Feeding Friendship: Spanish Tortilla

To help Veronica use up her eggs, I submit the tortilla.  A Spanish dish traditionally made with just onions, potatoes, and eggs that I've gussied up a bit.  From what I can tell, it is frequently used to sop up any residual booze late in the evening.  We had it for a sober dinner.

First, I strongly recommend that you make sure all of your potatoes and onions fit in your cast iron skillet before you start cooking.  You want your tortilla to be nice and thick, but not to overflow the pan.  I looked at quite a few recipes that call for a quarter to a third of a cup of oil to cook the potatoes and onions.  I used about 2 tablespoons and thought it was fine.  I also browned my potatoes more than is traditional, but I liked the flavor and texture.

I decided to add some additional ingredients which I layered in with the potatoes.  To keep things Spanish (and delicious), I used dry chorizo, roasted piquillo peppers, and manchego cheese.  The only hard part of this whole recipe is the flip.  As the tortilla cooks, run a spatula around the edge and as far underneath as possible.  Once it is nearly set in the middle, loosen it really really well and slide onto a plate.  Flip the pan on top and then invert to finish cooking.

Tortilla
Serves: 4-6

5 yukon gold potatoes
1 small yellow onion
4 eggs
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
4 oz. Spanish chorizo, sliced and roughly chopped
6 oz. Manchego cheese, shredded
10 oz jar piquillo peppers, diced

1. Thinly slice the potatoes and onions.  Using 2 tbsp of oil, cook over medium heat until the potatoes are soft and lightly browned.  Remove from pan.
2. Cook the chorizo until slightly crisp.  Remove from pan.
3. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil to the pan and layer 1/3 of the potatoes to cover the bottom.  Spread half of each of chorizo, cheese, and peppers over the potatoes.
4. Beat eggs with salt and pepper to taste.  Toss the remaining potatoes and onions in the egg mixture then layer half into the pan.
5. Repeat layer of chorizo/cheese/peppers and potatoes.  Pour remaining eggs over the top and jiggle to work the eggs down through the potatoes.
6. Cook over medium heat until just set in middle (7-10 minutes).  Flip tortilla and cook 2-5 minutes more.
7. Delicious hot, but leftovers are great at room temp for lunch the next day.