What came first, the chicken or the egg?

High Ridge Meadows Farm, East Randolph, Vermont

I love my chickens and roos – Adeleida, Henrietta, Harriet, Trudy the Easter Egger, Constance, Minerva, Goldilocks and our two handsome roosters, Cornelius and Cocky-Locky. This time of year the hens gives us eggs a bit sporadically. It’s just too cold and dark, although I have put in a heat lamp on the coldest sub-zero nights. Still, they are laying plenty of eggs for just our own use, so my thoughts go to egg dishes that go beyond breakfast.

One of our long time favorites is a simple dish I learned to make years ago in Spain in the kitchen of a wonderful woman by the name of Generosa (translates as you would guess). Generosa and her daughter had kindly, and yes, generously, rescued my friend and travel mate who had been overcome by the scorching summer heat in southern Spain. These two amazing women put us in a taxi and brought us to their family doctor, and then back to their home to recuperate from the heatstroke( I was fine!) We spent 3 lovely days there. We had never met before!

The morning of our departure, Generosa whipped up a delicious tortilla, a very typical and ubiquitous Spanish dish, and sent us off to continue our journey. This is her recipe as we watched her make it that day. I have been making it for years and it is still my favorite traditional “tortilla española”

Generosa’s Tortilla Española, as I remember it.

A tortilla española is also know as a Spanish omelette, but this omelette is not just for breakfast. The Spaniards cut it into small cubes and eat it with toothpicks as an appetizer or a “tapa” with bread and maybe some jamón (cured ham), or just a hunk in a piece of bread as a quick and delicious lunch. It can be served hot or room temperature.

2 cups olive oil

5 medium potatoes (peeled, sliced)

1/2 onion (finely chopped)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

5eggs, beaten

Salt to taste(about 1/2 teaspoon beaten with the eggs)

I like to use a 10″ stainless steel pan, or you could use a non-stick pan. Don’t use a cast iron ( too heavy to flip) unless you plan on finishing in the oven(you can!)

Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook the potato slices. You don’t want to brown the potatoes, but more simmer them in oil until tender and falling apart. Add the chopped onions and garlic and continue to cook until tender, but don’t brown the onions and garlic. Again, think simmer. Make sure to keep a good amount of oil in the pan. When everything is soft ,and the onions are translucent, the potatoes are falling apart soft, add the eggs (about 5) that you have first beaten well with a 1/2 tea. salt. Using a spatula, pull away from the side of the pan a bit to allow the wet egg to seep in behind the egg that is beginning to firm up. You can also poke a hole in the middle of the still raw egg in the pan so that it can seep under the more firm egg. When the sides are well cooked and the middle is set, but not firm, shut off the heat. Now comes the tricky part… take a plate that is a bit larger than your pan and put it over the pan. Hold tight (wear oven mitts in case some hot oil escapes) and one, two, three…FLIP! the pan over onto the plate, release the tortilla from the pan, and then slide it back into the pan to firm it up on the other side.
Enjoy!

PS- A shortcut that I often use is to microwave the potatoes first, cool a bit and then peel and slice. It makes for a quicker result and I don’t detect much of a difference in taste.