Tortilla de patatas: A Classic Spanish Dish

If you haven't already visited her blog, Chic Soufflé regularly posts some delicious recipes there. It'll make you hungry to read it! They are mostly sweets and desserts, but there are also some savories and drinks recipes, too. (I'm still licking my lips over her recent "Caramelized Garlic Tart"! Mmm, garlic! And some say, "¡España huele a ajo!") There are few things more Spanish than the Spanish omelette, so I've invited her to share her recipe here along with tips and thoughts on this quintessentially Spanish dish.

"I <3 tortilla de patatas" via Kukuxumusu

Tortilla de patatas, tortilla española, Spanish omelette… different names for such a delicious and humble dish, and yet somehow this simple staple of Spanish cuisine often gets misrepresented in US recipes. It’s as if they want to make what is essentially a super easy combination of—a very few—ingredients into something complicated. But the truth is that a Spanish omelette does not need to be a complicated affair, and that’s the beauty of it. This is no paella. This is a dish you can make pretty much in ANY country, anytime, easily, and with very few basic ingredients. You don’t even need olive oil (that’s right, I said it!) Finding potatoes, eggs, and onion (optional) shouldn’t be hard in most parts of the world, and you only need a decent nonstick pan to cook it.

Now, just like with every classic staple recipe in any cuisine, everyone has a different take on it. I mean, I learned my tortilla de patatas from my mom, and our versions don’t even taste that similar! If you have eaten it in Spain and are a fan of this potato-rich goodness, you’ll certainly have noticed the differences. More or less gooey interior, smaller or bigger diced potatoes, onion or no onion, fatter or thinner…I love them all.

On the recommendation of a friend and fellow blogger,
we tried these enormous, delicious tortillas at Bar Santos, Córdoba

Despite being a simple dish, there are a few things you MUST know to perfect a classic tortilla de patatas:

• First of all, you do not need to waste a “quart of olive oil” to cook it. Many people make it with sunflower oil (great for deep-frying and used often in Spain—it’s our canola oil), and if you do use nice olive oil, know that after you remove the fried potatoes you shouldn’t discard it. It is totally fine to reuse it, and it will be infused with a nice potato flavor.

• Pick the right potato. Those flavorless potatoes you find in some supermarkets do not do it justice. You want tasty potatoes (Russet works great), because it is the main ingredient, after all.

• There’s a great trick for turning the tortilla that always works. You just need two dinner plates that are a little bigger than the pan you’re using. The rest is not that complicated (see below.)

• Thicker and smaller is better than thin and big. In my experience, it’s always better two use a smaller pan and make a thick tortilla (but no more than 2 inches, or it gets complicated). A thicker tortilla tastes better, looks better, and is easier to handle.

• The way the potatoes are chopped is probably the biggest difference you’ll find among recipes. Some people like it in small cubes, small pieces, little sticks, big chunks…we all have our favorite style. 

• The texture of the tortilla can be quite different depending on where you try it, but it should never be dry! I noticed that in Madrid (in my opinion, one of the best cities to eat tortilla) they like it very, very gooey in the middle. In Valencia, however, they usually cook it thoroughly until the middle is set. The way I make it is leaving it a little gooey on the inside, but not runny. It’s a matter of how long you cook it, so you can experiment with that and see what you prefer.

• It’s a well-know fact that tortilla de patatas tastes awesome leftover, so don’t be afraid to make too much! :)

¿Qué es para usted una tortilla? In our house, we eat both types of homemade tortillas!

Ready to make a tortilla de patatas?

Here’s my recipe, which I have been using for over 10 years. Whenever I’ve made variations, I’ve always come back to the basics because it tasted better. With tortilla de patatas it’s just best to keep it simple!

