Gaby Makes Tortilla de Papas

[clap]

It also just feels like a Richard Simmons,

jazzercise, like step up on the blocks,

step down on the block

kind of thing. Oh I love those classes.

Yes. I love it.

So hi, I'm Gaby

and today I'm gonna be making Tortilla de Papas.

Gonna get off this thing.

[laughing]

Just move it aside.

[upbeat music]

So this is the way I grew up cooking Tortilla de Papas.

Is the method that you flip it on a plate,

but I have actually a special way of flipping it

that is much easier.

This kind of tortilla it's cooked on the skillet.

It's not cook in the oven like some traditional

frittata's in Italia.

For this particular dish

I'm gonna be using Yukon Gold potatoes.

And these are what we call size A,

meaning the largest size.

Potatoes go from A being the largest,

and B little smaller,

C, D and then you have the micro,

tiny, tiny ones that you don't even have to peel or cut.

So enough about potatoes.

I have a bowl of water here

and the reason why it's near by is

because I don't want the potato to start oxidizing

and get all brown.

The idea is to have two pounds of potatoes.

So whatever that makes it.

I chose, again, large potatoes

so I can have a little less peeling

so you wanna have less water.

Cut it in half.

Put it back in water.

So I'm gonna use the mandoline,

to slice them.

You can actually do this,

they need to be sliced in a quarter inch thick.

I'm not gonna go to

your house with a ruler and measure them,

but the thinner the faster they're gonna cook,

and they even,

the better they're gonna cook altogether.

In order to do that I'm gonna be using a mandoline.

[speaking in foreign language]

Look at how this.

Can you see it?

Quarter inch?

So while I'm cutting them

they're going back in the water

because we don't want them to go brown.

So to do this much faster

I already set it.

You have to move this little knob.

Depends on the mandoline you have at home.

The reason why I'm doing it in a bowl is

because I don't wanna get

the cutting board all starchy with the potato,

and I think it's gonna be easier,

and quicker to submerge it in the water.

[Man] Great.

Sorry.

Alright onion.

I'm gonna rinse my knife.

'Cause it's all starchy.

[Woman] Can you finish with the recipe.

So the recipe calls for a large onion.

I like to use yellow onion or a white onion

because of the sweetness it has.

Using an onion in the Tortilla de Papas

will give you the guarantee

that your tortilla is gonna be moist.

Because you're adding the factor of

the water that is inside the onion.

So in this case we're gonna remove both sides.

We're gonna start with the,

this is the root,

this is where the beautiful flowers grow.

You know I'm getting on tippy-toes here right.

This is a utility knife

and it's the knife that I use the most at home.

This knife was given to me by Brad Leone

and I love it.

So then you're gonna cut the root.

Usually we ask you to keep it together

so you can do a slices,

but not in this case.

So we're gonna cut it,

it says in half

and then length wise.

So you wanna end up with these long things.

Alright so I'm done here with chopping.

Let's go cooking.

Drying the potatoes.

The way I'm drying them is with a towel.

I have read recipes that ask you to put

the potatoes in a colander and sprinkle them with salt.

What the salt will do is make them release more water

and the reason why I don't like to do that

is because I want them to still be moist inside.

So when you bite on them you can feel that moisture.

So I'm gonna put them on the towel.

Oh I found a big one.

That one was trying to escape.

So this is what I want,

half moist.

So I wanna dry them,

keep them in the towel.

They're still really wet.

So I gonna hold them in there until

I'm ready to put them in the oil.

Now this...

Can we drink it?

Over here yay.

I wear a pushpin around on my clothing.

Most of the time I try to remember.

I used to have on in my necklace.

I live in Jersey City,

and Jersey City it's one of the only 12 cities in

the United States that have a program

that welcome refugees from refugee camps around the world.

I support the refugees,

so wearing this means if someone comes close to you

and they see this they will know

that they are safe with me.

To cook the frittata

we're gonna use two cups of oil.

I'm using olive oil

but I don't want people to use

the best olive oil they have.

A lot of it is gonna get cook,

and I'm gonna be reusing it.

So we're gonna turn it on in medium heat.

