Cook: Tortilla Espanola with Sofrito

Lucky for me, J is a master of making tortilla espanola. This is a very typical Spanish dish that is essentially an egg omelette with fried potatoes.  You can find at most Tapas restaurants in the US, and pretty much everywhere in Spain (at least where we've travelled which includes together and separately - Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, etc).   One of the tastiest snacks ever is a sandwich made of french bread and tortilla espanola with some jamon serrano. We had this pretty much every day we were in Spain and never got sick of it.

If you're planning on having a spanish themed dinner, please do try this recipe. It is so delicious!

In order to make the Tortilla Espanola, you will need:

• 1 large frying pan for frying potatoes and onions; 1 medium frying pan for cooking the tortilla
• potato peeler
• 2 mixing bowls - 1 large and 1 small 
• 6-7 medium potatoes, peeled
• 1 whole onion chopped
• 5-6 large eggs
• 2-3 cups of olive oil for pan frying
• salt to taste. 

Rather than type out the instructions, here is a link to the step by step instructions with pictures that J uses:  http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/ss/tortilla.htm

The tortilla is fantastic alone or with aioli. We like to serve it with Sofrito. Sofrito is a basis of many spanish foods (including paella - recipe will be shared tomorrow!) Ingredients include tomatoes, onions, garlic, green peppers and olive oil. It makes a delicious accompaniment to tortilla

Sofrito
Ingredients:

• 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-29oz)
• 1 long green pepper (not hot)
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 clove garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic
2. Chop the pepper into small pieces (1/4'' or smaller)
3. Heat a large saute pan over medium pan
4. Drizzle with olive oil.  Add onions and saute until transparent (reduce heat if necessary so onion won't burn). Add the green pepper and cook for 5 minutes, adding olive oil if necessary. Stir constantly so the vegetable don't burn.
5. Add the minced garlic, saute for another minute. 
6. Pour the crushed tomatoes and paprika into the pan and mix well. 
7. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.