I first saw this beauty in a café in Madrid when I was about 10. I remember it sitting out on the counter all golden and fat, like a cheese. There is something in the simple pleasure of caramelized onions and potatoes enclosed in egg that makes for real soul pleasing food. This is one of the first dishes I learned to do well. I picked it up out of a thin volume on Spanish cooking my mother had given me when I left home. I really enjoyed the effect that the smell of the tortilla has on anyone in sniffing distance. The biggest challenge with Tortilla is to leave it alone long enough for it to cool as I think it tastes best at room temperature.
Ingredients:
1 large or 2 medium sized old(ish) potatoes
1 large or 2 medium sized onions
4 eggs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1. Peel and cut the potato into thin slices (I sometimes leave the skin on). Dice the onions roughly. In a heavy bottomed frying pan heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan and then some. Add the potatoes, moving them about so that they are all cover in oil. Fry and flip them until they brown slightly.
2. Now move them all to one side of the frying pan and add a layer of chopped onion in the exposed part, covering this with the potatoes, exposing more frying pan for more onion to be covered by potatoes. Do this until the entire pan has a layer of onion covered in potato.
3. Let the onion fry for a couple of minutes and then start mixing the potatoes and onions, working from the outside in. Continue cooking until the onions and potatoes are soft. Turn off the heat and add pepper and salt to taste. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.
4. In the mean time beat 4 eggs. Add the cooled potatoes and onions and mixed with the eggs.
5. Reheat the frying pan. It should still be oiled enough. If not add oil. Pour in the mixture and fry on a low flame for 10-15 minutes before flipping the tortilla using a plate. Another 5-10 minutes on the other side should do the trick.
6. Put on a plate to cool.
