Dinner Tonight: Bocadillo de Tortilla Recipe

By
Nick Kindelsperger
Nick Kindelsperger is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Nick Kindelsperger is a food critic at the Chicago Tribune.  His food writing appears in The Washington Post, Newsweek, Epicurious, Baltimore Sun, Serious Eats, Grub Street, New York Magazine, and Tasting Table, among others.
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Updated August 30, 2018
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This is one of those dishes that initially didn't make much sense to me. When friends returned from a week in Spain, they mentioned buying bocadillas de tortilla all the time. Essentially, it's just a Spanish tortilla stuck between two slices of bread. I thought they were crazy. How could this starch-fest possibly work?

Then I went back to my favorite Spanish tortilla recipe, and noticed that a few readers recommended doing the same thing. "It is heaven served warm on some crusty Italian bread." You know what? Everyone was right. This is one of the better sandwiches I've had in ages.

A recipe was hard to come by, so I had to rely on descriptions of the dish, then kind of create my own, which wasn't that difficult. You know, get some good crusty sandwich bread and make a great Spanish tortilla. I already had a recipe for the filling from Saveur, and while I attempted to look for another one that might have been better suited for the sandwich, I decided to use the same one.

Recipe Details

Dinner Tonight: Bocadillo de Tortilla Recipe

Active 30 mins
Total 45 mins
Serves 4 servings
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

  • 6 medium russet potatoes, peeled, quartered and thinly sliced

  • 1 medium onion, halved, and thinly sliced

  • 6 large eggs

  • Salt and pepper

  • 1 large Italian roll

Directions

  1. Pour the oil into a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Carefully add potatoes and onion. Cook, stirring and folding the mixture over every other minutes, until the potatoes and onions are soft but not brown. This should take about 20 minutes, and reduce heat if you notice any color. When done, transfer the mixture to a colander set over a bowl. Drain for minute. Clean out the skillet.

  2. Crack the eggs into a large bowl. Add a big pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper. Whisk until combined. Add the potato and onion mixture to the eggs. Stir until combined. Season again with a little more salt and pepper.

  3. Transfer one tablespoon of the reserved oil to the large skillet set over medium heat. Pour in the egg and potato mixture, and even out the mixture with a spatula. Cook until the tortilla is browned on the bottom, about three minutes. Shake the pan occasionally to keep it from sticking. Set an inverted plate on top. Hold onto the plate with your left hand, and flip the skillet over. Take off the skillet and set it back on the burner over medium heat. The tortilla on the plate should have the cooked side on top. Add another teaspoon of the reserved oil to the skillet and slide in the tortilla so the uncooked side is on the bottom. Cook until browned on the bottom, another three minutes.

  4. Remove the tortilla and place on a cutting board. Let cool for 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, slice the bread in half lengthwise. Then slice into four equal portions.

  5. Slice the tortilla into sections that will easily fit on the slices of bread. There will probably be some leftover tortilla. Place a piece of tortilla between two slices of bread. Serve.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
548Calories
19gFat
74gCarbs
19gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories548
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 19g25%
Saturated Fat 4g21%
Cholesterol 279mg93%
Sodium 639mg28%
Total Carbohydrate 74g27%
Dietary Fiber 7g26%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 19g
Vitamin C 22mg111%
Calcium 128mg10%
Iron 5mg28%
Potassium 1535mg33%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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