This week’s selection for French Fridays with Dorie is a traditional Basque recipe called a tortilla. It basically a potato frittata. It is often served as part of a tapas spread in Spain.
It was refreshing to have a simpler recipe to make after last week’s B’Stilla and my French Table Feast the week before. That said, it seemed like it took longer to make than it should have. To cook the potatoes and onion, the recipe has you warm some olive oil over medium heat. After adding the veggies, the recipe instruct one to “lower the heat”, but it doesn’t say by how much. I obviously lowered the heat too much because after the 2o minutes they were supposed to take to cook they were not even near ready. I ended up raising the heat back up to medium to get the potatoes cooked. I should have been a little more patient than I was because the potatoes still ended up a bit undercooked.
When it came time to cook the eggs I learned my lesson about lowering the heat. My eggs cooked in the correct amount of time, although I burned the bottom a bit (it was easily cut off).
I made the recipe pretty much as written. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and the optional garlic and rosemary (two of my favorite flavors!). I didn’t have piment d’Espelette so I substituted Spanish smoked paprika, which seemed appropriate.
I am having trouble coming up with a verdict for this recipe. We liked it but didn’t love it. I probably won’t make it again because there are other egg dishes and frittatas (frittati?) I like better. But so many others of you really liked this one, part of me wonders if I did something wrong.
From Scratch 
This recipe has interested me so I will have to try it and see what kind of results I get. It sure looks good!
Maureen
Well, it certainly looks pretty! I can see how the recipe overall is a bit pedestrian–something that is just okay. For me, I think upping/changing the spices and adding the saltiness of the pancetta really made the recipe better. I suppose it is also because it doesn’t quite have enough savory depth of flavor–that umami note–which is (maybe?) why adding the pancetta worked.
It looks pretty – but I agree, some add-ins would definitely help things along.
It looks so good with the ham next to it! Im glad you tried it..it’s a good one but yep I agree with you…I won’t be running to make it very soon..so many good recipes to try out there!
Made this too for FFwD (thanks for commenting on my post). While this dish wasn’t exciting it was tasty and very satisfying. I think it’s a great weeknight meal because it’s fairly quick and uses ingredients I almost always have on hand. I did like it cold the next day so I can see it as lunch too.
I don’t think you did it wrong. Like a frittata, tortilla is all about creativity. I followed Dorie’s recipe to a T and found myself daydreaming about what I could put in it next time to amp it up. I’ve always enjoyed tortilla as a vehicle for aioli, and was surprised to find I liked it just the same with tomato jam and a little salad. I’ve also found myself on the dislike end of some popular dishes ( I hated the b’stilla), and wondered the same thing- is it me?