Potato Tortilla

The tortilla de patatas at Armando Blanco’s La Casa de las Tortillas, in the village of Cacheiras just outside Santiago de Compostela, is nationally famous. The many-roomed restaurant is hung throughout with photos of Armando shaking the hands of almost everyone famous in Spain, including the King and Queen, and from further afield, such as the Pope. What I loved about the restaurant was its ordinariness. I recall sitting eating my tortilla surrounded by a large party of parents and screaming children, with the parents smoking furiously in front of the children and all over the food. A fog of smoke, but who cares when the tortillas are so exquisitely good? Normally tortillas come thick and well cooked, but these are like a really good French omelette, soft and slightly runny in the middle, what the French call ‘baveuse’. Traditionally, Spanish omelettes are made just with eggs, potatoes, olive oil and salt, but they do sometimes add onions too, which I rather like. It’s quite hard to achieve a satisfactorily shaped omelette that also allows for a soft centre. The trick is to start with the cooked potatoes, onions and olive oil in the pan, then pour over the whisked and seasoned eggs on the heat and cook while very gently cutting through the ever-thickening egg to allow some of the still runny mixture to sink to the bottom of the pan and set. Only when the surface texture is just slightly sticky do you slide it onto a plate, invert it back into the pan, and cook for a minute or two more. Eat while still warm or at room temperature but never cold straight from the fridge.