Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes eating “healthy” or at the very least, in a manner that diametrically opposes the Thanksgiving through New Years gluttony. Some people eschew meat, for others its just red meat, some give up cheese or bread or fat or potatoes — I mean, you name it, there’s a diet out there that promises that swearing it off is the answer to Thin Thighs in Thirty Days or You in a White Bikini in the Bahamas in 56 Days. …You know, just to throw out a totally arbitrary example.
I am realizing increasingly that I belong to no dieting camp whatsoever. I mean, I consider things like portion size all of the time, and if I had meat in one meal, making sure the next one avoids it but I don’t think that there is a Magical Evil Food that when crossed off your menu will make pounds vanish from your hips.
But really, I didn’t mean to talk about dieting. What I meant to get to was the fact that this here: a potato, some eggs and vegetables cooked in olive oil and served in wedges with a salad is the very definition of the kind of food I like to hone in on when I’m coming off weeks of eating well beyond my recommended daily intake. Of cheese. And butter. And chocolate. *Gasp*.
Potato Tortilla with Artichokes and Red Peppers
The New Spanish Table
It’s been way too long since I made my last tortilla and if you’re looking for the classic version, start there. This version was devised by a friend of the author’s to use up leftover boiled potatoes. Although not traditional — with that long sauté in olive oil and including red peppers and artichokes — it is no less delicious.
Serves 6 to 8 as a tapa, 2 as a light main dish.
About 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed
1/2 medium-size onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 large boiled Yukon Gold potato, quartered and thinly sliced (a leftover potato works great here)
3 marinated artichoke hearts (from a can or jar), rinsed, patted dry, and thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced piquillo peppers or roasted red bell peppers
4 large, very fresh eggs, preferably organic
2 tablespoons chick stock or broth
Coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until limp but not brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the potato and cook, stirring gently, for 5 minutes. Stir in the artichokes and peppers and cook, stirring, for another 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetable mixture to a bowl and let cool completely.
2. Place the eggs, chicken stock, and a few small pinches of salt in a medium-sized bowl and beat until just scrambled. Add the potato mixture and mix until well combined. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
3. Heat 5 teaspoons of the reserved olive oil in a heavy 8-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-high heat until it is just beginning to smoke. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and flatten the potatoes with a spatula until the top is fairly even. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, moving and shaking the skillet, running a thin spatula around the edge and sliding it into the middle so that some of the egg runs under for about one minute, then let it cook undisturbed until the top is a little wet but not liquid, 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Run the thin spatula under the tortilla to make sure that no part of the bottom is stuck to the skillet. Top the skillet with a rimless plate slightly larger than the skillet and, using oven mitts, quickly invert the tortilla onto the plate. If the skillet looks dry, add a little more olive oil. Carefully slide the tortilla back into the skillet, uncooked side down. Shake the skillet to straighten the tortilla and push the edges in with the spatula. Reduce the heat to very low and cook the tortilla until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 3 to 4 minutes. Invert the tortilla again, as before, to cook on the first side for another minute.
5. Invert the tortilla onto a serving plate and pat the top with a paper towel to get rid of excess oil. Let it cool a little, then cut the tortilla into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature. To serve as a tapa, cut the tortilla into squares and serve with toothpicks.
Funny enough, I have never heard of this ‘spanish tortilla’ until I got a recipe book for Christmas. I just made it a couple of days ago with spinach and potatoes, didn’t last very long. My BF munched on the other half throughout the evening. :)
Yum.
Oh. My. Am swooning.
I, too, love artichokes…and that paired with potatoes and red pepper looks like heaven on a plate!
Sounds like you have a pretty healthy way of eating! And this looks fantastic.
:) LOOKS YUMMY ! GREAT RECIPE
Artichokes are my favourite food in the world. It all stems from my parents love of them – my brother and I have pretty much been eating them since birth. Anything with artichokes is A-OK in my book (something my husband is slowly coming to realise).
I may have to save this until the husband goes away in the spring. He is not an egg fan, unfortunately. But it gives me something to look forward to!
