manámaná

One of the most popular and also easy to cook recipe from Spain is the almighty tortilla. Why almighty? Because you can put into it a lot of ingredients and tastes good, it's a great help for appetizers in a snob ambience or as main course in a casual dinner, and can last up to three days in the fridge. Also, for many spaniards it tastes better the day after cooked. In Spain there's a saying that goes "Not two persons have coffee the same way", but in the case of tortilla and gazpacho, the champion cold soup/drink here, the recipe is basically the same everywhere in the country. I chose zucchini variation because, unlike omnipresent potato tortilla, aka "spanish tortilla", it's only enjoyed at homes and very rare to find in restaurants. Hope you like it!

ingredients

3 small or 4 large eggs (keep 1 more in reserve)
1 big zucchini
1 small onion
oil (olive oil if possible)

preparation

Chop finely the onion and the zucchini into cubes more or less of your thumb's size. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Pour oil into a frying pan (21 cm diameter) until covering its surface, heat until hot. Fry the onion until getting golden, then retire while draining to remove as much oil as possible (you can so it with a colander). Now use the same frying pan and oil to fry the zucchini, adding oil if needed, until soft and toasted and repeat the same process as with the onion. Now add both of them to the bowl with the eggs and stir. Add another eggs if you think there's far too much vegetables compared to eggs. Have a look at the frying pan. First, you need it to be not too large because tortilla must be as think as possible and, second, you will need the bottom covered completely with a thin layer of oil (3 mm more or less), so change of frying pan and/or retire or add oil if needed. Pour the mixture on it at medium-low heat and cover. Check that the underside gets toasted peeking by a side with the help of a fork. When the time comes, slide slowly it to a flat plate with a diameter bigger than the frying pan. Now cover it with the frying pan and rapidly invert the tortilla back into it for cooking it by the other side. Round the edge of the tortilla with a spatula and fry uncovered until golden. Don't worry if you have to repeat this a couple of times because you retire it too early, you'll get the knack of it in a couple of tortillas! ;)

extras

People usually add to this recipe a couple of cloves of garlic finely chopped and even half a small glass of milk.

alternatives

The famous spanish tortilla is made exactly the same way but substituting the zucchini with the same amount of finely chopped potatoes. Other popular variation is with any variety of mushrooms.