There are tons of good-sounding recipes for Tortilla Española. José Andres has a few good ones in Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America and I almost always refer to Penelope Casas' The Foods and Wines of Spain for anything Spain-related. I also recently picked up 1080 Recipes by Simone Ortega and Inés Ortega for a mega-deal off Gilt Group! Basically after doing tons of reading and remembering my friend Laura Smith's improvised Tortilla during our United Nations party in Brazil, I tackled the farmers market potatoes, onions and eggs to make my own.
I had 10 eggs and a buttload of potatoes so I just sliced up as many potatoes as would fit in my skillet. I think it was probably about 3 pounds. I used that amazing Japanese slicer to make them as thin as potato chips since José Andres has a quick tortilla recipe that starts with potato chips. The onions I sliced by hand. Filled my straight-sided skillet about 1-inch deep with a mix of vegetable and olive oil, turned it to medium, and let the potatoes and onions do their thing until the potatoes were soft. The key is to almost poach them in the oil, not fry - otherwise they will be too crispy and won't acheive the proper tortilla texture. In a separate bowl beat up all the eggs with a pinch of salt. When the potatoes and onions were ready, I let them cool for a second and then mixed them into the bowl with the eggs. Season again with salt.
Here's where all the authors were adamant: wipe out the skillet and heat it HOT. If the skillet is not hot enough, the tortilla will not develop the crust and it will stick to the pan. The skillet was smoking hot - I REPEAT HOT. Slide the egg-potato-onion mix into the skillet -- it will smoke -- and keep running a spatula around the edges to be sure those aren't sticking. When it looks like the edges are set, it's time to flip.
Put a big plate over the top of the skillet. Using two hands (or more if you have helpers!) invert the skillet really quickly so the tortilla falls onto the plate. Slide the tortilla back into the skillet so the uncooked side is now face down. Put it back on the heat, cook for a few minutes until the whole thing is set, and invert again onto a plate to cool.
The whole process takes maybe 45 minutes if you are a newbie (like me) but for an experienced Spaniard I can see this being maybe a 20 minute process. It really isn't that much harder than making an omelet except you have to do some flipping. I guess you could also do this frittata-style and put it in the oven instead of flipping, but then it would be a frittata and not a tortilla. The Spanish and the Italians would get in a row and someone would probably throw the hot whatever-it-is in someone's face and all your hard work would go to waste. So call it what it is, ok? Gracias.
