A Spanish Invasion

My kitchen has been invaded by a Spanish conquistadora. Actually, it's more of an invitation than an invasion. Margarita, or Marga, is my houseguest. She is in Ottawa with a group of Spanish teachers, here to improve their English and observe Canadian teaching methods. Lucky for me, Marga is una cocinera fantastica, a fabulous cook. And for the month of October, AK's Kitchen is Marga's cucina.

One night for supper, she made a traditional Spanish tortilla. Not to be confused with Mexican tortillas, or flat breads, the Iberian tortilla is a potato omelette. It reminds me of frittata. I'll let Marga explain.

Marga started with the potatoes. She is a surgeon with a paring knife. She peeled and sliced half a dozen medium potatoes in minutes.

Then she fried them in olive oil until they were soft. She scooped them out of the oil and transferred them into large bowl with half a dozen beaten eggs, fried carrots and diced red pepper.

She fried the lumpy batter in the hot oil. When the egg batter was cooked, she placed a plate over the pan and flipped the omelette onto the plate.

Tradition Spanish torilla, top. Torilla with pepper and carrots, bottom.  

It didn't turn out exactly as she intended because my old pan isn't as non-stick as it should be.
Still, the tortilla was delicious.

Marga's Spanish Tortilla
3 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
6 eggs, well beaten
3 carrots, diced
1 sweet pepper, diced
Salt to taste
Iberian ham/prociuto (optional)


Beat the eggs in a large bowl and set aside.
Fry the vegetables in a medium non-stick skillet.
When soft, remove the vegetables from the oil and add to the bowl with the eggs.
Gently mix the batter until all the vegetables are covered with egg. 
Pour the mixture into the skillet with hot oil. You may need to add more oil to the pan.   
Fry until the eggs are firm.
Place a plate over and flip the skillet to transfer the tortilla onto the plate.

This recipe will feed four with some leftovers. Marga uses two eggs for per person for her tortilla.
Enjoy. And as they say en español, ¡Buen provecho.