Tortilla Española aka Spanish Omelet

We're starting the new year off with something exciting and different. At no point is there any stir frying in this recipe! In the near future I hope to try all sorts of exciting things. For Christmas I was gifted a sizable number of fun looking cookbooks.

Ingredients:

2	yukon gold potatoes, cut into half medallions
2	onions, diced
5	eggs
1	tomato
1/2 cup	ham, diced
	olive oil
	milk
	mozzarella cheese, shredded

Procedure:
Place potatoes and onions in a pan and add enough olive oil to cover them. Boil in oil until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain off the oil but do not discard it. You have reclaimed most of what should have been a sizable oil investment, but now it's cloudy delicious onion olive oil.

Scramble the eggs with a sploosh of milk. Add the ham. Add drained potatoes and onions. At this point the onions will have cooked down to almost nothing so the potatoes will make up the bulk of the solids. Mix this well, so that everything is well coated in egg but don't accidentally mash the potatoes.

Use a little of that reclaimed olive oil to coat the bottom of a pan. It can be either a ten-inch pan or a particularly tall eight-inch one. It is crucial that the pan have a round bottom.

Add your mixture to the pan. Slice the tomato. Arrange the tomato slices on the top of your omelet then sprinkle generously with cheese. As this cooks, agitate the pan to keep the omelet from sticking, using a rubber spatula to gently loosen any parts that become stuck to the pan. This is why the pan needed to be round; in a square bottomed pan the omelet cannot move and becomes stuck.

Once the omelet is done most of the way through (and firm on the top), flip it. This is most easily done by scooting the omelet, upright, out of the pan and onto a plate. Then invert the pan over the omelet, press it against the plate, and flip the pan and plate together quickly. Let it cook for a few minutes in order to finish cooking and brown the cheese. Invert the omelet again so that the pretty tomatoes are on top and serve.



Now, I'm no expert in tortilla science. However, my research indicates that this can be served either hot or cold, and as either a meal or an appetizer. Additionally I'm told that this dish has a robust shelf life even at room temperature.

The typical tortilla española does not include tomato or ham. You can make this just the same by omitting those ingredients. Equally, you can add other things to make it more exciting. Minced garlic and bell peppers come to mind, for example. What do you think sounds good?