Spanish Omelette

Dear Spanish Omelette,

Where have you been all my life? You are beautiful. Your ingredients are simple and obtainable. Your taste...subtle. Your heartiness? Divine. I'm not convinced that you are good for me, and yet I still ♥ you.

Much love,
Betty Debbie

As my family can attest, I am not fond of eggs. I never have been. As a child I stealthily fed my scrambled eggs to Sam (the family dog). If he wasn't available, I hid them. I'm not proud of it, but I really hated eggs. Fast forward 40 years...I have an uneasy truce with eggs. I still can't abide scrambled, fried or boiled eggs (I can tell you exactly when and where the last time I inadvertently ate a slice of boiled egg in a sandwich was - 5 years ago next month - in Paris, at a sidewalk cafe on the Champs Élysées). I can, however, manage an omelette. If I make it myself. And it's hot.

The ingredients to a Spanish Omelette surprised me. Very simple and very heavy on the potatoes. In fact the Spanish name for this dish is 'tortilla de patatas' - potato tortilla. I admit that I don't know much about Spanish cuisine - the only dish I could think of that was distinctly Spanish is paella - and that's a rice dish. Who knew potatoes were popular in Spain? Potatoes are the main ingredient in this dish. The eggs serve mostly as glue...

I found the recipe I used here: http://www.spain-recipes.com/spanish-omelette.html . It easy to follow except for the amount of potatoes. Instead of "40 oz each" I did a total of 40 oz of potatoes (that was seven smallish ones for me). I also used canola oil instead of olive oil (I didn't have enough olive oil). Flipping it wasn't that hard - although it was too hard for me. I had Dr. van der Stevejinck do it just like it said to in the instructions. You need to have more wrist strength than I currently have.

Verdict: Dr. van der Stevejinck and Alex found it a little bland...nothing a little bacon, green peppers and cheese wouldn't fix. I agree that bacon and peppers would be good, but I didn't really miss them - the garlic and onion were great. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will offer optional toppings.
Spanish Omelettes can be found in Dearest Love