So basically what you're gonna do

is I'm gonna introduce all the potatoes together

at the same time,

and you're gonna make sure

that they are well submerged.

We're not gonna hear a sound like frying,

because again we're not frying,

we're looking for almost no color.

What we are going to be doing is poaching them.

So I'm gonna use both hands,

and put all the potatoes in there.

Again careful when you put your fingers

because the hottest oil it might not look.

The oil is gonna be in a medium heat,

what you're doing is sort of poaching them.

'Cause what I want is all the oil to cover them.

Another recipe calls for a slotted spoon.

What I have here is a lovely,

funny looking spoon that I also got from Chris Morocc.

Lucky enough when he moved.

I'm being very gentle

because this is non-stick and you don't wanna scratch it,

but I also don't wanna use a rubber spatula

in this hot oil because if

you don't have a heat proof rubber spatula,

I would not suggest putting in any cheap,

.99 Cents Store rubber spatula in hot oil.

'Cause that's a recipe for disaster.

So because I don't have a lid that fits this,

and that happens in probably every kitchen,

particularly here because I get rid of lids,

I'm known for that,

I'm gonna use a sheet pan.

For a few minutes.

Again this is a kind of recipe that

it's not like boiling potatoes in water,

like you can put them in there,

perhaps turn around,

go to the bathroom or something like that.

You are working with hot oil

so I don't recommend anybody going farther

than two steps behind the stove.

So I'm gonna check these guys out.

And I actually want even texture inside.

You are gonna have none to little color.

So I'm gonna leave the potatoes,

I'm right here next to it,

I'm not going any far,

not going to the living room to watch a novela or something.

So I'm gonna start cracking the eggs.

Theories of cracking an egg,

I don't like to crack it on the edge

because your shell is probably gonna end up in there.

So I like to crack them in a flat surface.

'Cause I heard Chris Morocc in a video saying

that when he grows up he wants to with one hand.

So it's been ten minutes,

my personal timer just told me.

I'm gonna go check on the potatoes.

And again this is gonna be really hot,

it's not like a regular lid.

So there you go.

Nice.

I'm gonna crank it up a little bit.

They're getting kind of translucent on the edges.

So I'm gonna stir them one more time.

It's a recipe and it's not written in stone.

And if a recipe calls for ten minutes

and you see that obviously your potatoes have not cooked,

just give it a couple more minutes.

Nobody will know,

and we'll still be friends.

So I have a knife here,

I'm gonna check.

I'm checking on the bigger ones.

I think they're ready to meet the onions.

I'm just going to crank the heat a little bit,

just a tiny bit.

Still a medium heat,

but you can see it by the bubbles.

We're gonna add all the onion.

I don't recommend dumping this whole thing

because again hot oil kind of splatters.

Actually I'm gonna put some salt

on my onion.

I'm gonna just cover them,

maybe crank this up a little more.

So you wanna make sure you break all that protein.

That's a lot of egg.

We have a lot of potatoes.

Alright so I'm gonna put the salt all over,

and some pepper in

this kitchen favorite beauty corn pepper meal.

And go back to the onions and potatoes.

Yay, they are looking good.

Some of them catch a little bit of color,

but that's okay.

Totally fine with me.

I think these guys are done.

With the help of a slotted spoon,

and if you have a bigger one you're welcome to use it.

It's just like this tiny little guy.

I'm gonna remove the potatoes

and the onions out of the skillet.

And for a few minutes I'm gonna put

them on a sheet pan.

You can do it in a bowl.

I just have the feeling

that if it's in a flat surface

they won't get all mushy together.

We don't want mushy right now.

I'm gonna turn this off.

The reason why I want them to cool off a little bit

is because we have raw eggs

and we're gonna be introducing cooked potatoes

and cooked onion into it,

and you don't want your egg to start cooking ahead.

So a lot of the oil is still on the potatoes

and that's exactly what we want.

When I grew up we used sin olive oil at my house,

any frying oil was perfectly strained

and then saved, put aside.

This is your chance to taste

the potatoes for dampness or salt.

So I'm gonna leave 'em cooling for a few minutes.

