Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish Tortilla)

Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish Tortilla)

Tortilla de Patatas, a Spanish potato omelette with red onion, capsicum and manchego, serve warm or cold, with extra cheese and pimento olives

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Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Brunch, Side Dish, Vegetarian

Cuisine: Spanish

Diet: capsicum, eggs, manchego, onions, potatoes

Total Time: 40

Servings:

Author: Eff | Food Daydreaming

Equipment

Ingredients

Olive oil for frying
4 potatoes*
1 red onion
1 red capsicum
6 large eggs
¼ cup manchego, grated*
Salt to taste
Manchego and pimento olives, to serve

Instructions

Pour enough olive oil into a large, heavy-based frying pan to be able to fry (not sauté) the potato slices, about half a finger deep. Let it start heating up over high heat.
Olive oil for frying
While the oil is heating up, peel and thinly slice the potatoes, about half a centimetre thickness. When the oil is hot, add the potato slices and let them fry away.
4 potatoes*
Peel and slice the onion finely, and deseed and chop the capsicum into bite sized chunks. Once the potatoes have softened, around 12 to 15 minutes, add the onion and capsicum. Continue to cook, stirring gently every now and then, for a further 10 minutes or until the potatoes have browned a little and all the vegetables are soft.
1 red onion, 1 red capsicum
When cooked, scoop out the vegetables onto a paper towel-lined plate and allow to drain*.
While the vegetables are draining, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them. Add the grated manchego and season with salt and pepper.
6 large eggs, Salt to taste, ¼ cup manchego
Add a tablespoon of the frying oil to a smaller frying pan* and preheat over low heat.
Being careful of not to add any paper bits, scoop the slightly cooled and drained vegetables into the whisked eggs and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into the heated frying pan all at once, and quickly swirl the pan around to distribute the eggy mixture evenly.
Once the edges start to colour and come away from the pan, carefully lift up a side of the tortilla and check to see if the bottom has browned. Once it has, there are two options. Option 1 – traditional: place a dinner plate bigger than the frying pan over the top and flip the tortilla out, then slide it back into the pan, raw side down to continue cooking. Carry on flipping the tortilla using the plate until the middle is done to your liking, completely set or slightly gooey but cooked. Option 2 – easier: when the bottom is cooked, place the whole frying pan under a grill and heat until cooked through and golden brown on top, 5 to 7 minutes.
Flip the tortilla out onto a serving plate, cut into wedges and serve warm or cold, with thick slices of manchego and pimento olives.
Manchego and pimento olives

Notes

I personally prefer less potatoes in my tortilla de patatas, but you can add up to six potatoes to make a thicker and more dense omelette.

Manchego is a Spanish hard cheese and an excellent choice for this dish. You can swap it out with other hard yellow cheeses, but expect the flavour profile to change completely as manchego is a very mild flavoured cheese.

There will be quite a bit of oil left over after frying the vegetables. But as this oil wasn’t seasoned or heavily flavoured, it can be strained into a grease keeper and used again. Check out the shop the post link below for one.

To make thicker or more gooey tortilla de patatas, you will need a smaller frying pan so that the omelette mixture doesn’t have a lot of room to spread. Try a 20cm frying pan, as opposed to the 27cm one I use to make thin ones.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @food_daydreaming or tag #fooddaydreaming on instagram. I love seeing what you all come up with!

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