Tortilla
de patatas
Potato-onion frittata (omelet)
Makes 12 servings
Ingredients:
4 lb. large boiling potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium sized white onions, peeled and thinly sliced
10 large eggs
1 quart (approx.) pure olive oil
salt
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
To make the tortilla:
- Place eggs out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temperature.
- Poach the potato and onion slices in slowly bubbling oil, just enough to cover. Potatoes should be cooked but not falling apart. Use low heat and do not allow to brown. Drain and reserve oil for other uses.
- Beat room temperature
eggs just long enough to mix whites and yolks, add cooked potatoes and
onion WHILE STILL HOT (**see note below), season with salt, pepper and cayenne, then mix taking care that
potato slices do not break (use a rubber spatula and a folding action).
**This is very important! The ingredients must be warm when you start the next step below with a tortilla this thick; if they are not, the outside will turn black before the egg sets. - In a 10 inch pan, put enough fresh olive oil (not from the reserved oil above) to just coat the bottom and sides, heat until you see a little smoke, swirl to coat sides of pan again, add mixture from step 2 and carefully push down with spatula to make the surface flat. Turn heat down immediately to lowest possible, cover with a flat lid or platter and cook until golden brown.
- Flip pan onto lid to turn out tortilla, slide back into pan, cover again and cook until second side is golden brown. Turn tortilla out onto a platter.
To serve:
Cut into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature. We garnish with olives and a dab of allioli but you don't have to.
Notes for the home cook:
The optional cayenne pepper (or a few drops of Tabasco) is a personal preference. But it's purpose is NOT to make this dish spicy! If you use it, make it very little - it will perk up the flavor, if you ever make Hollandaise sauce, try it there too.
If you tried this recipe and:
- your tortilla looks like the one in the picture;
- you can see layers of potato slices, not just one dense mass;
- it's moist, yet the egg in the center is set, not runny,
you did it right!
If not, here are some things to watch for the next time:
- If the egg stuck to the pan, you did not initially heat the pan and coating oil enough.
- If the color of the surface is right but the egg in the center is not completely set, you heat was too high.
- If the color is not even, i.e. very dark center and pale near the edges, your burner is too small for the pan. Try putting the pan over two burners and turn it every few minutes, so all the areas spend some time right on top of the heat source. You can check progress of the browning by peeking: insert the rubber spatula between the pan side and the tortilla, then lift slightly to see what is going on.
- If the egg is rubbery, you beat it too long.
- If you cannot see layers of slices, you cooked the potatoes too long, so they are more live mashed potatoes. You did not use baking potatoes, right?
- The finished tortilla this size if commonly called a frittata in this country. Resist the temptation to cook it in the oven - you will end up with a dry, somewhat crumbly mess (that is the reason why very often you get a mediocre product in so may restaurants; a lot of cooks were taught that frittata is baked).
In Spanish homes, the tortilla is, of course, made such smaller. In that case the low heat is not critical and the turning out and flipping are very easy. Just cook the potatoes as described above and make an omelette as you normally would, but do not fold it (i.e. make a little frittata).
Some purists insist that you should not add the onions (when I make it at home, the only time I use onion is when I have some already peeled left over from some other cooking session). In a restaurant scenario, where it is more practical to make the big one described above, the real contribution of the onion is its moisture. Some people like to add a little minced garlic in the initial cooking; that is OK too - a matter of taste.
I told you it was simple! Chef Timo.