Spanish Tortilla from Digital Dish
Los Cardos Malbec 2004 (Argentina)
(Note: Today, Friday, May 19, is the Wine Blog Wednesday/Is My Blog Burning? Fabulous Favorites Festival, during which food bloggers around the world post their favorite wine and food pairings. Alberto and Lenn dreamed this up and thanks much to them for the idea and the organization!)
Someone once told me that if a CD has one good song on it you play again and again, then it's worth the price. I feel the same way about cookbooks.
Last year I bought Digital Dish, a compilation of excellent posts from passionate food bloggers. I read it and enjoyed it, and I hit on one recipe that I make over and over again, trying to get better each time: the Spanish Tortilla, originally posted on toomanychefs.com.
The wine I chose for this dish is Los Cardos Malbec, from Argentina. I happened to pair this wine with a Spanish Tortilla not because of some sophisticated palate test, but because I had a bottle open on the night when I last made a Spanish Tortilla. This wine was given to me as a house-warming gift, but Malbec is a vintage I discovered through another blog, Andy's Diner, which has a whole photo album of Malbecs plus reviews-- not including Los Cardos, by the way.
So this post is dedicated to all passionate food bloggers out there. What a pleasure that the Internet is used in such a delicious and hospitable way.
The Spanish Tortilla is like a Mexican tortilla in that it is round-- but in all other ways it is its own sweet self. A tortilla in Spain is an egg and potato pie, cut into slices for tapas, and eaten at room temperature either with or without a sauce, but certainly accompanied by wine.
The quick and dirty description:
First, cook sliced, salted and peppered potatoes and onions in oil till soft but not brown; mix with eggs in a bowl and let sit for a while; then pour the mixture back in the frying pan and watch the magic begin. When one side of the pie browns, flip it upside down onto a plate (watch your fingers for hot oil!) and slide it back in, pale side down. Soon, both sides are crispy. Slide the tortilla out, let cool to room temperature, and slice. Come to my house and try one. You will be hooked by this simple but sublime dish.
A technique note not in the Digital Dish recipe: if you use a non-stick pan this will go ever so much
easier. I tried with a cast-iron pan several times because I figured it was most authentic, and I couldn't manage to make it unstick perfectly.
Malbec is a substantial red one step down from a Cabernet Sauvignon. It is juicy and meaty like a good Cab, but it doesn't punch you in the mouth like the young muscle-bound he-man Cabs. Los Cardos is one of the smoothest Malbecs I've tried, with interesting adjectives and nouns on the finish (someone said it had a briary edge... okay...). It is inexpensive and tasty. That's tops in my book any day.
The creamy potato and egg and sweetness of the onion go perfectly with the jammy fruit of Los Cardos. If you have ever had a breakfast of eggs, home fries, and toast with jam, this is the classier, subtler dinner version.
Someday I hope to eat one of these in a tapas bar in Madrid. Till then, buen provecho!
WAY TO GO!!!!!
I've got to pick up a bottle of Los Cardos ASAP!
Congratulations on the super blog,
Andy
Posted by: Andy | May 19, 2006 at 07:36 PM