (Serves 3)
Ingredients:
1 large potato, thinly sliced
1 small onion, sliced into strips
3 large eggs, beaten
Salt & Pepper to taste
Garlic Powder
Steps:
1. Peel and thinly slice potatoes lenghtwise.
2. Slice onions thinly.
3. Cook the potatoes on a cast iron pan until tender. Sautee the onions in the same pan.
4. Beat three eggs. Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. If you want more garlicy flavour, add more powder.
5. Layer the potatoes, sprinkle sauteed onions, and cover it with some of the egg mixture. Repeat.
6. Preheat oven to 350ºF. While the oven is preheating, cook the tortilla on the stovetop on medium heat for five minutes. Transfer the pan into the oven and cook for about five to seven minutes. Remove from the oven, flip the tortilla and finish cooking on the stove on medium heat for about two minutes, just enough to get the top of the tortilla to firm up.
7. Cut and serve. You can garnish it with parsley and serve with Spanish chorizo.
