Tortilla Española (or close enough) for one

With Radhika on her way to LA for close to a week for her annual sales conference, I’m here at home alone, with quite a bit of time on my hand. Normally on weekends we’re running around NYC endlessly with no particular agenda in mind, but with her not being around, I was simply too lazy even to head downstairs and grab a bite for lunch. Now I usually don’t like cooking for one as its quite a lot of work, especially when I can just as easily get home delivery from a host of neighborhood restaurants. But since I didn’t want to step out, and given the ingredients on hand at home – onions, potatoes and eggs – I felt I should try my hand at recreating tortilla española that we had in Madrid last year, at one Juan La Loca. Don’t know what it was about that particular version of the Spanish classic, but it was the best one yet. No, make that best one ever, which it remains. My own version came close, wasn’t nearly as time consuming as I thought, and was a rather enjoyable meal for one. Simply put in the words of my friend Sunil when I sent him a pic, “Are you eating that ALL by yourself man?”. Indeed.

Ingredients:

1 small white/yellow onion

3 small potatoes

2 medium eggs

1/8 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Method:

Slice the onions and caramelize them in olive oil with some salt and sugar, on medium to low heat to prevent them from burning, until nicely browned. This should take about 15 mins. Remove and set aside. Slice the potatoes and place them in a single layer in a pan with some olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and paprika, and turn them around after 7-8 minutes, when  one side is golden brown. Fry the other side till golden brown, and set this aside with the caramelized onions.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Whisk the eggs with mustard, milk, salt, pepper and the remaining paprika. In a oiled/buttered oven safe pan, preferably cast iron, pour  a little of the egg mixture to coat the bottom. If you use the same pan in which you made the onions and potatoes, this layer will set immediately as pan will still be warm.. Spread the onions and the potatoes on this, and top with the remaining egg mixture. Sprinkle some parsley, and bake in the oven for about 15-18 mins, until the eggs have set, and further broil for another few minutes to give the top an nice golden crust. Remove from the oven and flip onto a plate. Slice and serve, by itself or with some toasted bread.

Note: You can make this without the use of an oven a well, just continue cooking in the pan on the stovetop after layering the potatoes, onions and egg mixture, until the eggs are set. Flip it over at this point to give both sides a nice golden crust. I just find that the oven sets the egg better and the broil function gives a better crust.

Tagged as: omelette, tortilla