tortilla espanola

I first ran into a tortilla espanola only a few months ago at Toro, and I knew right away I had to try to make it on my own! An easy, crowd-pleasing dish, this would make a perfect entertaining brunch dish. I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures, but when you're making it you'll realize how quick it is and the fact that you don't have time to do anything else!

Ingredients (makes one large enough for 4-6 brunch servings):
6 medium potatoes, sliced thinly with a mandoline to about 1/8" thickness
1 onion, diced
6 eggs
olive oil
salt

Directions:
1. Add the sliced potatoes to a large nonstick pan. Almost cover the potatoes with olive oil (yes, you will be using a lot of olive oil).

2. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

3. Meanwhile, cook onions in some olive olive in a smaller pan until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.

4. When the timers are done, strain and wipe off as much oil as possible from both the potatoes & the onions, you can reserve the olive oil for the next step rather than using even more.

5. Add 1 tbs of olive oil back into the large nonstick pan and heat over medium heat. While the oil is heating, crack and whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add in the potato & onion mixture and top with a sprinkling of salt. Mix thoroughly.

6. Add egg, potato, and onion mixture to the warmed pan. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes, until browned and crisped.

7. Place a large plate or a cutting board over the pan and flip before returning it to the pan. Continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes to crisp the other side.

8. Remove from heat, slide it out of the pan, and let it cool for about 4 minutes before slicing into portions for serving.
 

 

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june recap

I've been bad at keeping in touch, I know, but I promise I'll make it up to you. For now I'll do a speedy catch up of the past month. Earlier in the month, T & I went home to New York to celebrate my father's retirement! Erin enjoyed the lake...

 

 

...and attempted the hammock...

 

...before calling it a day and napping in the grass.

 

While the pup napped I made sugar cookies...

 

...and looked through old photos (most of which are far too embarrassing to share).

We enjoyed some celebratory champagne before heading out to our life-long favorite restaurant.

 

That Sunday we headed home, driving through more sunsets, before restarting our driving the following weekend, when we headed to Philly to celebrate T's cousin's bat mitzvah.

 

the professional dog-walker

 

When we got home later that weekend we picked up some beautiful pink peonies (I really am convinced that Trader Joe's has some of the best long-lasting reasonable day-to-day flowers)....

 

...before making some lavender-vanilla sugar cookies to bring to my final week at my job.

 

This week T & I went to a Brasstacks dinner, knowing it would be recorded for Canada's Travel+Escape channel's new series "Illegal Eater", premiering this fall. According to the IMDB page, the series follows Barenaked Ladies' front man, Steven Page "as he embarks on a journey to uncover some of the tastiest, creative, illegal food in a city's unlicensed - secret - underground venues. It's in these places where the food is always fresh, local, and the experience is completely authentic." We arrived to the dinner, which was set at Bondir, and were shocked to see we were two of only twelve seats set. It was truly a delicious & personal dinner, per usual for Brasstacks, and we were lucky enough to be seated at a table of six with Bondir's chef/owner Jason Bond. 

  

The next day was July 4th (woohoo!), so I made some delicious potato salad, which I will share the recipe for on Tuesday...

 

 

...along with a red, white & blue sangria made with white wine, club soda, a splash of cranberry juice, a splash of vodka and grand marnier, lime juice, strawberries and blueberries.

 

 

After a feast of grilled chicken, cheeseburgers, and the potato salad, we played some croquet with the antique set we picked up at Brimfield last summer.

 

 

As the sun began to set, but the heat was just as intense, we had to find some alternative cooling strategies...

 

 

...before celebrating with sparklers!

 

My last day of my job was yesterday, so now I'll have the whole summer off before heading back to school for my MSW this fall, so I promise I'll be better about checking in with you, okay? Tomorrow I'll finally post the recipe for the tortilla espanola I tempted you with a few weeks ago, and Tuesday you'll be able to see the best potato salad recipe, to use for the rest of the summer.

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simple weekend recap: edition 28

The weekend began early with the first tiny strawberry of our garden...

...followed by my first shot of a a tortilla espanola (after being inspired by Toro's), which I can write more about this week.

 

 

Friday night T, a friend & I tried out a new experience (to us) in Groton at the Gilson's Herb Lyceum (write-up tomorrow)...

...and Saturday T & I continued our Gilson family support by trying Puritan & Company (finally), and being amazed by the fact that after one quick try this new hot spot has shot to our top two favorite restaurants (more Wednesday).

 

 

Sunday (happy father's day!) T & I tried our hands at Pasta making with the ladies of Nella Pasta at a Formaggio Kitchen class...

 

 

 

 

 ...which turns out is easier than I thought and was delicious!

