Tortilla Española

Adapted from The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook by Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne

This is a pretty basic recipe that can be tweaked to your liking. Want less onion and more potato? Go for it. I personally like the current ratio: it’s well balanced and flavorful. Keep in mind this dish can be served warm or cold, and is excellent as a sandwich as well.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 pound Yukon Gold, red-skinned, or russet potatoes (the first two work a bit better) peeled, halved, and sliced into approximately ¼” slices
Salt and Pepper
6 eggs


Directions

Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to your skillet and warm to medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes until they start to turn translucent. Turn down the heat to medium-low, and cook until the onions are a light brown color, about five more minutes, and lightly season them with salt. (Be careful not to burn them, just cook the onions to your desired level of done-ness). Remove the onions to a plate and set aside.

Heat the same skillet again over medium heat, adding the ¼ cup of olive oil to the pan and allow the oil to heat up, about 2 minutes. Carefully add the potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes (reduce heat if smoking from the pan occurs). Halfway through, flip the potatoes over so the other side cooks as well, and be careful to keep the slices separate from each other so they don’t stick. When the potatoes are done, remove them to a paper-toweled covered plate to soak up a bit of the extra oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Taste one to make sure it’s to your liking (and yum! Fried ‘tatoes!) Leave any remaining oil in the pan for future use.

Break the eggs into a medium bowl and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Whisk until frothy. Add the cooked potatoes and onions to the eggs in the bowl. Preheat the oven broiler.

Place the skillet with the remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. (Note: I have learned the hard way—always cook eggs over a lower heat so you have more control. Otherwise, they cook too quickly and brown and are gross.) Allow skillet to warm up a bit, and add the egg-potato-onion mixture to the pan, then reduce the heat a bit to low. Cook until the pan-side of the omelet is set, and very lightly brown, approximately 5 minutes. Place the skillet in the oven and broil until the top of the omelet is golden brown and when you stick a knife in the middle, it comes out clean. (Note: if you do not have a cast-iron skillet, simply wrap the handle of a regular skillet with a towel so you can pull it out with your oven mitts when the dish is ready). This should take about 3 to 5 additional minutes in the oven.

Season with a bit of salt and freshly ground pepper. Use a spatula to loosen the omelet from its pan, and slide the omelet onto a plate. Cut into wedges and serve with toasted bread or as-is. With a salad, it would be a lovely light lunch or dinner.

Buen provecho!