I say frittata, let's call the whole thing off.

Actually the basis of my original frittata recipe was my memory of fantastic late-night tapas of tortilla espanola in many hole-in-the-wall bars in Madrid.  But everyone confuses 'tortilla' with the Mexican fried corn chip, so I started calling it frittata.

The basis of my recipe is always potatoes & onions but I do use up leftovers; roasted veggies, stray bits of goat cheese or the end of a block of parmesan, a lonely grilled sausage or the last of a roasted chicken.  I also find it is the best way to stay ahead of the CSA greens that flood us in Spring & Fall - you can cram a serious amount of kale, chard, spinach, etc., into a frittata. I do not slide it out of the pan and flip it over - I find it is easier to simply finish it under the broiler; after a 5 min cool in the pan it slides out easily.

Last weekend's recipe was leek, shallot, leftover rosemary-roasted potatoes, applewood-smoked bacon and organic, grass-fed cheddar.  There were raves.

that all sounds great!  good call on the spring greens - now if they could just get here...

Sometimes I forget that there's places in the country that think this way still.  I blame not the people, but the recycling agencies who obviously have failed to do their job.  

"Operation Seperation" started in Syracuse, NY back sometime in the 80s around the same time I was sipping milk out of a carton in my elemenarty school lunchroom.  They did a great job educating the public about what could and could not be recycled, and targeted kids in the schools early on.  We told our parents.  At first, a lot of people did think it was a hassle.  20 years later, with ongoing education and streamlining of the process, so we don't actually have to peel labels and only need one bin for paper and cans etc, the campaign has a new slogan, "Blue Bin It!"  They've kept up the efforts (which pay for themselves, incidentally) and are extremely successful.  Now, the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA, pronounced like "Okra") has problems convincing people not to take their free Blue Bins with them when they move away!  

My parents, for example, just moved to North Carolina, and were very, very happy they brought their blue bin with them when they moved.  For whatever reason, only paper is picked up curbside where they now live.  Everything else they have to take to the local transfer station.  Talk about a hassle... but you know what?  They do it.  They can't imagine not doing it.  OCRRA did its job.  

In my household, we recycle everything we can, products of early indoctrination by OCRRA.  We're lucky enough to have one housemate whose parents live in Herkimer County, which accepts a wider plastics range and styrofoam for recycling.  We keep a can in the garage for these items and when her parents come to visit, they take the items back with them.  It requires a bit more sorting than usual, but it ends up being one housemate's chore, and they get out of cleaning bathrooms.

Now, how about the rest of the country?  We keep exporting people from CNY who know how to recycle - when's the rest of the country going to put the systems in place to let them do that?

Recycling isn't a hassle, it's a privilege.  And once we stop thinking of it as a hassle, and instead as part of the daily routine, it's as easy as breathing.

In single-stream programs, the only "hard part" is deciding whether to put the item in the recycling container or trashcan. If those containers are close, it's really easy! No sweat involved! You can recycle AND make quick-and-easy Spanish-style tortillas! Wow! How's that for multi-tasking?

We have no less than 12 recycling categories:

-glass
-plastics #1 & 2 with necks
-plastic bags, wrapping
-plastics 1-6, any shape
-plastic, #7
-office paper
-glossy paper
-grey board
-food container paper
-corrugated cardboard
-newspaper and brown paper bags
-metal

These recyclables go to three different spots, with varying rules on preparation, separation, etc.  It makes my fiance' nuts, but I have recently bought a bunch of different (virgin plastic!! do you know it is freaking impossible to find recycled plastic recycling bins???  Maddening) bins, labeled them and stacked them in the garage.  It takes a lot of effort to keep up with it; granted, we would never NOT do it, and it is worth the effort, but it is not exactly my favorite task.  I'd much rather be making frittata!

As for turning apple cores/peels into vinegar... After a plethora of apple pies this Fall, I tried it twice and all I ended up with was a moldy bowl of apple cores in water. Doesn't seem to want to turn to vinegar for me.  Now, if it seems to be too much to put in the composter without overwhelming it with acid, I spread some out in the backyard woods for the deer and other critters to enjoy.

Yesterday's task was turning the pumpkin on my countertop, that was starting to show signs of mold, into: pumpkin gnocchi (with sage brown butter sauce.. yum), roasted pumpkin seeds, 4 add'l cups of fresh pumpkin puree, and skin & insides for compost fodder.  Now that's what I call multi-tasking!

Hey, Dan Howitt, again.  That sounds great!  Sanks for the receipie!

kmp, I think your dish actually is a fritatta, whereas a 'tortilla' in Spain is actually quite different. Kurt, I also think you forgot about the part where you pour the oil off the potato and onion mix before you drop them into the egg.  I was lucky enough to have a true Spanish flatmate for about a year when I lived in Egypt.  I also travelled to see her many times in London where she now lives.  I gradually pried the secret of 'tortilla' out of her.  It was always so delicious!  And different from anything else.  Unique, not a frittata at all.

She would start with more oil than I am normally comfortable using, placing potatoes (mainly) in, and rarely anything else, maybe just a bit of onion, salt and pepper, maybe a sprinkle of an herb.  If the oil is kept at a proper temperature, the potatoes don't fry, or absorb tons of oil like you might imagine.  They sort of simmer in the oil, with little bubbles.

When the potatoes are 'al dente' as you say, not fully cooked but close, you actually press the oil off the potatoes and keep it.  You can use this same oil for several more tortillas.  Press as much oil as you can out without mooshing the potatoes.

Then, imagine putting something hot into whisked eggs... you would expect a sudden scrambling.  But again, if the temperature is just right, not too hot, when you dump the potatoes into the egg mix it kinda makes the eggs look transparentish, like pudding.  But it's all smooth, just a little bubbly because its warmish hot.  The ratio is a lot of potato to less egg.  The eggy bit ends up acting as a smooth, sliceable binder between densely suspended potatoes -- yum!  Cold it should slice cleanly, even precisely.  It is so delicious I can't even say.

I have tried adding other ingredients but none succeed.  I believe it's actually the starchy chemistry of the potato that makes the tortilla work.  Anything that alters that, in relationship to the chemistry of the egg, will make it not work.  So vegetables that add water are obviously out.  Cheese wouldn't work at all.  The only thing besides the little bit of onion/shallot mentioned before that I've managed to have some success with have been olives.  Olive bits.  But again, not too many.

I hope this inspires you!  I never wrote this all out before, but I remember watching and asking about this many times and finally learning myself.  I haven't actually made a tortilla for a long time.  It might be time to make one now!

Bon appetit!

I think the cooks in those tapas bars are all cheaters.  They do make frittatas -- delicious enough!  No slam on them.  But the 'tortilla' I know, passed down among Spanish women, is a different thing, scruptididdlyumptious all by itself, and not that difficult to make.  But only embellishable within limits.  Frittatas obviously suit the bar patrons much more, similar to how bar drinks of increasingly various colors also abound.  But true homemade tortilla is simply heaven.  I've also noticed at parties it goes REALLY FAST.

Nice food! Only 76 kilocalories per 100 gram of red potatos, it's not only delicious, but also can help you lose fat, this is a good diet for fitness.

Linzzay,

I left out the pouring off the excess oil part because I use far less oil.  Neither I nor your former flatmate are wrong, we just learned from different teachers.

Peace,
kmf