Spanish Potato Omlet (Tortilla de Patatas)

a classical Spanish picnic and "drink" dish (tapa)

which Maud Hallin learned to love in Spain

serves 4 for dinner, 6 to 8 for drinks

2 medium-sized Yukon gold or other firm potatoes (10 ounces)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion (about half as much as of the potato)

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt (more if desired)

Cut potato in thin slices (2 to 3 mm.). No need to peel potatoes, if fairly new. Sauté potatoes in 2 tablespoons oil until translucent. In the meantime peel and quarter onion, and slice thinly. Mix eggs in a large bowl with the salt and pour in the potatoes when they are done and cooled, keeping the oil in the frying pan. Sauté the onions in the frying pan until translucent and cool and transfer to egg
and potato mixture. Add more salt if necessary and mix well to coat the potatoes with the eggs.

You can now either as in older times fry the omelet on the stove or in the oven like a frittata. A 9-inch frying pan with straight edges is perfect. The omelet should be about an inch thick. Add a tablespoon of oil to the warm pan and push in the potato mixture. When half-done and potatoes are browned, turn upside down onto a plate, and slide back down into the frying pan, to cook the other side, or turn the broiler on in the oven to brown the top side.

Serve hot, cold or at room temperature.

You can also using a baking sheet, and reduce its size with some aluminum foil if you only have a large baking sheet. 

This is meant to be rather bland but a little bit salty, since, at a tapas bar, it will be balanced with olives, serrano ham, marinated anchovies, or the like. You also could add chopped roasted red peppers for color.