For me, this is perfect food. With just four humble ingredients (ok, six, if you count salt and pepper), it’s about as simple as it gets, but its flavor and texture are subtle, beautifully balanced and, to me at least, deeply satisfying. It’s also inexpensive, easy to make (with just a bit of practice) and extremely versatile. If I didn’t have the tendency to wolf it down until my belly aches, I’d keep some around all the time.
Tortilla Espanola has nothing to do with the flat breads made in the Americas from masa or wheat flour. This staple of everyday Spanish cuisine is a savory cake of potatoes and onions that have been cooked until tender and bound together with eggs. In addition to being delicious, it’s extremely versatile. With a dollop of aioli or mayonnaise and a green salad, a small slice makes a great appetizer (or snack) and a large slice is a nice light lunch. Add, say, grilled shrimp or sausage, and you’ve got an easy casual dinner. Tuck slices of tortilla and baby lettuce leaves inside a baguette smeared with aioli, add ice cold beer, and you’re ready for a picnic at the beach. When we have guests in Southampton, I often make tortilla on Friday evening, and it makes several appearances over the weekend.
The secret to both the flavor and texture of this dish is using what at first seems to be an extravagant amount of olive oil –two cups for two pounds of potatoes. This quantity is deceiving, though, since potatoes return all but about 1/4 cup of the oil after cooking, and the oil can be reused. (The oil is left with a warm, subtle onion flavor that would be pleasing in almost any savory dish –or more tortilla– but I wouldn’t use it for salad.) The oil bath is, however, necessary to a good tortilla: it leaves the potatoes with a rich flavor and silky texture that more austere cooking methods can’t duplicate.
Some add bits of Serrano ham, sausage, herbs, peppers and other embellishments to their tortilla. These variations can be tasty, but, to me, they’re gilding the lily. I prefer to eat tortilla deliciously plain and simple.
Recipe
Ingredients
2 pounds potatoes (I like to use russets)
2 cups olive oil
1 large onion
8 large eggs
salt and pepper
Instructions
1. Peel and cut the potatoes into a 1/3 to 1/2 inch dice, or slice them about 1/4 thick with a mandoline. Dice the onion. Toss together in a large bowl with two or three pinches of salt. The potato and onion mixture should fill your skillet to the rim. I’ve found that about 2 pounds of potatoes just fill a 10-inch skillet.
2. Pour the olive oil into an empty skillet and warm it over medium-low heat. Test the heat of the oil by dropping in a single piece of potato. When small bubbles form around its edges, add the rest of the potato and onion mixture.
3. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring gently every few minutes, until the potatoes and onions are tender but not falling apart. The oil should bubble merrily, but don’t let the potatoes and onions color. (This will probably take around 20 minutes.)
4. While the potatoes are cooking, crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat them with two or three generous pinches of salt and pepper.
5. When the potato mixture is done, pour it into a sieve placed over a large bowl to drain off the olive oil. (You should get 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of oil back, which can be reused.)
6. Wipe out the skillet and return it to the stove over medium-low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and swirl the pan to coat the bottom and sides thoroughly.
7. Combine the warm potato mixture with the eggs and pour into the warmed skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until the edges are firm, about 5 minutes.
8. Run a rubber spatula around the edge of the tortilla to loosen it, pushing it all the way to the bottom of the pan as you go. The center will still be soft.
9. Remove the skillet from the stove and cover it with a large plate. Taking care not to burn yourself, turn the tortilla onto the plate by inverting the pan and plate in a single swift motion. If some of the tortilla sticks to the pan, don’t fret. Just scrape it off and add it to the rest.
10. Wipe the pan clean again and add another 2 tablespoons of oil, coating the pan well. Slide the tortilla from the plate back into the pan. If it cracks or deforms a bit as you do this, just push it back into shape once it’s back in the pan.
11. Cook the tortilla over medium-low heat until the egg in the middle is just set, about 10 more minutes. (You can make exploratory cuts with a paring knife to check doneness.) A double flip removes the finished tortilla from the pan: first, invert the tortilla onto a large plate as before (at this point it will be upside down); then, place a serving plate over the upside down tortilla and flip it once more.
Again, if a chunk of tortilla breaks off during this process (as it did when I made the tortilla in the photo below), don’t worry. Just quickly press it back into place and the tortilla will “heal” as it cools. A shower of chopped parsley will hide any irregularity in the surface.
Serve the tortilla at room temperature or warm, but not hot out of the pan. It will keep unrefrigerated for about 24 hours. If you keep it for longer in the fridge, bring it to room temperature before serving.
