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Tortilla Española (Spanish Omelet)
Ingredients
- 3 yukon gold potatoes
- 1 yellow onion
- olive oil (lots)
- knob of butter
- 5 eggs
- ¼ heavy cream
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash and peel potatoes.
- Use a mandolin (or you can try to slice as thin) to cut potatoes. I use setting 2.
- Cut onion in half and then slice into thin half rings.
- Add salt and mix onions and potatoes together.
- In a shallow pan, that allows at least 1 ½ inch add olive oil.
- Add potato and onion mixture to oil. Add more oil if needed. You want the potatoes to be completely submerged. The goal is not to fry them, but to soften them. This took between 8-12 minutes.
- Scoop the potato and onion mixture out with a draining spoon to remove as much oil as possible, let cool.
- While it is cooling, make your egg mixture. Combine eggs, heavy cream and salt.
- Once the potatoes are cool to touch, add potatoes to egg mixture and mix.
- In a skillet, add a little bit of that reserved oil, and a knob of butter.
- Once it starts to sizzle, pour the potato and egg mixture. Let it cook so you see the sides start to cook, reduce heat to low-medium, add lid and let cook till the middle has solidified. It will still be runny on top -don't worry.
- Once it is fully cooked on the bottom, take the pan over to the sink with a plate large enough to cover the pan. VERY Carefully, put the plate over the pan and quickly flip. You might lose some egg- It's ok!
- Then slide the omelette back onto the same pan. Return to stove with lid on. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until fully cooked.
- Transfer to a plate and slice into little triangular slices. Top with additional salt if necessary. Taste first!
Video
Madreatin’ All Day
After the hellish year of 2020, I was determined to travel for 2021. The new normal made traveling in 2021 difficult as well, but my boyfriend and I did it anyways. We traveled to Spain during the end of October and I will gladly admit that I spent 95% of that vacation eating. Also walking. We did way too much walking. Before going, I did some research (as I am a planner by nature) on the “must-try things to eat”. On that list was patatas bravas. On our first full day in Madrid, we walked into this restaurant, Taberna Malaspina, that was said to have the best traditional patatas bravas.
It was just shy of 10 AM and they were still setting up and we walked in as their first customers. The waiter was extremely kind. He gave us a menu and our hungry eyes set to try as much as we can, which he later honestly told us that it would be too much food and so we narrowed down our meal. I ordered the patas bravas and my boyfriend ordered the jamon y tomate (which omg I ate every day and still eat it as often as I can). As we sat with our cafesito’s, he brought out a free appetizer. A HOT. FRESH. Tortilla Española. I was like oh, potato and egg – I’ve eaten this my whole life. Except it wasn’t that.
Tortilla Espanola aka Spanish Omelette
Once I had a taste of the “Spanish Omelette”, I just knew, I would be eating this at least five more times on this trip. The potato and egg that I am used to is kind of like scrambled eggs with potatoes thrown into a hero or some sort of soft loaf bread. This tortilla espanola was at least an inch thick and layered with soft potatoes and when you cut into it, it was toasty on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside. It also had this scrumptious onion flavor. I also received the Omelet as a starter to my breakfast at Matilda which again – absolutely delicious – and the layers of potato and onion were very visible. I will post more about Spain at a later date but the point is I ate the heck outta these Spanish Omelet’s.
Now it is January 2022 and I am still thinking about the food from Madrid. This morning, I was out of avocados -my latest breakfast obsession – and I was hungry and couldn’t figure out what to eat. I looked at the potatoes on my counter and thought – I wish I was in Spain, I’d be eating a Tortilla Española! And then like slap in the face of cold wind – it hit me – make it yourself. I found this recipe on AllRecipes, but it seemed too far off from the basic and traditional. So I took some cues, modified and tried out my “simpler version”
Some Notes About this Tortilla Espanola Spanish Omelette
Now, while this dish is simple enough, it requires a few things, a little skill, and a TON of olive oil. I can’t quite measure how much, but it was a lot. The potatoes have to be covered in the oil for them to be fully submersed in the “simmering” process. You do not want to FRY the potatoes till brown, you just want them to get soft and cooked through.
Somethings you will need: Mandolin and a deep enough pan. Now, you can easily just slice these potatoes yourself and if you have the knife skills by all means. But the mandolin offers you perfectly equal cuts of thin potatoes and its honestly the quickest way to get the potatoes sliced. Just watch your fingers. And the pan, well, you can use any pan you like, but it helps to have one that is high enough to give you that fluffy omelette height. I will link my two recommendations below, as always :).
As far as the skill – I say skill as a stretch here. Its the “flick of the wrist” if you will! So when it comes to frittatas or these omelettes, you gotta flip the uncooked side into a dish and then slide it back into your pan. I cannot tell you how many times my beautiful frittatas have broken and I ended up with a scramble. It’s ok! It happens to all of us. So you need a little skill when it comes to flipping it, but really its a matter of non-stick pans, quick flips, and perfect size plates. So far, Ikea plates have been perfffeecctttt!
A Question for You
Hey Reader, if you have made it this far – A HUGE THANKS. I have been working really hard to put out quality videos, easy yet tasty recipes or recipe trials, and some quality content posts. I hope thus far you have enjoyed the food as well as the reads. Lately, I have been having some questions regarding the journey of all of this and I wanted to pose it to whomever may read. So if you can please, respond in the comments below, or via any of the social media platforms available, which I will link below, and I would absolutely appreciate you for eternity. Here are my Q’s:
- Would you prefer longer videos without the speed ups?
- Would you prefer voice-overs?
- If I created an E-Book that had step by step images for each recipe, would that be something you would be interested in?
- Are you interested in travel, lifestyle, and essentials content from me?
- Would you prefer if the videos also included me, I am shy so if you really wanted me, I would need some alcohol!
- Have you any recipe suggestions? I love feedback and trying new things – its the teacher in me.
I hope to hear from you all, or anyone LOL. “Is there anyone out thereeeeee?” (I hope you read and said that in your head like the guy on the boat in the Titanic right before Rose blows her whistle – if not I just embarrassed myself.) Way to keep it cool, A.
Much love and happy cooking!
