Spain’s National Day just also occurs to be World Egg Day!
Yay! It’s 2018
And due to the fact that it is also Spain’s National Day on October 12th, it appears the ideal excuse to share with you the country’s preferred egg meal: The tortilla de patatas.
The Regional asked food blogger and expat chef Carla Bigio to describe the secret to making a scrumptious tortilla de patatas.
The basic yet extremely satisfying potato omelette is the staple of almost every Spanish menu, from the hole in the wall bars to the fanciest of dining establishments.
It is also a dish that divides opinion like no other – onions or no onions? and runny or dry? being the two most disputed concerns when it pertains to the popular meal.
The Regional asked American expat chef Carla Bigio, who resides in Barcelona, to share her recipe with us.
Bigio lives and works in Barcelona, where in 2004 she opened her own restaurant. Nowadays, she teaches people to prepare tasty Spanish recipes both from house and from a cooking school in the city.
Tortilla de patatas (serves four)
Ingredients
Six eggs
Two potatoes, peeled, cut in half, and sliced horizontally
One large onion, sliced
Salt
One litre of olive oil (believe me on this)
The process
In a big stockpot over medium high heat, include 3/4 litres of olive oil. When it is hot but not smoking cigarettes, include the potatoes and onions. Lower heat to medium. Cook, poaching the potatoes and onions up until the potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, break your eggs and beat. Include salt. At this time, get all the important things you are going to need for the tortilla. A large plate, 2 frying pans, one medium, one smaller (optional). ESSENTIAL NOTE: THEY MUST BE NON-STICK FRYING PANS. If not, your tortilla will stick and the whole process is ruined.
When your potatoes and onions are done, strain them, booking two tablespoon of oil. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes. When your potatoes are cool enough to touch, then blend them in with your scrambled eggs.
In a medium fry pan, include one tbsp of your reserved oil. Heat over medium heat up until practically smoking cigarettes.
Now include your egg and potato mix, and as quickly as it strikes the pan, start stirring the eggs so that they coagulate and the raw part goes to the bottom, and you get some cooked egg on top… like this:
Concurrently, as you are stirring the centre, with your wood spoon, drag it along the edges to make sure that it is drying up.
This enables you to ensure that the tortilla is not sticking on the edges, so it will turn loosely onto your large plate. Keep doing these motions till you see little runniness in the middle, and it appears like it is drying up.
When you feel that there will not suffice egg mix lost when you do “The Flip”, then position your big plate (it need to be bigger than the circumference of your frying pan) on top of the pan,
And with a flick of your wrist, flip the tortilla onto the plate, and after that move back into the fry pan.
At this point, you can pick if you want to put it into a smaller sized fry pan. I learned this idea from a proper Catalan, who stated always move your tortilla into a smaller fry pan to get that nice rounded shape.
If you do change to a smaller sized fry pan, then include the remaining one tbsp of olive oil, and heat over a low flame. In either case, if you do or you do not, you need to start to tuck in the edges of the tortilla, to offer it a good round shape on the edges. And, now the key is if you want it a bit runny, or “JUICY” as they would say here, you either cook it for 2 more minutes, or 7 more minutes. Considering that I like mine in between, I cook it for 5 more minutes.
Move it back on a tidy plate, let rest for a minimum of five minutes, and serve warm with nice crusty tomato bread.
From my kitchen to yours,
Carla
Carla can be discovered blogging at Expatchef where she shares her favourite recipes from Spain.
We like this video from Robert L Strauss and his daughter, who found out how to prepare a tortilla (with onions) while studying Spanish in Barcelona.
