My First Try at Tortilla de Patata

Yesterday, I tried my hand at making tortilla de patatas.  I have been in Spain 8 months and I have been enjoying this food since I arrived.  I took down the recipe of my local cafe-owner/bartender and waited for a moment I felt like I had time for a project.  My first attempt was fun and it was also a major fail!

300 grams of potatoes

6 eggs

These are the ingredients the cafe owner Benedicto, told me to use.  I added a bit of chopped onion. I the chopped the potatoes fine and small.  I fried them in olive oil with the onion.  I smashed them and stirred them as they fried like I had interpreted Benedicto’s instructions.  

It was time to combine the potatoes and eggs.  I remembered for sure that Benedicto had told me to drain the excess oil I had fried the potatoes in.  I drained it and placed the potatoes in a clean frying pan.  I mixed the 6 eggs together, making sure all of the yolks were broken.  I poured them on top of the potatoes and started to fry it all on medium heat.  

I stirred the mixture a bit as it fried to keep anything from sticking and burning.  I excitedly observed it solidifying in the pan, waiting for the moment I had heard about - the flip.  The idea is to flip the pan upside down and dump the now solid tortilla onto a plate.  Then you put the tortilla back in the pan upside down to finish frying.  I feel proud of my tortilla up to and only up to this point in the process.    

I confirmed the tortilla was solid enough to survive the flip.  I psyched myself up and quickly turned the pan upside down with a plate ready to catch my food.  Egg dripped onto the plate, but the bulk of the tortilla stayed put.  I shook the plate, hopeful.  Still stuck.  I had to resort to shoveling and scraping my tortilla out with the mixing spoon.  Once I had it out I transferred my non-tortilla shaped mess into a clean pan and finished frying it up like a batch of scrambled eggs.  

I am preparing for a second attempt!