Catalan recipes: tortilla española

The tortilla española or Spanish omelette is a popular dish prepared and consumed all over Spain.

There are two tales about the creation of the tortilla española. One says that it was invented by general Tomás de Zumalacárregui during the Bilbao siege as a quick and nutritious dish for the Carlist army.

The second tale also speaks of Zumalacárregui, but says he happened upon a farmhouse and asked the woman of the house to prepare him a meal. The woman prepared a meal using the only ingredients she had in the house.

Here are the ingredients you will need to prepare your tortilla española:

800g of potatoes

6 or 7 large eggs

Salt

Olive Oil

Now let’s start cooking. Here is the recipe, step by step.

Start by washing and peeling the potatoes. Now dice the potatoes. The cubes shouldn’t be too big to guarantee that they are going to be well cooked.

Now, grab a good non-stick frying pan and pour some olive oil in it. Place it on the stove and let the olive oil heat up. When the olive oil has reached the ideal temperature, it’s time to place the diced potatoes inside the frying pan. We recommend that you use a large frying pan so you can cook a large amount of diced potatoes at once.

When the potatoes are evenly fried, remove them from the frying pan and place them over some kitchen paper. Now add salt.

It’s time to use the eggs. Use a large bowl to mix the eggs. When the potatoes have cooled down a little, place them inside the bowl as well and mix.

Now either clean the frying pan you used before or used a new one. Pour a small amount of olive oil in it and let it heat up, then pour the egg/potatoes mix inside.

Cook the mix in medium heat so the bottom part starts getting cooked. You should take your time cooking the tortilla to guarantee it is neither raw on the inside nor overdone on the outside. If you prefer the tortilla to be slightly undercooked, do it in high heat.

When the bottom of the tortilla is cooked, place a large plate on top of the frying pan. Hold the plate tight against the frying pan and turn it upside down, so that the tortilla stays on the plate. Gently slide the tortilla into the frying pan again so that you can now cook the other side of it.