So, yeh, no – this is not what many of us think as tortillas. This is the classic Spanish Tortilla, made with thinly sliced potatoes fried in olive oil and then combined with egg and onion and garlic and baked.
Except…
The nice folk at Food Network have come up with a genius substitute – kettle cooked potato chips!
I know, right?
This cuts way down on prep time and effort, yet still gives you a very credible (to my mind) Tortilla Española. I did make a few minor adjustments; adding Sherry Peppers Sauce (because I always do) and fresh chopped parsley to add a bit of green; but other than that, I stayed pretty true to the original recipe.
Note: I was skeptical about adding the salt called for, considering the chips and all, but the finished tortilla turned out nicely seasoned, and not too salty at all.
INGREDIENTS
•2 tbsp + 1 tbsp olive oil
•3 cloves garlic, minced
•1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
•1/2 tsp paprika
•1/8 tsp Cayenne
•1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 tbsp red wine vinegar
•7 large eggs
•1/2 cup water
•1 tsp Kosher salt
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce (optional)
•5 cups kettle cooked potato chips
•Fresh parsley, diced
Heat your oven to 350º and warm two tablespoons of the olive oil in an oven safe ten or eleven inch skillet over medium high heat.
Add the garlic, onion, paprika, Cayenne, and seasoned salt to the hot oil and cook, stirring often, until the onions are tender and mebbe just a wee, tiny bit browned – six or seven minutes should do it.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the red wine vinegar, stirring until it has been absorbed into the onion mixture. Set aside to cool.
Whisk the eggs together with the water and Kosher salt, then pour over the potato chips in a large bowl.
Stir in the cooled onion mixture, the chopped parsley, and the Sherry Peppers Sauce and stir until nicely mixed.
Set aside to rest for five minutes or so.
Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat, then add the potato chip mixture.
Cook until the bottom and sides are light brown and set – about three minutes.
Note: you can use a small rubber spatula to lift an edge of the tortilla to check that it is nicely set.
Transfer the skillet to the hot oven and bake until fully set – 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before sliding out onto a cutting board.
The nice folk at Food Network note to slice into twelve pieces and serve the tortilla at room temperature…
Well, I got ten pieces out of mine, and that seemed to work just fine.
I served mine with a bit of medianoche mayonnaise on top, because it is one of my new favorite things, but really, this is very good all on its own.
I mean, how could it not be? Potato chips and onion and garlic baked with eggs?
What’s not to love?