Ingredients

1 big potato

3 or 4 eggs

half an onion (optional)

sunflower or canola oil for frying (or olive oil, which you can reuse)

a pinch of salt

1. Peel and chop the potato. This is what I like to do: I grab a small slicing knife and cut uneven chunks while rotating the potato. I feel these bigger chunks give it a more interesting texture, but you can cut it differently and just adjust the cooking depending on the size. If you choose to add onion, chop it thinly.

2. Fill an 8-inch pan (20 cm) with oil (enough to cover the potatoes.) Heat up until the oil is very hot and add the potatoes. If you’re using onion, add it now as well. Cover with a lid to avoid splatter mess. Fry until the potatoes are cooked through, but not crunchy. They should look pale. Remember, they will cook a bit longer with the egg.

3. While the potatoes are frying, crack the eggs in a medium bowl and beat with a fork. Add a pinch of salt.

4. Using a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes (and onion) and put them in the bowl with the egg. Mix with the fork.

5. Unless you’re using olive oil, discard most of the oil from the pan, leaving only about one spoonful to cook the tortilla. Turn the heat to medium-low and add the egg and potato mix. Cover with the lid. When the tortilla is set around the edges but still gooey in the middle, it’s time to do “the plate trick”. Slide the tortilla onto one of the plates (carefully detaching the sides with a spatula, if needed). Put the other plate on top to cover (the plates must match sizes) and quickly flip the plates. Now your tortilla is flipped and you can slide it onto the pan with the help of a spatula to drag any potato pieces left behind.

The "transfer" doesn't have to be seamless to lead to a shapely final product.

6. Cook uncovered for a few more minutes, only until the bottom settles. If you like it gooey in the middle, then it won’t take very long to cook, but it will always depends on the thickness of the tortilla, so just watch out to get that perfect texture. Whatever you like will be the best recipe you can always use. :)

Where did you try your favorite tortilla de patatas? Have any cooking tips of 

your own to add? Post your comments here. They are welcome!

—Chic Soufflé

Not Hemingway's Madrid, part 2

If in the last entry I outlined the kinds of images of Madrid that commonly circulate, here I want to say a bit about the city's cultural significance to Spaniards, a significance which the Hemingway paradigm misses entirely.

Very eighties movie poster for Almodóvar's classic
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

For many Spaniards, Madrid's cultural moment was "la Movida Madrileña," a countercultural movement which took place in the 1980s in the wake of "la transición," i.e. the political transition following Franco's death in 1975 and the beginning of Spain's present-day democracy. Often characterized as a hedonistic cultural wave unleashed by the loosening of the earlier rigid and prudish Franco Regime moral codes, la Movida was a period when Madrid was alive with artistic transgressions of earlier taboos, the widespread use of recreational drugs, and a fusion of Madrid's street culture, including the slang or jargon of working class areas like Lavapiés referred to as "cheli," and youth culture associated with the hip bohemian neighborhood of Malasaña (jokingly referred to at the time as "la República Independiente de Malasaña"). To get a feeling for the period, Almodóvar's movie Mujeres al borde de un ataque nervioso (1988) is to la Movida and 1980s Madrid as Mike Nichols's Working Girl (1988) is to Manhattan and 1980s corporate culture. (Or for a more "lived experience" of Madrid in the eighties, I recommend reading Diario de un aburrido's nostalgic account of it.)

In part, la Movida was an extension of Madrid's long history as a cultural center for the arts and creative cultural movements. Madrid, for example, has an old theatre tradition, and has long been a mecca for actors and theatre artists. Gran Vía is Spain's Broadway and, if your Spanish is up for it, I highly recommend you try and see a show there while in town. Seeing a production on the Gran Vía is a 'must do' much like seeing a Broadway show is in NYC. Even if you skip a theater production, a stroll down the avenue, which turned one hundred years old in 2010, is worth it just to take in the Modernist architecture and detailed building facades. An article marking the anniversary very eloquently noted a distinct schism caused by globalization, which divides the street-level shops, all globally recognizable brands and logos, from the yesteryear grandeur of the building rooftops:

