Cheers! It's Friday!

Whew.  Last week was a killer and I couldn't get to the dish, Chicken P'Stilla.  Plus it was Moroccan and I wasn't really wound up about it. 

But I'm back to "French Fridays with Dorie" with Basque Potato Tortilla this week.  This French egg dish made me think of a frittata, a pretty common light dinner around our house.  We usually eat our frittata with whatever's in the veggie bin, plus a little leftover pasta if it's available, plus some cheese and fresh herbs.

This recipe originates from an area in France near Spain and the Mediterranean.  It's no real surprise, then, that it bears such a close resemblance to Italian food.  Also, the word "Tortilla" in Spain doesn't refer to what we think of in Mexican food, but rather to the same type of egg dish as a frittata.  Anyway.  On to the cooking.

This tortilla is filled with potatoes and onions.  I just used plain old Idaho russets.  Here are the veggies chopped and ready to be browned in a skillet on the stove:

I promise there are onions in there, too.

Then the eggs are added and browned over a stove for a few minutes.  That is my grandmother's cast iron skillet.  I kind of doubt she ever made a tortilla in it, but it has seen more than its share of sausage, catfish and okra.  It is also one of the few items I'd grab if I had to leave my house in a hurry.

Finally the tortilla is run in the broiler to brown the top.  It emerges puffy and beautiful.  Then I of course deflate it a little when I take it out of the pan:

Judging from other people's posts in this little challenge I need to upgrade my serving pieces.  Noted.

The verdict:  Yum!  But it was very familiar, too.  I served it with salad and a little baked ham, so it kind of seemed like the hashbrowns/eggs/ham breakfast Dorie mentioned.  But it was also just like my frittatas only with potatoes instead of veggies.  Everyone like it.  I think I probably won't make this again straight out of the book, but I'll probably add potatoes as a filling option the next time I make frittata.  And I can also now call it tortilla, evidently.

Anyway, I also felt like I had betrayed the spirit of the challenge last week by not making the chicken p'stilla.  So I also made that on Sunday:

J loved it.  Bill and I also like it very much, and the other kids ate it willingly.  My biggest problem is that I'm just not so big on thighs (chicken ones, I mean).  I'll probably make this sweet/spicy dish again, but with white meat or a mix rather than all dark meat.

And then...there are the nuts.  Lord have mercy, reason enough to buy the book.  I went to a little meeting this past week and needed to bring a munchie, so I thought I'd bring Dorie's "Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts."  These nuts were in the challenge before I joined, and they had gotten great reviews.  They are so wonderful I wanted to give them star billing!  (And I did, right at the top of this post.)

I used all pecans, from my uncle's farm and shelled by my sweet kids.  This recipe is worthy of them.  If you and I attend a function where food is required, I'll bring these.  Sweet, smoky and HOT all at once.  Absolutely habit forming.

So, I don't even know what dish is next, but I cooked a lot this week!  It has occurred to me lately that I like getting to know a cookbook with  distinctive point of view that one author gives.  Dorie has a very particular point of view, and while I don't always agree with her I like knowing where she stands.  Can't wait to see where we go next!