Tortilla Espanola

I've been busy hosting dinner parties and it's been fun. I enjoy hosting friends and family; this week I've been doing it on a weekly basis. I like to cook foods that make people feel special which can some times be time consuming. But because I work full time and have a packed schedule of daily meditation, yoga, gardening, writing, blogging, cooking, cleaning house, etc. I like to cook food that is tasty, fuss free, and allows me to be an attentive host. Apologies for the less than ideal picture.

So easy and tasty, it's one of my favorite dishes to make on the fly. Supplement with a green salad with avocado, tomatoes and pomegranate, and a dense wheat bread with cheese, and you have the perfect quick dinner party meal. You probably the ingredients for all three of these dishes in your kitchen now. This meal is guaranteed to fly off the table; there were no leftovers.

I previously blogged about this dish back in 2006, using Deborah Madison's recipe. Mark Bittman was my chef this week. His recipe is more simple with fewer ingredients. I love this one too. The eggs were moist and the potato perfectly cooked through. Some of the potatoes on top were a little crunchy, like potato chips and they were yummy, really. Next time, I think I will add a dash of chili flakes for a little heat. I couldn't stop picking at it until the guests arrived.

Makes at least 4 servings

45 minutes or less

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

- 1 pound waxy red or white potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices (I didn't peel)

- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

- 1 large onion, sliced

- 1 red pepper, stemmed, peeled if desired, seeded and sliced

- 1 tsp minced garlic

- 6 eggs

- 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Preparation

1. Place about half the olive oil in a large oven proof skillet, preferably non-stick, and turn the heat to medium. Add the potato slices and season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook, turning gently from time to time, until they soften, about 20 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon.

2. Add the remaining oil to the pan, followed by the onion and red pepper, and cook, stirring occassionally, until nice and soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Return potatoes to the skillet, and turn the heat to medium low. Continue to cook, turning with spatula, for about 5 more minutes. Beat the eggs wiht parsley.

4. Turn the heat to low and pour the eggs over the potatoes, undisturbed, for about 5 minutes. Transfer from the oven and bake until the mixture is set, about 10 minutes more. Remove the pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into chunks wedges. Serve.

Bittman calls for first cooking the potatoes, and then the onions and red pepper separately. Not sure why. This takes more time than necessary but I followed his recipe exactly except that I had two skillets working simultaneously. Below I present easy modifications.

My modifications. I thought steps 1 and 2 could be combined to save time in one very large skillet. First cook potatoes and onions together, and then in the last 5 minutes add red pepper. Then continue with the garlic, and the remainder of the recipe. I felt that my potatoes were soft enough so I didn't cook the potatoes more in Step 3. Rather, I jumped right to adding the eggs. I think this will save you time. Something we can all use a little more of, no?!