"En realidad hay dos granvías, la que ve quien contempla los edificios y la que consume quien va de escaparates. Hagan la prueba, miren la calle con un dedo bajo los ojos. Por arriba, todo belleza y eclecticismo; por debajo, el look globalizado... muchos colorines, pero poco chicha. Trampas para turistas abigarradas de souvenirs y oficinas de cambio a comisión. Y lo peor, las cadenas—de ropa, de maquillaje, de comida rápida, ¡de calcetines!—homogeneizándolo todo. Los mismos neones, el mismo chunda-chunda, las mismas ofertas, la misma tarjeta Visa..."

The Gran Vía during the day. For a video capture of a day in the life of the bustling avenue, click here.

Chocolate con churros

La Movida also foregrounded Madrid's incredible nightlife. Night club culture in Madrid is without equal. You will see the streets in the hipper neighborhoods in the city center fill up with club-hoppers starting around midnight. Most will hit the bars until 1 or 2AM, and _then_ go to the club where they will dance and drink until the sun comes up the next morning. Indeed, the clubbing tradition in Madrid is to finish the night out with your friends at a "chocolatería" eating "chocolate con churros," a fried pastry dough that you dip in a fresh, thick and delicious chocolate drink. One of the most reputed chocolaterías is Chocolatería San Ginés, just blocks away from Plaza Mayor, where, according to a madrileño friend of mine, it is an old family tradition for many to take their kids there around Christmas time.

La Chocolatería de San Ginés, one of the best places to have chocolate con churros

Street life was so central to the movement because Madrid is a walking city. Skip the taxi and forget the metro (though it is pretty good). Wandering the streets of the city's distinctive neighborhoods is sure to make any visit there magical. One fun neighborhood to stroll through at night is Chueca, Madrid's gay pride neighborhood, which has a vibrant nightlife and also plenty of vegetarian haunts for those of you burned out on the meat-heavy Castilian fare. Two other great neighborhoods to walk around at night or go club-hoping in are La Latina and Lavapiés, colorful immigrant neighborhoods with a high concentration of quality restaurants, including lots of foreign food options.

La Movida also marked the economic revival of Spain as the country integrated into what would soon be the Europe Union and further opened up to the Western consumer culture that had swept neighboring countries. In this vein, the new image of Madrid's corporate culture are the skyscrapers that have sprouted up in the Paseo de la Castellana (north of the Paseo del Prado), specifically the Cuatro Torres Business Area and the Puerta de Europa. These towers have become iconic of Madrid and Spain's new global corporate look, just as nearby Calle de Serrano, Madrid's 'Golden Mile' and analog to NYC's Fifth Avenue, registers one of the country's favorite pastimes, shopping for brand name or creative design products at the street's many hip shops and boutiques.

Cuatro Torres Business Area and, to the left, the Puerta de Europa

And, finally, a word on food. While Madrid is certainly the place to eat pig, since pork and other meats are important to central Spain's regional cuisine, I recommend sampling the many kinds of "tortillas", or Spanish omelets, which are also a Madrid staple. The most well-known is "tortilla de patatas," potato omelet or what gets translated as "Spanish omelet." But there are dozens of variations with mushrooms, asparagus, Spanish ham or other ingredients in place of potato. It is also commonly said that the best fish in Spain can be found in Madrid. Indeed, Mercamadrid, "la Capital de los Mercados" with over a thousand years of history, is a massive fish, meat and produce market located south of the city center and is reputed to be the second largest fish market in the world in terms of quantity of merchandise sold. (The first, not surprisingly, is located in Japan.)



Slightly out of the way from the center, but definitely worth a visit, is Casa Mingo, which can be found on the Avenida de Valladolid near the Príncipe Pío station. It serves excellent Asturian cider and perhaps the best roasted chicken I have ever eaten. I make a point of going there on every visit to Madrid.

Casa Mingo has been open since 1888 and a favorite, inexpensive dining place of locals