How to cook a Tortilla!

During my travels, I've always loved going to Spain... it is cheap and the food is phenomenal! At the hotels, there is almost always a tortilla ready to eat... and I just LOVE the egg and potato goodness! Even better when I have it as a sandwich... for maximum carbohydrate overload!

So, when I find myself at home... I do miss having these lovely little potato cakes... and over the years, I've been trying to learn how to make them with the help of some Spanish friends. Finally, I think I've gotten to the point where it isn't completely embarrassing and I can share my experience with the world! Of course, this isn't going to be the tortilla that every Spanish person seems to inherit in their genes... but it is the best that an interested foreigner can do!

Now, what is quite plain from talking to my Spanish friends is the fact that there are as many different variations on the Tortilla recipe as there are Spanish grandmothers... however they do all share the same sort of basis... potatoes, eggs and oil. Plus the secret ingredient of a nice small but deep frying pan!... and let me tell you, after many failures, I have to say that the pan really does make a HUGE difference!

So, for my tortilla... I used enough potatoes to fit in the frying pan, 5 (sometimes 6 eggs) and garlic and onion. Plus oil... you will need lots of it, and I've since switched to Sunflower Oil... but you can pour it away and reuse it!

So, firstly slice and finely chop the garlic and onion that you want to add (or not want to add, if you don't want them... don't chop them!). Then peel and slice the potatoes into fairly thinnish slices. Try to keep some bigger slices as that will help give the tortilla some structural integrity.

Bring the oil in your "tortilla pan" to frying temperature and slide in the potatoes... I always make sure to put the potatoes in the empty frying pan before starting the whole thing so that I know that I don't have too many potatoes. With the oil splattering, there is nothing more messy to clean up than an oil spill onto the hot plate because there were too many potatoes and oil in the frying pan!

After the potatoes are nicely soft, drain the oil carefully and put the the potatoes gently into a mixing bowl. You want to be gentle as they are now pretty soft and will break apart easily. Mix the eggs and add some salt and pepper... then combine with the cooked potatoes.

Pour the mixture back into the SAME frying pan and let it cook until there is a little bit of runniness left on the top side.

Now, here is the crucial filling part which is a bit hard to describe in words! Lever the cooked bottom half of the tortilla and slide it onto a plate (so the cooked side remains on the bottom and the uncooked side stays on the top).... so no flipping yet, just sliding and keeping the same up-down orientation.

Now, turn the frying pan UPSIDE DOWN and lower it onto the UNCOOKED side... then holding the frying pan and the plate tightly together, flip the whole thing so that the frying pan is now on the bottom and the plate is on the TOP!

So, it should look like this now... with previously cooked side on the top and the uncooked side on the bottom.... and from here it is easy, it just requires a short cooking to make sure that the uncooked side is nicely browned (remember that you already have cooked most of it from the other side already!).

Serve up with your perfect selection of sides... I usually like to serve it with the French Preserved Duck (Confit du Canard) and some freshly cut raw vegetables. The Tortilla is a good stand in for rice, cous-cous, bread or pasta.... and it does make for a nice sort of summer meal! Even better with your favourite white wine... (and that means a sweet dessert wine for me!).

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