Spinach
My little family is on the Main Line of Philadelphia this week, where I grew up, visiting my parents. My father is being honored at a black tie gala for his work with Melmark, an organization that provides education, care and so much more for adults and children with developmental disabilities. Needless to say, this is a huge event, so my entire immediate family has traveled from far and wide to be here. That being said, we all are crammed into my parents’ house. We’ve got toddlers, pregnant ladies and just about everything else in here right now, and I’m the crazy person who volunteered to make breakfast. Of course I could have made something classic like French toast or bacon and eggs, but I wanted to do something special. So, I made tortilla Espanola!
Not necessarily a breakfast food, “tortilla” is Spain’s version of an omelet, traditionally made with just eggs, onions and potatoes. Spaniards eat them for lunch in “bocadillos” (sandwiches) or as a tapa around suppertime. I decided to add mushrooms and local spinach to the one I made this morning, and it was delicious! Everyone was happy, especially my father, who has spent significant time in Spain.
I purchased the spinach at a local farmers market close to my parents’ house, and it added a wonderful color and texture to the tortilla, in addition to some nutritional value. I also loved that I was using something local to make a more “exotic” dish. Tortilla is not the healthiest thing in the world since its ingredients are pretty much fried in olive oil, but oh my word is it good! The pregnant ladies were happy and even my toddler had her fair share.
A note about my recipe: my tortilla was enormous because of all the people I was feeding. It was quite challenging to flip and broke apart a little. While it didn’t affect the taste at all, I should have divided the ingredients into two and made smaller tortillas.
— Allison Willson Dudas