The Great Tortilla Disaster

Tortilla is one of my absolute favourite Spanish foods - we're not talking about little Mexican pancake thingies here, we are discussing 2-inch thick slabs of egg, potato, and optionally, onion. When I have the time, I like to go to a café mid-morning and have a Chunk & a Hunk (chunk of tortilla, hunk of bread), washed down with café con leche (coffee with leech milk). You can buy ready-made tortillas in supermarkets, but they bear about as much resemblance to the real thing as British salad cream does to mayonnaise.

Last week, BetterArf had a brainwave: she ordered a whole tortilla from a café that she frequents near her work. This thing was a work of art. It was absolutely perfect. The outside was firm and golden, the inside moist and almost-but-not-quite runny. It lasted us for three days. This morning I dreamed of that tortilla, and decided that I should really learn how to do it. I have tried making tortillas a couple of times before (although not in Spain), and the results have been edible but not remarkable.

I went out and got half a dozen eggs, and then dug out this article by Left Banker. His 3 pounds of spuds seemed excessive to me, so I did mine with a pound and a half. Also, I like my tortillas con cebolla (with onion), and so I added that. I had been worrying a bit about the plate for flipping the tortilla - all of our dinner plates are square and I suspected this would lead to some messy leakage. But the suggestion of using a pan-lid seemed good. I dug out a lid that was a perfect fit for our small Teflon-coated frying pan.

So, all set, off we go. Everything went well until I had to turn it. I placed the pan lid atop the frying pan, inverted the pan and lid, and then tried to slide the tortilla back into the pan. At this point I realised ('Houston, tenemos un problema') - the tortilla could not slide over the rim of the pan lid. It tripped, dribbled and glollopped over, spilling a good dollop of hot gloop onto my wrist - yes it hurt, and I'll have a blister later - and some more onto the worktop and floor. What went back into the pan was a broken mess. Damn. I tried to re-shape it, and then had another go at turning it, this time using a square plate. It was almost impossible to hold the plate in place, so there was a bit more gloop escape, but thankfully no more third-degree burns.



Ah well, it looks a mess, but it tastes ok.



Although next time I might omit the onion, and maybe let the potatoes cool once they've been sauteed. And get a circular dinner plate or a much-despised tortilla-turner.