The spring of my junior year at BU I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain. I absolutely loved it. Loved the language, the people, the city, the culture, everything. I especially loved the family I lived with – an older couple with a quaint little house and small garden in the outskirts of Madrid. There are some home stay horror stories where the families feed students (basically) spoiled food out of cans and manually turn off the hot water after 15 minute showers just so they can pocket most of the money the university pays them. This, however, was not the case with my family; they were definitely well off and hosted students simply because they enjoyed the company. And so Paloma (my señora) taught me all about her family (her daughter used to date Antonio Banderas!), Spanish history and culture, and, most importantly she taught me all about Spanish food. The arrangement BU set up was that Fridays and Saturdays students got their own dinners, but every other meal the family provided. Lunches were usually served around 3-4pm and dinners around 10-11pm. The main meal of the day was lunch, with multiple courses, whereas dinner was much lighter. This took some getting used to. Almost everything Paloma made was absolutely amazing (with the exception of some questionable bag lunches consisting of cheese and sweet pear sandwiches). Her paella, tortilla, gazpacho and deviled eggs were to die for. I was fortunate enough to see how she made her Spanish tortilla. Not too complicated to make, but truly delicious. So here is her authentic recipe for Torilla Española.
- 3 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
- 4 eggs
- ½ medium onion, diced
- salt, pepper to taste
- vegetable oil
- Add vegetable oil to pan and cook potatoes over medium heat until softened, 15-20 mins (add enough oil so that potatoes do not brown/get crispy).
- Add diced onion and continue to cook 5-10 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place potato onion mixture in separate bowl and allow to cool down (blot with paper towels to drain some of the oil).
- Beat the eggs together in a bowl and add the potato onion mixture (when it’s cool enough that it doesn’t
- cook
- the eggs)
- Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil over medium low heat and add mixture. Lift sides occassionally using spatula so that tortilla cooks evenly.
- When bottom is browned use a plate to flip the tortilla over and slide the uncooked side back into the pan. Continue to do this until both sides are browned and cooked.
- Serve with sauce – mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup and hot sauce.
- **(Paloma taught me that the right ratio is 2 eggs per person and 1 potato per person + 1 extra potato: example: 4 people = 8 eggs and 5 potatoes)
Welcome to Avocado Pesto! Long time foodie and travel enthusiast, I started this blog to share my curious culinary efforts and kitchen endeavors. Here you'll find a smorgasbord of ethnic cuisines and hopefully a few humorous tales too.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks very delicious, I did not have breakfast yet and I am dying to eat something like Spanish Torilla. My favorite, when I was in Madrid was Salmon Torilla!
I hope I’ll be able to try some of your recipes.
I love tortilla Espanola…I love Spanish food! I am Spanish, although I was born in the USA, I have lived in other countries, being Spain one of them…I also like the croquetas or croquettes……cod croquettes o croquetas de bacalao are the best!!! I am happy to read your blog and glad your experience was good during your stay in Madrid…OLE!!!!!
I love croquettes as well! The ones with jamon are my favorite. I’ve actually never tried croquetas de bacalao – but will have to try them sometime. I also absolutely loved the jamon serrano that I got to eat all the time during my stay in Madrid!
Ooooh, croquetas
I will post croquetas too! My mother’s specialty are croquetas de jamón y huevo… Oooohhhhhhh. De bacalao are delicious too!
And you deviled eggs of the señora. I love deviled eggs too!!!!
Your tortilla looks fantastic, well done!!
Please do post a croquetas recipe! I can’t wait to try making them!