Pigs in Blankets

Spanish Omelette

Also known as Tortilla de Patatas! This is a typical Spanish dish served in every tapas bar. It can be served hot, cold from the fridge or at room temperature and tastes great with a side of bread or salad or on its own. It may be time consuming but a big tortilla will feed a crowd and it is pretty cheap to make, which is always nice. I would start out with a smaller tortilla to practice the technique, as it may seem tricky the first few times you try it. The following recipe yields a 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) tortilla.

Ingredients

2 cups extra virgin olive oil
2 kg (4.4 lbs) potatoes
0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) onions
Eggs (six or more)

Instructions

Peel the onions and slice them finely with the help of a mandolin, or by hand if you have awesome slicing skills (which I don't). Place onions on a pan with the two cups of oil, cover and fry over medium low heat. Meanwhile, peel, wash and dry the potatoes. Slice them finely (it is important to keep the thickness constant to ensure homogeneous cooking). When the onions are translucent, add the potatoes and cover the pan. Keep checking the potatoes and turning them so they all cook at the same rate. When you see they start to look cooked but are still firm, uncover the pan and continue cooking and turning them. Once the potatoes start to break when turning them, drain the olive oil and place the cooked potatoes and onions in a big bowl, making sure everything is cooked evenly. The onion should be translucent and the potatoes should be tender and fragile.

Add beaten eggs one at a time and mix. The potatoes should break, but there should still be chunks when we are done mixing in all the eggs. The number of eggs depends on their size. Add them one at a time until the potatoes are completely moistened. The texture should be like a slushie, with enough egg to cover the potatoes, but not as much as for them to swim in it. I used 8 medium sized eggs for this recipe. It is preferable to have a little too much egg than too little, as the tortilla will turn out dry, and no one likes a dry tortilla. When all the eggs have been added, season with salt and pepper to taste. Potatoes and onions are pretty bland, so they will need a generous amount of salt. I don't mind tasting raw egg to see if the amount of salt is okay, but if you are reluctant, it is preferable to go easy on the salt. If it turns out bland, you can always add more salt once it is cooked. On the other hand, if it turns out to salty, there's no way to fix it.

So here comes the hard part. Heat a pan over medium low heat with about two tablespoons of oil (make sure there is oil on all the surface of the pan, including the sides). The thicker the omelette, the lower the heat should be, as it will require more time to cook through and we don't want an extremely golden (nor burnt) exterior. Pour the potato-egg mixture on the pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. As the tortilla cooks, wiggle, wobble and shake the pan to prevent the omelette from sticking. Soon, the sides of the tortilla will become a lighter colour as it starts to cook. Keep shaking the pan and making sure the omelette doesn't stick as it cooks (I like to use a rubber spatula to check the sides). Suddenly, on the surface of the tortilla and towards the center, you will see some light coloured bubbles forming. This will be the signal to turn the tortilla over!

This part is critical. Shake the pan to make sure the bottom of the tortilla isn't stuck and check the sides too. When you are sure the omelette isn't stuck, remove the pan from the heat and place a big plate upside down on top of it. The plate must be bigger than the pan, so you don't mess up when flipping it. Now take a deep breath, grab the pan's handle with decision with one hand and place the other hand on top of the plate. Count to three, gather all your courage and flip the tortilla! Clean any potato residue off the pan, add a bit of oil, and slide the tortilla off the plate and into the pan carefully. Keep wiggling the pan so that this side doesn't stick either, and cook the tortilla through. Some people like the omelette to be a little runny when cut, whereas some people prefer a totally solid tortilla. Depending on your taste, you will have to cook the tortilla more or less time. The thicker the tortilla, the longer the cooking time. Determining the cooking time takes intuition and experience, but paying attention to the firmness of the tortilla should give you a clue about how well it's done.

Once you are happy with the firmness of your tortilla, repeat the flipping process onto a  the clean plate where you will serve the tortilla in. If you cut the omelette open ant aren't happy with the doneness, you can always return the tortilla to the pan and continue cooking it. When you are happy with the result, cut some slices, serve and enjoy! In my opinion, tortilla de patatas tastes so much better the next day at room temperature, but that's just me.

Variations

Some people make tortilla without onions. You can add canned tuna, or vegetables like asparagus, and zucchini.

Warning

This recipe yields a heavy tortilla. I had to work as a team with my sister to flip it between the two of us because none of us could do it on our own. If you are alone or afraid you are going to mess up, its preferable to make several small tortillas than a gigantic one.

Source: generally, tortilla recipes are handed down generation to generation. Every family has different tips, tricks and preferences. This recipe is from my friend's mom, who owns a bar ('el Gall i la Gallina') which makes the yummiest tortilla de patatas ever.