Tortilla española - Spanish Omelette

Tortilla Española

Tortilla Española, is one of the first dishes you learn as a Spanish kid. It is as close to paella as a national dish and it is one of those that everyone's mother's recipe “is the best”. The ingredients are just potato, egg, olive oil and onion but the difference in technique can completely change the end result. I can’t stand the dish when it’s over cooked, the trick is to let the starch from the potato thicken up the egg and leave it a little bit runny in the middle.

Beware the flip can cause a mess so do it over the sink!

Ingredients:

This makes 4 serves

3 large potatoes diced

8 large eggs

2 cup of olive oil

1 large onion sliced

Method:

1. Place eggs into a large metal bowl and beat until combined and season with a teaspoon of salt.

2. Place the potato in the cold olive oil and bring up to heat, you want to poach the potatoes not fry them so make sure there is no more than a gentle bubble. Test the potatoes after 15min with a knife, if it slides in with little resistance add in your onion and cook for a further 10 minutes. They are ready when the potatoes are very soft but not falling apart and the onions are soft.

3. While still hot strain your olive oil off and place the warm potato onion mixture into the egg mixture, reserve olive oil and use for any savoury cooking or your next tortilla. Mix around until the heat is evenly dispersed between the egg and potato mixtures and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Season the potatoes well with salt, think as you would season potato chips as this gives the omelette its flavour.

4.On a non-stick greased 10 inch pan place on medium heat, poor in your egg mixture, as the sides start to set using a spatula take them into the middle creating a bit of a puck shape. Control your heat, you want it to only slightly brown and ideally not crunchy on the outside definitely not burnt. After around 5 minutes when the omelette has started to set towards the outside but is still raw in the middle your will prepare a large plate to flip the omelette onto. Take the pan and the plate over to the sink placing the plate over the pan you will quickly flip it onto the plate, there will be some runny egg still but it should mostly maintain the shape.

5. Wipe out any remnants from the pan and place back on the heat with a bit of olive oil, once warm again bring back to the sink and slide the omelette back into the pan uncooked side to the pan.

6. Bring back to the heat and start to create the tortilla shape by bringing the sides back in, you will cook for a further couple of minutes, then you can flip as you like until you have reached the desired doneness. Note the extra flipping helps to make the shape while also cooking evenly in the middle. I cooking for around 3-4 minutes in total as I like it still underdone in the middle.

7. Flip onto a plate and serve after resting for 5 minutes to help any uncooked egg set. It is a great snack to have in the fridge and will last 3-4 days. If your like me though it will be gone straight away.

Byron & María

The Coastal Cocina