French Fridays with Dorie - basque potato tortilla

It's a crazy time in my life right now, what with opening a new store.  I'm back to leaving the house around 7 am and getting home around 9:30 or 10:30 pm.  It's been a few years since I've kept those kind of hours and my older body is not as appreciative as my younger body once was.  I'm looking forward to Sunday to completely relax, catch up on sleep and pretty much just veg out...oh...and prepare for next week's FFwD also.  Since, the only way I can keep up with the weekly cooking is to do it on Sundays.

Last Sunday, I took a break from my new store opening craziness and made Dorie's basque potato tortilla for me and my boys for lunch.  I have to say, it was perfect for the slightly rainy, kind of cold day.  I had planned on making it in the morning and then letting it sit and we would eat it for dinner.  However, Ethan had other plans.  When I started cooking it, he said it smelled so good, could we eat it now?  So, we did!

In addition to making this lovely cross between an omelet and a frittata, I also made Dorie's piperade from her chicken basquaise recipe (which if you read my post last week...you know why I made the piperade).  I also cooked some nice apple wood smoked, thick cut bacon...which the guys decided was essential to pull off this dish (not my bacon, mind you...which is curing in the fridge and will be ready early next week...and I absolutely can't wait...but that will be for another post!).



The piperade was great with the "tortilla," adding a little spiciness, sweetness, color and juiciness to the dish.  The recipe ended up making a ton of the piperade, so I was able to freeze it in 3-serving batches and we can eat it over the next couple of months with all sorts of yummy things.

This was a straight forward dish to make, and I even managed to get it to come out of the skillet in one piece!  The only issue I had was with my new Le Creuset cast iron pan.  I did the potatoes and onions in the pan, knowing that it could go in the oven.  Well, everything stuck hideously (just like the first two times I used this pan)...much to St. James' dismay (since he's the pot cleaner).  If anyone has one of these skillets and knows the trick, let me know.  The salesperson said it's already seasoned and that I don't need to do anything to it...I think she lied.  I've now seasoned it and am hoping the next time it behaves better.  I ended up making the "tortilla" in my nice risotto pan...no problems there!

Thank you to everyone who's been sending their well wishes my way for the new venture.  I really appreciate it.  I haven't had the chance to visit all the FFwD blogs like I normally do, so maybe I'll get to catch up on that this weekend too.  You can too...by clicking here.