Spanish Potato Tortilla (Tortilla de Patatas)

Chefs can be very partisan about the right and wrong way to make a particular dish. Currently there is a row going on about whether or not Spanish potato tortillas (AKA Spanish omelettes) should be made with or without onion.

I'm happy to learn what the right way is, if such a thing can be established. But I treat traditional recipes as points of departure. All of these 'traditional' recipes were invented by someone, and that someone was experimenting with what did and didn't work. I'm doing the same.

And as everbody knows, there are always many regional variations on the same dish. So the current row is more about publicity for the partisan chefs involved than anything else.

The recipe is basically two medium sized fresh eggs, one potato, cut into slices, and then chip shapes, and then the chips are diced into squares. I added a little salt to the eggs once they were beaten together.

The diced potato was fried slowly in a little sunflower oil in an omelette pan. Stir and turn the pieces occasionally. Cook for about twenty to twenty five minutes at a low heat until the pieces start to brown. Distribute the potato evenly across the pan, and add the beaten egg. Cover the pan with a glass lid, and cook at the lowest heat for about ten minutes, or until the surface becomes firm enough to flip the tortilla for another three minutes cooking on the other side.

That's it. Except that another traditional thing about tortillas in some quarters is how runny the egg is. Mine isn't runny, and that's the way I like it. Served with a drizzle of tomato ketchup, and freshly ground black pepper.