Recipe #25: potato omelette

 Disclaimer #1: this is not a Spanish tortilla, which I also adore, and is also a type of potato omelette. This potato omelette isn’t even close to the Spanish version, except for the eggs and potatoes.

Disclaimer #2: I didn’t invent this dish. This particular recipe was introduced to me by my grade 8 bestie, Karen Crawford, who said that her father invented it by accident while trying to make a potato soufflé. This story doesn’t make any sense to me now, and I question my memory of these origins. Which means that I may also have altered the recipe over the past forty (40!) years. Which means I maybe can take some credit for its current incarnation.

 However! This omelette made a huge impression on my little 13-year old self. It may be the first recipe I made an effort to learn to make by myself that came to me from outside of my family, and I spent a lot of time working on perfecting my techniques to make it taste as good as the Crawford family version. I remember making failed attempts and checking back with Karen frequently asking what I did wrong. There may have been some Karen eye rolling, but she eventually trained me to get it right.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Wash (peeling optional) and slice your potatoes and slide them into a nonstick pan with a few glug of olive oil:

The slices should be evenly distributed and single layered on the bottom of the pan on medium high heat as in the above picture. 

While your potatoes sizzle, mix the eggs with dried oregano and thyme (more oregano than thyme), and not shown but always implied, salt and pepper:

Whisk the eggs and spices and herbs until well combined and set aside.

Meanwhile flip the potatoes when golden brown on the first side:

When both sides of the potato slices are cooked, add the eggy mixture to the pan and cover the potatoes:

Let the eggs cook a bit, and lower the heat so the potatoes don’t burn. Add shredded cheese on top:

And pop the pan under the broiler to cook the eggs on top, melt the cheese, and give the omelette a healthy glow:

Meanwhile, start melting a chunk of butter in a saucepan:

Crush some corn flake type cereal (I prefer Mesa Sunrise for more flavourful crunchy flakes) in your vintage Consumers Distributing (or modern equivalent) mini mixer:

Add the crushed cereal to the saucepan of melted butter and mix well:

Add the buttery crushed cereal to the top of the omelette, which has been removed from under the broiler:

The original Crawford family potato omelette was served for lunch with homemade lemonade (which also made a big impression on my 13-year old self), but today we’ll have it for a light dinner served with a side of mayo mixed with hot sauce, a lime spritzer, and a quickie fake Greek salad:

Thank you, Crawford family, wherever you are!