FOOD | Julianne Glatz
I still don’t completely understand why my husband, Peter, threw me a big 40th birthday surprise party. It was a surprise all right – I’d only turned 32. “I just thought it’d be funny,” he told me.
Peter hadn’t told the guests my real age, either. Most arrived with joke presents: black plastic flowers, towels embroidered with “Over the Hill” and the like. I was a bit put out that everyone so easily accepted the idea of me being so old, but the party was lots of fun; not least because of Peter’s deception.
The food Peter served was another complete surprise: tapas. These days, tapas are everywhere, but back then, almost nobody in America had heard of them. Peter and I had recently read about “The little dishes of Spain” and bought a cookbook, (Tapas, by Penelope Casas) – but had not used it. At least that’s what I’d thought, but Peter had been cooking from it for a week, waiting until I was asleep, then tiptoeing down to the kitchen.
Everything was wonderful: Chorizo-filled, bacon wrapped dates; shrimp in garlic sauce, meatballs in a sherry almond sauce, and….tortillas. But not the kind of tortilla you’re probably thinking of.
Spanish tortillas have nothing in common with Mexican tortillas except their name, derived from the Latin torte, round cake. Spanish tortillas are omelettes, similar to Italian frittatas. Potato is the most common – in fact it’s called Tortilla a la Espanola. Casas says it’s “the all-time tapas classic, and I doubt there is any tapas in Spain that doesn’t serve it.”
There are dozens of other fillings, however.
Tortillas are great for breakfast or brunch; because they’re served room temperature, tortillas make wonderful picnic food, too. It’s easy to create your own different fillings, flavorings, or cheese. Use between two to three cups of filling for six eggs, avoiding things so juicy (for example, fresh tomatoes) that would make the tortilla watery.
(Note: Penelope Casas virtually introduced Americans to tapas and Spanish food. I highly recommend Tapas and her other books. )