Oh my gosh, spotted your name on jello’s blog and came for a peek. I will be back, oh yes, i shall, when I have more time to figure out how to print off those scrumptious recipe [if I’m allowed] they all look sooooo good.
I’ll be back.
yum. i have a weakness for artichokes too.
In the Bahamas the first week of March, eh? Wretched woman. :D
Making this!
Thank you for posting something w/ out butter, chocolate, heavy cream or liquor!
Stacey Snacks
This looks interesting; I love the combination. I’ve never heard of this before. Isn’t this like a frittata that’s flipped? Do they suggest any condiments for it?
It is very similar — and it is not finished in the oven. Tortillas are often served with a squiggle of aioli, something I need to get to soon on this site, as it is wonderful. Here are some good recipes for it.
I love finding new egg recipes, and I’m planning on making this for dinner tomorrow. Thanks for all the ideas!
AAAh a vacation in the Bahamas. If only – 2 in college (well 1 now, 1 to follow HOPEFULLY very very soon – $100,000K a year in education – SOMETHING IS WRONG IN THIS WORLD IF YOU ASK ME!)
i seriously want your time to cook and play in the kitchen. I am relatively new to your site and i am in love with it. I have passed it onto several friends who are hooked. I have made a few things and they’ve turned out wonderful.. thank you for the time and effort you put into your blog!!!
Love love love this cookbook. And tortillas! And of course they’re healthy. Aren’t they? Oh who cares, they’re delicious!
Thank you for posting this! I am also a fan of just good ol’ moderation and not trying to make any food group “bad”.
this looks great, although i’m not a fan of the red pepper. otherwise i’ve been wanting to make a potato eggy thing for awhile.
Oh, Deb! This is sooo going on our menu for this week. We are so tired of the heavy meals and this will be perfect for a lighter supper. Yum, paired with a salad… delish! And thanks for the ailoi link too (in comment 13 for those of you that want to see that too).
The link didn’t hook me up, but did give me a choice to use french, portugese or spanish to not get an answer! Oh well! I have an aioli that’s pretty good, I’ll use it. Thanks, Deb.
Please vote for Deb in the 2009 Bloggies. She’s been nominated before and I want her to WIN!!! Go to http://2009.bloggies.com/ to vote. Thanks!!!
Hear, hear on the non-diet diet! Why not eat delicious food while being conscious to vary on the meat intake, and not eat pumpkin pie every day. Simple enough but probably won’t sell a book deal, so not nearly enough people adhere to it. Oh yes, and exercise, though I hear NYC dwellers walk an average of 4-5 miles per day. But I digress, terrific dish!
Hi! i’ve been reading your blog for a long time, I love it!! but never left a comment… this time i feel i have to, ’cause I’m a spaniard, so i’d like to put my two cents in. I think this one looks yummy, but you must use a lot more oil to fry the onions/potatoes/etc mixture, you almost have to cover them with olive oil. You want the potatoes to be very very soft and tender, even that times when the potatoes start to look a little bit mushy you get the best tortillas, tender and moist. I’m going to try this one, mmmmm….. i’m drooling so much that i’m getting the floor wet, heh, ¡que aproveche!
This looks great! We made something similar for breakfast this morning – shredded potatoes (nice & crisp on the bottom of the pan), sauteed diced onions, some of the smoked ham leftover from the Hoppin’ John ingredients, eggs, and muenster cheese. It was delicious. I love these kinds of egg dishes.
Yes, it’s back to “sensible” eating tomorrow.
Thanks, Deb!
That looks good, but how on earth does it constitute a tortilla? It appears to be little more than a fritatta…. I keep looking over the ingredients list for an actual flour *tortilla* and feeling a bit put-off by that! It’s like calling white black and black white– extremely confusing! There’s not even any flour in the egg mixture.
Looks yummy. What worked for me was eating more fruits and veggies. I was so full of produce that I didn’t have room for some of the meat and processed foods that are more fattening. 4 months of eating this way and 20 lbs were gone. Healthfully prepared produce, legumes and whole grains=magic weight loss foods.
