Tonight we made a
Spanish Tortilla for dinner. Not the Mexican flour tortilla your burrito comes in; but an egg and potato omelette.
There were leeks in our Tortilla.
Handful of eggs, salt, pepper and hot sauce. BTW: I've been buying organic/cage free eggs and I can really tell the difference in the richness of the eggs. The yolks are a brilliant golden orange color that I haven't seen in the conventional eggs I used to buy. I guess for 50 cents to 1 dollar more, it's worth it.
Get the potatoes started. You want them to start to get some color and to be fork tender.
Leeks, onions and garlic hit the pot.
Add the eggs and give it all a whirl, then toss the whole mess in the oven.
Once out of the oven, the eggs are all set and you put it back on the stove to brown the bottom a little.
Give it a flip onto a plate and you should have a nice looking dish. Except a large portion of the browned bottom stuck to my non-stick pan. Cut into wedges and serve. We had ours with a small pot of
lentejas con tocino y salchicas. This was a nice little meal. Little more work than I thought, but nice. I think there was something missing, but I can't tell what...but nice.
- serves 4, or 2 for dinner and 2 again for lunch -
Adapted from
Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home by way of
Serious Eats1 medium leek, white and palest green parts only
2 medium potatoes (about 10-12 ounces total), Yukon Gold or other all-purpose variety
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 large eggs
Drops of Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Clean the leek well and slice it lengthwise into narrow strips, then slice again crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. You should end up with about 1 cup total.
2. Peel the potatoes and slice crosswise into thin slices, no more than 1/8 inch thick.
3. Set a 10-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium heat with the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. When the oil is sizzling, add the potato slices to the pan and spread them out, flipping and turning to coat evenly with oil. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook for bout 7 minutes, turning occasionally. The slices should be barely soft and still intact; if they are still firm, cover the pan and cook 2-3 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a large bowl, season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and drops of Tabasco to taste. Whisk until well blended.
5. When the potatoes are just tender, scatter the leek, onion, and garlic over the slices and toss to mix. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring and tossing, to soften all the vegetables.
6. Pour the beaten eggs all at once all over the potato mixture. Allow to set in the pan for about a minute, then stir the eggs and vegetables together gently. Continue to cook over moderate heat until the eggs have begun to solidify, about 3 minutes. Lower the heat if the eggs seem to be cooking rapidly.
7. Put the skillet in the oven and bake 6-8 minutes. The eggs will be fully set, slightly puffed, and shrinking from the sides of the skillet. Remove to the stovetop—remember, the handle is hot!—and set over medium heat for a minute or two to brown the bottom. While cooking, drizzle a spoonful or so of olive oil all around the outer edge of the omelet and swirl the pan gently to loosen it.
8. Slide the cooked omelet out onto the serving plate to present the top side with the vegetables visible, or invert onto the plate to show the browned bottom. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to serve if you like.
I think Mr. Squirrel is unhappy because we're tricking him out of some fresh bird seed. I read that you can add a TB of ground red pepper to a bag of seeds, shake it up, mix it up and it's enough to keep the squirrels off the goods...so far it seems to be working. Yippee. The cardinals and bluejays will be happy to have their dinner back.