I'm gonna go ahead and taste one.

This guy is perfect.

So just for good measure I'm gonna add

a little bit more salt.

Time for these guys to go into the egg mixture.

So my eggs are ready.

I'm gonna fluff them up a little more.

These are beautiful,

look at that color.

And now we're gonna add all the potatoes in there.

All right so I'm ready for the stove.

This is the leftover oil that I cooled off,

but I will still be very careful

because he just were in here.

So I only need a quarter cup.

So you wanna coat the pan.

This pan is really hot right now,

so I'm just gonna go ahead

and just add a little more.

Now we're ready to add all the eggs at once.

And what you want is for the potatoes

to be completely submerged in the egg.

And also again you can cover it

if you feel like you need a little help.

There you go,

we're ready.

This is starting to settle in the edges.

When you have a lot of liquid in there

I like kind of to push it

so it goes in the bottom.

So this is gonna take about 15 to 20 minutes.

So we're gonna leave it alone.

But again not leaving the kitchen.

All right.

So when this is ready I'm going to show

you an easy way to invert it with a plate.

What I can do to kind of speed up the process

is just cover it just for a couple of minutes.

The good thing about he tortilla is

because you flip it you can chose

the nicest side to present it. [laughs]

So I'm gonna leave it there for a couple more minutes.

All right so these got much better.

The moment of truth,

flipping it.

Because it's not that easy

and I don't want anybody to end up

with tortilla shell on the floor.

And your dog eating it,

that will be the case.

I'm gonna show you an easier way that,

I think I invented it.

Let's call it Gaby's Flipping Method.

'Cause I can flip. [laughs]

So I'm gonna turn it off just

because I'm doing this.

I don't wanna have fire added to the mixer.

Make sure that it's loose enough,

not too much.

I'm gonna flip,

no flipping.

The flipping method comes after.

I'm gonna slide it on a plate, there.

This guy wants to escape.

And instead of flipping it

I'm gonna put a second plate on top.

I always on the table just because I feel safer.

So I'm gonna get the two plates

and I'm gonna flip them over.

There you go.

This is the moment of truth.

[Man] This is it.

Ta da!

[Man] Voila! Nicey, nicey!

So I'm gonna turn this back on.

Some times you may need a little extra oil.

This is not the case 'cause it's a non-stick.

I'm gonna use the spatula to help me.

And yes it might look like it's ugly on the bottom,

but it's gonna get cooked

so bare with me.

So I want to have the tortilla shape,

and then we're gonna cook it for another,

I think it's five minutes.

This looks like it's about to be eaten

by the whole camera crew.

It looks beautiful,

I love the color.

So I'm ready to slide it off the pan.

Okay, so because I'm using a non-stick yay!

Voila!

I love it.

I like this side better.

Okay let's see.

You wanna let it sit for a few minutes before you cut

so all the juices inside get stuck together.

So I'm gonna cut it.

[Man] Yeah, yes they're over here.

Great color Gaby. Kat did you get new glasses?

Thank you.

[Priya] Gaby can I have some?

Of course! Fantastic!

I need to taste this.

Everybody's like making mmm yummy noises.

Yeah Gaby I feel like I thought

this dish would be a lot heavier,

but it's really nice and light.

Yeah I think it's pretty light.

Thank you.

Seasonings good.

I'm still floored Thank you.

by your color.

I got it, I got it to hurry. Floored by your color.

[laughing]

Name one dish that can be eaten

as a snack, appetizer, Gaby what did you do?

lunch, or diner.

[laughing] You name it,

Tortilla de Papas.

And I'm saying it in Argentinian,

Tortilla de Papas.

Tortilla, I'm from Argentina,

sorry I speak Castilian.

[Woman] I'm sold.

I caught Gaby yesterday Throwing.

putting Dulce de Leche on a chocolate cake.

That sounds amazing. It's not like

we serve the cake with Dulce de Leche.

She like pulled it

out of a holster Listen,

and just had it there 48 millions,

ready to go. 48 million Argentinians

are gonna be watching this,

and they will back me up.

Chocolate and Dulce de Leche,

it's a perfect match made in Heaven.