Tortilla de Patatas or Spanish Omelette

I've ALWAYS loved this. Yum. And seriously, don't listen to anyone if they tell you not to put other stuff in, I used to fill em full of mushrooms and paprika and whatnot. I wouldn't advise offering that to a Spaniard though. Especially one far from home. I finally took photos of the process this time, so can remove the unwieldy description of how to cut potatoes!

• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 6 eggs
• Olive oil
• Salt

Peel potatoes and slice. This is the hard bit. Cut them into two halves perpendicular to their broadest surface, and then lay the flat side down and slice latitudinally into slices about 2mm thick. It doesn't really matter as long as they're all equally thick. Or thin. Slice onions long and thin.

Heat olive oil in skillet, here's the rub you need quite a lot. I'd say 3-4 tablespoons is a conservative estimate. Toss in potatoes and onions. And garlic and anything else if you're using. Cover and toss periodically so they dont burn/stick until potatoes are soft. Remove from oil and drain excess oil from skillet. You are left with a very oily skillet. Which is good. Leave it on a VERY LOW flame. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the potato-onion mixture. You need to mush the potatoes up a bit so the slices break, but they can't degenerate into mashed potatoes, because they should appear in layers in the omelette when it's done.

Pour mixture into skillet. Leave on low flame. Keep an eye on it and shake it a bit after 5 min so that you can be sure it's not sticking. Let it cook for about 15 min at least. Or at least till there's very little egg goo uncooked on top. Now is the fun bit. Take a plate, preferably non-heat-conducting, that's larger than the skillet in diameter, and cover the skillet with it.
Smoothly flip the skillet over so that the omelette is in the plate, with the goopy surface on the bottom. Replace skillet on fire and slide omelette off plate into skillet, using spatula or something to make sure everything gets back in on the side that's close to the fire. Let it cook for about 5 min and test with a fork. The texture of the inside depends on you, I HATE goopy eggs, but my mum loves em, and I've been fed all sorts of textures in Spain. When you think it's done, flip it out on a plate and cut in small squares that can be grabbed with toothpicks. VOILA!

Next day serving suggestion: Cut open a baguette and fill. The YUMMIEST sandwich EVER! a.k.a. bocadillo de tortilla de patatas.