 

 

 

We even walked away with leftovers for lunch and two more dough balls for tomorrow night's dinner at home!

 

Sunday night dinner was a quick onion-cornflake chicken (one of our favorites) with a wild rice pilaf & a quick sautee of brussel sprouts and pancetta before the premiere of True Blood with a large cup of tea to prepare for the week ahead!

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toro

Toro is the joint creation of Ken Oringer and Chef Jamie Bissonnette (a James Beard Foundation nominee for Best Chef, Northeast 2013) that opened in 2005 and is expanding to a second location in New York City later this year. A Barcelona-style tapas restaurant  featuring locally sourced ingredients in the South End, Toro has been met with critical acclaim, and a large fan-base.

I have had Toro on my go-to list for a while now, but with no reservations being accepted, and three-hour waits being known on the weekends for dinner, I thought I would never find the time. One day after work I ran over to be there for their 5pm opening, figuring I would be seated immediately and guaranteed a spot! I was met with about 30 other people that had the exact same idea. Shocked, I added my name to the list, and sat at the bar while waiting for a table. I enjoyed a cocktail (the Briarpatch made with housemade raspberry vodka, rhubarb and lime), which was a bit sweet for me (but I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to sugary cocktails). A few minutes later we were seated at a tall table with stools, and by the time we were seated almost all of the tables had already been spoken for. I was amazed, and even more excited for the food with all of this popularity.

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We started with the tortilla espanola, an egg, potato & onion omlet with aioli. This was my favorite dish of the entire night, and I couldn't stop eating it. I may have eaten more than my fair share of this dish, and I'm not really sorry about it, because it was so worth it.
 

Next was the dish I thought would be the healthiest and lightest dish of the night, the gambas al ajillo: griddled garlic shrimp with cascabal chilies. I wasn't expecting a thick sauce nor a heap of saffron, and was looking forward to a punch of garlic, but was so sad when these didn't work out. I couldn't taste any garlic, nor any chilies, but rather just tasted an overpowering saffron.

Our next dish was the empanada de pollo y patatas: housemade chicken and potato empanada with tomatillo salsa and aioli. This dish was unmemorable for me, but my friends ranked it as one of their favorites for the meal.
 

Half of the table, myself included (obviously), shared the asado de huesos: roasted bone marrow with radish citrus salad and oxtail marmalade. This was my friend's first time experiencing bone marrow, which he concluded tastes like "butter, but on crack". Valid comparison. This dish ended up being my second favorite of the night, but mostly because of the perfect oxtail marmalade, which was just sinfully delicious.
 

 

Our second to last course was the costilla de buey: kabayaki glazed short ribs with chilled farro, cucumbers, radish and hazelnuts. While ordering, this was the one dish I was most excited for, but sadly it was not my favorite. Although the meat was perfectly prepared and tasted like soft beef stew in each bite, the glaze overpowered the cucumber, radish, and hazelnut taste, and we were left with only a pinch of a hit of salt as a finishing taste.

 

Our final dish were the famous house special maiz asado con aioli y queso cotija: grilled corn with aioli, lime, espelette pepper and aged cheese. Dining with a Texan, he did not seem fazed by the layers of heaviness propped on this special. On the other hand, the Northeasterns were quite intimidated, used to our steamed fresh corn with a sprinkling of salt and a light slather of butter, this was quite different. With the charred bits tasting of popcorn, the taste was there, but this was the heaviest vegetable I've ever eaten. Also, this was the ugliest dish to eat, as we were left wiping slathered aioli off our faces, not so cute.

 

Although full at this point, we asked to just see the desserts, but the menu is verbal and consists of cheese or CHURROS. Obviously we had to say yes to churros...I mean, really, who says no to churros? Doused in cinnamon-sugar and served with a thick chocolate sauce, this dessert was just the heavy cherry on top of the heavy dinner we had just ingested. The choice to get churros was definitely our fault, and I take responsibility for that fault.
 

As we rolled our way out of the restaurant, we compared dishes. Some preferred the empanadas, we all agreed on the tortilla espanola, and we disagreed on the corn. In the end, I was a bit let down, and so torn. I had such high expectations, and there were definitely some shining dishes (oxtail marmalade, yes please), but we all left so uncomfortable after eating such heavy dishes (with so many including aioli), that I'm not sure if I will return. If I do go back, I will definitely be ordering more off of the left side of the menu, the smaller bites, and the cold dishes, to attempt to try some lighter dishes they offer.

For more information on Toro, visit their website. A great piece of information is the fact that they serve the entire dinner menu on their lunch menu as well, so if you're in the area, stop in for your chance of a less-crowded spot for a lunch!

*: Yelp

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