Jill — This refers to a Spanish tortilla, not a South American one. In Spain, a tortilla is a potato and egg omelet, which I have a variation of above. Tortilla, I believe, literally translates as “small torte”.
Lorena — Forgot to add that the cookbook author came up with this one as a use for leftover potatoes (will edit that in now). The one I link to in the recipe notes is a traditional tortilla with the long sauté in a lot of olive oil. This is more of a hack, a good use for leftovers.
Hi Deb, I couldn’t agree with you more. Just healthy eating with portion control is a good thing. This totilla looks wonderful and I will make it today. During the holidays my main food stable became chocolate so now that I’ve put it away I will have room in my daily diet to try great and new things. Wishing you the best in the New Year.
to jill c—google “Spanish Tortilla”
oops.. sorry. I was a little late on that comment.
OMG, incredible — in the sense that I actually have all of these things in my pantry! I’m so on this, right now.
Deb!
I’ma long-time reader, first-time commenter. More importantly, I adore(!) your blog. Really. Really. I’m 15 and really considering a career in the food industry. You provide endless ispiration! Could I be your apprentice? :)
I think it would be great with mint chutney.
This looks like the perfect way to ring in the New Year.
And, amen to not believing in diet trends! Life is too short, and food is too tasty to rule out specific ingredients.
Your photos are beautiful.
Great bit of dietary pragmatism, I hope some low-carb purists view this post as food for thought.
This sounds and looks so amazing!
That looks great! My boyfriend loves artichoke anything!
Mmm. I love spanish tortillas. My mom used to make these all the time when we were growing up, throwing in all kinds of veggies along with the potatoes. This version looks delicious with artichoke hearts!
Ahh, now I see, thanks for the clarification! I was wondering about that…I kept trying to imagine how to cook eggs with a tortilla on top of it or something like that! ^.^
I just made this today and it was delicious! I was a little scared of the whole flipping thing, but it went over smoothly with a little help from my husband. Paired with a salad it made a great little meal. Thanks Deb, I love your blog :)
So funny — my host mom when I studied abroad in Spain would swear off tortilla in the summer for her diet! I always dug in, cutting down on the churros y chocolate instead! Thanks for the great recipe!
jill c – for eggs and tortillas, look up Deb’s huevos rancheros recipe!
This looks awesome! Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t care for artichokes…but I’m sure you could substitute just about any vegetable right?
Thanks! I’ve been looking for a good spanish tortilla recipe- some I’ve made have been a bit bland, but this one looks divine!
You could hold your own in Spain! Looks great.
Thanks, I think i will be making these later this week. I have a few purple potatoes in the fridge i want to use up.
i think portion size is totally key. i mean, I am entirely tired of looking at sweets and cakes and cookies, etc, but i still have to have my daily nibble of dark chocolate and just a little scoop of vanilla ice cream.
This looks like a perfect dinner this time of year.
This looks delicious! Like you said, what constitutes “healthy” depends on the person. I’m all for potatoes but 4 eggs in a recipe are too many for me so I’d probably make this when I want to be more forgiving. But I’ll definitely add this to my recipe list.
After 2 weeks of nonstop eating everything but vegetables, your tortilla looks like something I could enjoy. The holidays just reek havoc on the digestive system!!
MUST TRY THIS! Wow, does that tortilla look good or what? Yum!
Wow! Artichokes have been my favorite food since I was little and living in California. This recipe looks superb to me and I will be trying it this week. I’m so excited!!
Came across your blog a few months ago and love it.. My kids (11 and 8) wanted to make cookies this evening and my son, the 8 year old, said, “I’ll get the recipe from Smitten Mom!” As I can’t look at another cookie after the holidays, I have left them to the baking (and clean up) and watching them fight over who does what and who tastes the batter first is cracking me up! I am sure they are going to taste fabulous..
Wow, for ONCE IN MY LIFE I actually have all the ingredients and can make this at home tonight! Hurrah!
