Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Tortilla Espanola
When I was complaining last week about wanting some kind of egg pie to slice up for dinner, this is exactly and precisely what I meant. Though I've written about a Spanish Tortilla on Serious Eats before, it was a baked affair that was perfectly edible, but not very authentic. This recipe for tortilla espanola from Saveur is the real deal. All I needed to do was embrace the oil.
Oil covers the potatoes and onions, which are slow cooked for about 20 minutes until they are completely tender and infused with flavor. Some oil (just under 1/2 cup) is drained off, leaving the other half inside and making this not insanely unhealthy, but still in the questionable realm. But none of that oil matters once you take a bite. If you really feel bad then just do what I did, which was take a nice two mile walk afterward to feel better about myself.
You need the oil—it miraculously makes the tortilla taste like it has both cheese and butter running through its veins, though neither comes anywhere close. Each bite is succulent. Even the oil that is drained off is genuinely delicious. Save that stuff and use it.
I'm in awe of this recipe, and ate way more than the recommended serving size. I may start running more often just to have this guy once a week.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a freelance writer in Chicago and the co-founder of The Paupered Chef.
Tortilla Espanola
Adapted from Saveur.
Ingredients
3/4 cup olive oil
1 pound potatoes (Russet or Yukon gold), peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
6 eggs
Salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Pour the oil into a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Carefully toss in the potatoes and onion. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring and folding the mixture over every other minute. They should be soft but not brown. Transfer the mixture to a colander set over a bowl. Drain for minute.
2. Crack the eggs into a large bowl. Add a big pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper. Whisk until combined. Add the potato and onion mixture to the eggs. Stir until combined. Season again with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer 1 tablespoon of the reserved oil to a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the egg and potato mixture. Cook for for 3 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom. Set an inverted plate on top. Hold onto the plate with your left hand, and flip the skillet over. Take off the skillet and set it back on the burner over medium heat. The tortilla on the plate should have the cooked side on top. Add another teaspoon of the reserved oil to the skillet and slide in the tortilla so the uncooked side is on the bottom. Cook for another 3 minutes.
4. Remove the tortilla and place on a cutting board. Let cool for 10 minutes or so. Then cut into wedges and serve with more salt and pepper to taste.