¡Buenas tardes chicos y bienvenidos a España! Today we take a trip to the Iberian Peninsula to taste the flavor of Spain, soak up the sun, and dance in some of the oldest streets in the world! Don’t fill up on tapas just yet, because we have a whole world of food awaiting us!
Spain is a country made by itself. Since prehistoric times, the Spanish have been a leading force of culture, conquest, and architecture. They’ve created buildings that have stood for hundreds of years and cultures that have experienced a resurgence in the past few decades, all while influencing countries and territories across the globe. The language is the second most spoken language in the world, 20 countries are mainly populated by people of Spanish descent, and two countries have grown to boast populations larger than that of Spain itself! If you ask me, Spain has influenced the world like no other and it does not stop with their food either!
As you can recall, Spain has influenced both of our last stops and most, if not all, of the islands surrounding them. This means Spain must have some pretty good food if everyone adopted their ways, right? Definitely. Let’s start out with my personal favorite, tortilla espanola.
Tortilla espanola is essentially a Spanish omelette, except the only ingredients are eggs and potatoes. Sounds pretty plain, huh? Well let me stop you right there. This dish is so good, oh my goodness. I don’t necessarily know how to describe this one since it’s a much simpler dish than those we have tried in past weeks. Well if you look above, you can see it’s pretty just an omelette with chunks of potato in it, but it just tastes so amazing. Oh my gosh, I’m getting such a craving for this right now! Anyway, the potatoes are first diced into small pieces, or thinly sliced, then they are fried lightly in olive oil (onions are a possible addition if you want it). The potatoes are then drained and mixed with the raw eggs, which are then returned to the pan to finish off the frying. Finish up the frying, eggs are cooked, potatoes are nice and tender, everything is browned to perfection and voila! You’ve got yourself a delicious tortilla espanola.
This is the most basic, but most popular version of the dish as different variations are seen regionally throughout Spain. Popular additions to the recipe include green peppers, chorizo, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, and diced ham. Personally I have only tried the onion variation aside from the general recipe, but I don’t see why the others wouldn’t be good. I definitely think I’m going to try them out once I get back to Philadelphia actually! If you end up trying out this recipe definitely leave a comment below and tell me how it goes!
Well, this is it for this week. You better go find yourself a nice hotel or hostel because I have decided to relax here for a bit. In a couple of weeks we will get back to our week-to-week travels, but how about now we go down to the beach and soak up some beautiful Spanish rays? You all go knock your socks off, but be sure to be back here for our next taste test, okay? Enjoy Spain everyone!
-Lauhrinse
Tortilla Espanola Recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tortilla-espanola-spanish-omelet-recipe.html