TORTILLA DE PATATAS (SPANISH OMELET)

I have been trying to avoid adding this recipe to the blog as there is something a bit too obvious about Spanish people cooking tortilla. But a tortilla with a glass of beer and good company on a sunny day is hard to beat. And a hot  'bocadillo de tortilla' (omelet inside a piece of crusty bread) on a cold day is pure indulgence.

There are as many recipes of tortilla as Spanish people: some like it with onion, some with leeks, some with just potatoes and eggs, some prefer it 'blonde' some 'dark', some 'runny' some 'dry'…just try a few times and find the recipe that you prefer.  My advice: do not add chorizo, nor peppers- a tortilla with that is just a bit of a mess. Be generous with the salt. Also, you need a good non stick (medium size) pan and very hot oil.

You need:
- 500 gr potatoes
- 5 eggs
- lots of olive oil
- salt
- an onion

Chop the potatoes into really thin slices (by hand or with a food processor). Cut the onion into small squares. Mix the onion and the potatoes and add salt. Put a really generous amount of olive oil in the pan ( medium heat), add the potatoes and onions, lower the heat to its minimum setting, cover with a lid and let it fry the until the ottos are golden and soft ( more or less twenty minutes). When the potatoes are done put them into a colander to get rid of the excess oil (but keep this oil).

Beat the eggs. Add the potatoes to the eggs and add a tiny bit more salt.

Put three spoonfuls of oil (you can use the oil from the potatoes) in the pan and heat it under it is very hot. Add the eggs and potatoes mixture and lower the heat to medium/low. Once you see bubbles on the surface (10-ish minutes) turn the tortilla around. This really seems more difficult than it is - you can do it with a big plate or a lid  (I do it over the sink just in case some of the eggy mixture falls down) Let the tortilla cook on the other side (another 8 minutes more or less). You can eat it hot or cold.