… and by twist I mean that I’m adding 2 surprise ingredients in the middle: jamón serrano y queso manchego – duh.

Okay, so tortilla de patatas is a classic, and one of those dishes that you’ll find pretty much everywhere in Spain.
Every region – and every household – does it a little differently, but it’s basically a thick omelette made with potatoes, eggs, and sometimes onions – apparently this is a huge debate in Spain… and honestly, without starting a war here:
I like it with onions.
…. and sometimes with a surprise waiting inside.

While the classic tortilla de patatas is all about simplicity, I couldn’t resist putting my spin on it – …
adding melty manchego cheese and jamón serrano filling that seriously takes it to the next level.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 eggs
• 2 potatoes
• Half an onion – optional
• Jamon serrano – or any ham
• Queso manchego – or any cheese
• Salt

* these measurements are for a 15 cm radius pan

⏱️ prep time: 5 minutes
⏱️ cooking time: 10 minutes

tortilla de patatas clásica

• Let’s start with peeling the onion and the potatoes and cutting them up. The potatoes need to be thinly cut. For the onion, I used the chopper this time to have small pieces, or you can julienne it if you don’t mind the bigger chunks.
• Beat the eggs, add some salt to your taste, but only if you are making the classic tortilla WITHOUT any ham and cheese. The stuffed one will be salty and flavourful enough just with the ham and the cheese inside.
• I use like 4-5 eggs with 2 normal potatoes – but with time, I guess you can figure out if your preference is a tortilla that is more egg-y or more potato-y. Also, as I said, my pan is small, only 15 cm in radius – so… a bigger pan requires more quantity.

• Neeext: warm up the oil in a pan, and start cooking the potatoes and the onions. Remember, you are NOT deep-frying them, don’t need to crisp them up, just cook them until they are soft.

• When the potatoes and the onions have softened, take them out of the oil to a bigger bowl, and mix them with the beaten eggs.

• Neeext: put a little oil in the pan, keep your stove on a lower heat – this is very important – and pour the eggpotatomix in the pan.

• Again, low heat people. You wanna hear the story of my very first tortilla de patatas? It was black on the outside and like a geyser inside. So, the moral lesson of this is always cook your tortilla on a LOW HEAT.
  You can cover it with a lid and just…
  Well… wait.
  And trust the process.
  … And don’t be too disappointed if your first couple of tortillas are not gonna be the best ever.
  You just kinda have to wing this one, honestly.
• Every now and then, move the edges around with a spatula, and when it’s solid enough, you can lift it and take a peek at the bottom 👀
• When the bottom has a nice color and you can see that the edges are cooked, and it’s still a bit liquidy in the middle, it’s time for the magic trick…

… the flip.

• Grab a plate that is bigger than the pan.
• Hold it strong, push the plate to the pan, and with a quick movement, turn it over while murmuring a short prayer.

…así!!! 💃

After the successful flip, just slide the tortilla back to the pan, and let the other side cook too until it’s nice and golden.

Theeen, just flip it over one more time to a plate – since this movement is already burned into your wrist – … and your tortilla de patatas is ready to be served!

________________________

Now, it’s time to spice things up a little bit in the b… I mean, in the kitchen!

tortilla de patatas rellena de jamón y queso

The first steps are exactly the same as before. So we are cutting up the potatoes and the onion. Cooking them in oil – not deep-frying them… then we are mixing them with the eggs. Let’s put a little oil in the pan, and heat it up on LOW HEAT…
Pfhew, that was a fast recap.

… and this is where things go on a different way now.

• Pour only half of the egg-potato mixture in the pan, then start layering up the filling. Put the cheese, then the ham, and theeen cover it with the rest of the mixture.

Aaand from here it’s the same, again. Check the bottom – when it’s cooked and golden, it’s ready to be flipped, good luck prayer, flip, cook the other side… and serve.

Ay, por favoooor!

And, there you have it. Your first tortilla is ready. Now tell me, do you prefer the classic or the stuffed one?
… And what about the onions?

Aaaanyways,

See you at the next one,

Noémi

______________

Ps.: If you enjoyed this post, please let me know and hit the ★Like button, don’t forget to Subscribe – leave a comment, and share the love on your socials!
… Aaand if you want to hang out with me between uploads, follow me on Instagram and Facebook for daily and more personal updates!