A taste of: SPAIN – Spanish Tortilla

At Our Whole Village, we certainly love traveling. But we’re equally passionate about discovering other cultures through music, books, art, crafts and food.

During the summer, while planning our move back to the U.S. and setting our intentions for the new school year, the girls and I talked about how we want to cook at least one different recipe each month. It’s a way for us to have fun together in the kitchen while trying new foods and learning a bit about other countries. We have a long list of places we want to explore and dishes we want to taste.

However, this week we were all missing Madrid, our friends, the school, the sun . . . and our favorite Spanish tapa: the tortilla. How can such simple ingredients – eggs and potatoes – make such a delicious dish? Somehow, they do!

Tortilla de patata is a traditional comfort food in Spain and for my girls in particular, since they spent most of their lives in Madrid. Interestingly enough though, since you can find tortilla pretty much at any bar in Spain (no, not all tortillas are created equal, but we don’t discriminate and that’s a story for a different post), I had NEVER actually made one myself.

I’m sure each Spanish family has their own secret recipe, the abuelas passing on their special trick generation after generation. As an expat, however, I was never given the magical key to a perfect tortilla. But I faced my fear of disappointment head on and decided to try the recipe I had at hand from a Tapas book I was given before we moved to Spain.

The girls (7 and 5 years old) were happy to peel the potatoes (we used 6 small potatoes) and my oldest helped me slice them with a mandolin under careful supervision. I ended up sizzling the potatoes with half a large onion in a bigger frying pan before mixing the egg and making the actual tortilla in an 8-inch skillet.  

Flipping was the trickiest part, but the tortilla survived and I’m proud to report it was cooked perfectly. Golden brown outside and gooey in the middle. And so tasty.

You can download the recipe here and add it to your folder with our “Around the World in 12 Recipes” book. If you don’t have it yet sign up below to get yours. 

When you’re ready to give the recipe a try, check out this post with fun facts and other kid-friendly ways to learn about Spain. It will get the kids excited about this amazing country we were lucky to call home.

Traveling to Spain? Download our free Madrid with Kids City Guide and check out our tours and activities.