Oh wait, no artichokes. Grrrrrrrrr. Foiled again. Soon, though, soon!
Hi Deb,
I’ve been cooking off your blog for about a week now, both current posts and archives, and so far… wow. This recipe was no exception. Like other posters said, all the ingredients were already on hand. The only issue I had was flipping the tortilla – I had to have my husband do it for me because the skillet was so heavy. Anyway – we ate the whole thing, the two of us. No leftovers! Delicious.
Your tortilla looks really delicious iwht the artichokes and peppers!
This is making my mouth water….as do most everything you post about. I thoroughly enjoy your site. I think you should have won the Homies award at AT and I made a post to that regard on my own site today if you are interested you can stop by and check it out.
my best,
Rochelle
Wow! This looks great! When I am curbing the gluttony a bit, I like to avoid wheat, just a little. This is a great wheat-less tortilla! Love it! Can’t wait to read about the prior tortilla recipes. I just found your blog by linking off of a blog called “Our Home Works.” So glad I found this!
Best!
Molly Chester
Private Chef
Santa Monica, CA
Deb, my Uruguayan fiance was explaining the tortilla to me just the other day when I served a potato frittata for lunch. It’s a perfect way to be innovative with ingredients — I even included some leftover black-eyed peas from our New Year’s celebration.
Hi, I found your site after watching Martha Stewart’s blogging show. This tortilla recipe sounds and looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it out soon.
Hey there! I made this a couple of days ago. I actually thought it was even better as leftovers. The potatoes and onions really give it a delicious flavor. I served a big slice on the same plate as a hearty little green salad (with some goat cheese crumbles) and my favorite vinaigrette. It was delicious, especially when some of the vinaigrette seeped over to the tortilla.
Thanks, Deb!
I made this last night, with just a few changes to match what I had at home, and it was just plain delicious! And I was so bummed about being on a diet and not being able to order pizze –Thanks so much for giving me yummy stuff I CAN have on a diet!
Amazing! That looks so wonderful. I will be trying this soon. Thanks for sharing all this wonderful yummy goodness.
I have the same cookbook and love it! Try the tortilla with some alioli on top…pure heaven!
Just made this. So tasty and great leftovers! Got a photo. Would love to send.
I love tortilla, but have never tried to ‘dress it up’! What a great recipe… all flavors that I love. Thanks!
Hey, Deb, I know a tortilla is a tortilla and not a frittata, but I plan to make this to eat for breakfast at my desk, since I never stop to eat again until the afternoon, and I’d like a bit less oil to start my day. So, do you think this tortilla recipe would work if I finished it in the oven? If I get brave and try it this weekend I’ll post on the results…
I take it back, now that I’ve read a little more. I look forward to getting my mitts around a wedge of this stuff before the weekend’s out.
This has become one of my regular recipes – really simple and good with just lettuce and a lemony vinaigrette. I haven’t had too much luck with the flip so it never comes out very pretty, ah well.
Really creative and tasty ! but i steal have a question, wich potatoes i have to take for that ?
hee – “read meat”
Looks delicious, and fits in perfectly as a light main dish for our dinner tonight. AND my Spanish in-laws are going to be proud I’ve finally tried my first tortilla. Thanks!
Another serving suggestion…in Spain (the south, anyway), they will often make sandwiches (bocadillos) out of the leftover tortilla de patatas, stacking thin slices on a split baguette and adding manchego cheese and sometimes ketchup. It may sound weird, but it’s delicious and packs well for a bag lunch. Yum!
would vegetable broth be alright instead of chicken broth? I love this recipe but I’m a vegetarian. Thanks!
No problem at all.
“Some people eschew meat, for others its just read meat,…”
I’m sure you meant red meat. Minor typo.
Just discovered this site last week. Such a treasure of fantastic recipes, and entertaining to read.
Thanks Bill.
I wish your events in Chicago were not on Yom Kippur. I would have even driven to Naperville…
This is the rare Smitten recipe that we didnt love. I think the artichoke gets a bit lost and we really love artichokes.