Purple Potato Spanish Tortilla

I was so excited a little while ago when I discovered two little packages of purple potatoes at my grocery store!  I love purple potatoes, but have not seen them for years, and I've never seen them here before!  I brought them home and tried them right away in a roasted potato dish.... but they were mealy, mushy, and tasted kinda gross.  I couldn't even eat them. 

Sadly, I kinda forgot about the rest of them until I wanted to clean up the area of the kitchen they were occupying.  While searching for purple potato recipes before, I remembered seeing a few recipes for Purple Spanish Tortilla, so that is what I did a few days ago.  I wondered if maybe these little guys just weren't meant to be roasted, or maybe I had overcooked them the first time.  (Quite possible). 

When making a Spanish tortilla, one cooks the potatoes first on the stove-top, in olive oil, before adding the eggs.  I figured I could cook them up and taste them, and if they were mealy or mushy or gross at all, I'd just toss them and cut my losses.  So I started on the tortilla and pan-fried the taters in some olive oil, and they tasted good!  Not mushy or gross!  I was so excited.  I decided to make a half-size tortilla in the small non-stick skillet I used to cook eggs.  It was perfect, and so easy to flip because it wasn't a big huge skillet.  But, my husband and I enjoyed this little tortilla so much that I had to go make another one after it was gone.  :) 

Note:  It's hard to tell you how many potatoes to use, since mine were tiny, and this is a half-recipe.  You can use more or less than what I indicate, especially since potatoes come in many different sizes.  I peel my potatoes for regular Spanish tortilla, but left the peels on these purple ones. 

Purple Potato Spanish Tortilla
adapted from my Mom's recipe, here

3-6 small purple potatoes, sliced (scrub skins well)

1 small onion, thinly sliced
Olive oil
3 eggs
Salt and pepper

1. In a small, non-stick skillet, cook potatoes and onion in olive oil (1-2 Tablespoons) until soft but not mushy.

2. Beat 3 eggs in a separate bowl. Add salt and pepper.  Add cooked potato mixture to eggs.

3. Add olive oil to non- stick skillet -just enough to cover the bottom. Swirl hot oil to cover sides of pan as well. Heat until oil is very hot. Add potato mixture, cover, turn down heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Check to see if half cooked. Turn by placing a large dinner plate over top and turning (do this over sink since some hot grease will drip out).

4. Slide tortilla back into pan, cooked-side up. Cook until set. Serve hot or cold or room temperature.

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