Tapas

Good evening, my friends!

Thanks to all of you who have given me feedback in one way or another about the Blog so far.  I'm pretty happy with the response.  I think we've got a good thing going here, and I think between my brother's curry experiments, a few Greek specialties from another good friend, and my own contributions, we'll have plenty of wonderful epicurean interludes to keep smiles on all our faces.  Stay tuned for more on all of that.

Now to the topic of the evening:

My wife and I just finished a wonderful two-week trip to Key West, Florida.  I was down there for work, and she came along to bask in the sun and experience a great piece of island living.  From breathtaking sunsets to local fare, we pretty much hit all the high points.  For such a small place, they certainly know how to dish up the four-star cuisine.  You can get a little of everything there: wonderful local Cuban food, a plethora of delightful Gulf seafood (highly recommended!), and the subject of tonight's ramblings: Tapas.

I'm fairly new to this whole experience, but on the advice of my co-workers I took my wife to a small, cozy place called Santiago's Bodega.  Talk about inspiring!  In my opinion, this is a unique and very good way to dine.  The food is all bite-sized and comes arranged on small plates.  Everything is cooked/prepared to order, and brought directly to you.  Combine that with a solid wine list and you've got a date night that anyone would be proud of.

Now, in my exploration of the subject I've certainly found many common themes to classic Spanish Tapas, but the beauty of this culinary style is that one can prepare literally anything they desire and serve it in Tapas fashion.  I did, however, recently try something very simple in this vein and liked it very much, so I wanted to share it with all of you: the Spanish Tortilla.

I know what many of you may be thinking: how exactly does a burrito wrapper a) qualify as Tapas; and b) sound appetizing at all by itself?  Well, friends, this is part of the learning game we're all playing here.  This Tortilla is at its heart sauteed potatoes with aromatics (like onion, for example), and then folded together with beaten eggs and cooked much like a frittata.  In fact, this could very easily be called a frittata but for its classic Spanish origins.  Of course, with this baseline recipe in mind, one could very easily branch out and create any permutation of flavors.  I'll include one here that's very simple, and that easily qualifies as part of a Tapas dinner, or even a quick bite of breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 pound peeled, thinly sliced potatoes.
6 eggs, beaten
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 cup of mixed bell peppers, diced small (red, yellow, green, etc.; make it fun)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Heat about 1/2 cup of the olive oil in a large (10-12" should do) non-stick saute pan over medium high heat.  Allow the oil to get hot enough that a piece of the potato sizzles when dipped, but not so hot that the oil smokes or makes the potato spit at you.  While the oil is heating up, toss the sliced spuds and onions together in a large bowl with salt and pepper to taste.  I prefer Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Once the oil is at temperature, carefully dump the potato and onion mixture into the saute pan and, using a wooden spoon, spread the mixture out and press into the bottom of the pan.  Cook, sliding frequently to prevent sticking, for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost all the way cooked.  You'll notice the onions carmelizing, which is fine as long as you keep them moving.  It's not important to try and form a crust on the bottom at this point, so just keep everything moving and happy.

As the potato/onion mix is cooking, you can fix up the "extras."  In this case, our peppers.  You could mince garlic, chiles, or other herbs as well, but I wanted to keep it simple this time.  In a separate saute pan, heat 1-2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil over medium heat and cook the peppers until soft and translucent.  This can be done at any point, but if you're into multitasking, this is a good spot.  Once the peppers are done, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.  Then, before the potatoes finish, add them to the eggs and whisk to incorporate.

Once the potato/onion mix is at this point, remove from the heat and pour into a separate bowl.  Allow the mixture to cool slightly for about 5-10 minutes.  This is important to prevent disaster with the next step.  Once the potato/onion mix is no longer volcano hot, add the beaten eggs/peppers and stir to incorporate fully, making sure that any potatoes that have been stuck together are loosened.  Let this mixture sit an additional 5 minutes or so.  The reason you don't want to add the eggs to ripping hot spuds is to avoid scrambling your eggs.  That would suck.

While the mix is sitting happily and the ingredients are getting familiar with one another, reheat the saute pan to medium heat and add a touch of oil if required.  Making sure your creation doesn't stick in this next step is crucial.  Add the whole mixture now and, using a wooden spoon, press the potatoes into a uniform layer across the bottom of the pan.  As before, it's important to slide the pan frequently to make sure it's not sticking.  Use a spatula around the edges as the eggs begin to firm up to keep the edges free from sticking as well. 

Now, what I had to improvise on is that you're supposed to cook the mixture until the bottom sets and then flip it over and cook the other side.  The only problem is that the top doesn't set up like the bottom does, and if you flip it too early, you're going to have a wet mess all over your cooktop.  So, use the lid of the pan, or something similar, to cover the mix as it cooks which will let the steam from the cooking process gently firm up the top.  DON'T COOK THE TOP THIS WAY!!

Once the top is reasonably firm (and the bottom isn't burnt to a crisp), remove the lid and cover with a plate or platter (I used a metal pizza platter) and flip the tortilla so that it falls directly into the plate.  You may need to enlist some help here so you don't burn yourself.  Again, that would suck.  Then slide the mixture, cooked side up, back into the saute pan and cook the other side gently until set, about 3 minutes longer.

Now all you have to do is slide it out of the pan, onto your cutting board, and cut into pizza-style wedges and serve.  There you have it, a classic Spanish Tortilla.  Pair this with a lovely Rioja and you're in business (unless you're having it for breakfast, in which case drinking wine at 6am may be frowned upon, but who am I?).

Enjoy your first homespun Tapas experience, and if you've got other ideas or figured out how to do something better, let's have it.  I look forward to your comments.

Enjoy, my friends!

Aaron