French Fridays with Friday: Basque Potato Tortilla
Another week of more snow. This week, two storms were forecast: a “smaller” storm bringing 6 to 8 inches on Tuesday to be followed by a whopper storm on Wednesday bringing another foot. This was on top of 61.5 inches that have already fallen. Fortunately, the smaller storm brought the bulk of what we got this time, about 8 inches. The Wednesday storm was relatively minor, though very wet.
I ended up working from home both days. I live close enough to the office to go in, but the rest of my team planned to work from home, so I stayed put. While I prefer working face-to-face with people, with today’s technology (conference calls, Live Meetings, instant messaging, and email), it’s amazing how productive we can be remotely.
When I work from home, I always think I’ll be able to do my work and also get some other things done, like doing a few loads of laundry or baking a loaf of bread. It never happens. I get my work done, and because I’m already home, it is sometimes harder to tear myself away.
The potato tortilla was perfect hearty fare for a snowy day. Being at home all day, I thought I’d get a head start on dinner. Well, it didn’t happen. But no worries. This was a fine weeknight recipe.
I love this kind of recipe. I love eggs, and eggs for dinner is a treat. The tortilla is a Spanish (or Basque) frittata: baked scrambled eggs with veggies, in this case, potatoes and onions. I just made the basic recipe, with no variations or embellishments. I thought I’d go rustic, so I didn’t bother to peel the potatoes. It was DELICIOUS. I’ll definitely try this with some of the other variations.
I had a last minute scare when I flipped the tortilla out of the skillet, and not only did the very middle stick to the pan, but it was a very underdone in the center. It was “just us” for dinner, so there was no one to impress. I just pieced it back together, and it looked fine. I was going to take a picture of the crater in the tortilla, but Howard, my ever-supportive husband, said not to, just to take the picture with the center filled back in. What do you think?
I served this warm with a salad and roasted-pepper and almond biscuits. It was great comfort food in the midst of the snowiest winter I can ever remember.
I’m sure the other bloggers from French Fridays with Dorie have creative twists on this recipe! Check out their links at French Fridays with Dorie. We don’t post the recipes for this cooking group, but if you’re tempted, buy the book, Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table and consider joining the cooking fun.
Posted on 4 February 2011, in French Fridays with Dorie and tagged eggs, French Fridays with Dorie, potatoes. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Looks like it still turned out great! It’s definitely a great “stay in” kind of dish.
Looks warm and filling. That’s all we need with this weather! Thanks for the recipe!
looks delicious Betsy, kind of frittata-y
Like you I just skipped the peeling potatoes part. I also skipped the flip part! When I eat this usually (and I do it a LOT), and don’t have to worry about photography, I just cut and eat it right out of the pan. I have a feeling all of us will be making this one a lot. Mine will have roasted red peppers IN it! Yum.
It still looks delicious. It’s great (well, and not so great if you end up working more than you intended) that you can work from home when the weather is nasty.
Would it be wrong to tell you that here in Vancouver, I just saw my first crocuses today?
The flip did me in a bit too. Aren’t work from home days nice – but I agree, you never seem to get those extra house chores in… And is winter over yet?
I used a snowy day to make mine, too…nice comfort food. I think I’m using a non stick pan next time! Nice job, Betsy!
I am not in your cooking group, Betsy, but I’ve made several of these after visiting Spain a couple of times. They serve it room temperature, and I like adding roasted red peppers to it for some color. Last time I made it, I actually went out & bought a special non-stick pan that I could put in the overn. It worked out much better! I love this recipe!!!
Hi Wendy, I’ll try it with roasted red pepper. That sounds good. My pan was supposedly non-stick AND cast iron, but it obviously doesn’t work for flipping it out at the end. I use the same pan for frittatas, but I just cut that in the pan. You’re giving me a good excuse for me to buy more cookware!
Looks great…can’t tell there was ever a crater. Glad you enjoyed it…even with the sticking issue.