Potatoes & Eggs…quick, easy, good

Last night we had one of our breakfast favorites for dinner. Ken is usually not a breakfast for dinner kind of guy, but the girls and I LOVE this dish. I was in the mood for it, and I knew that when Ken saw our plates he would want his own! He did! A very simplified version of a spanish omelette that I once had when we were in Madrid. This dish has only 2 main ingredients, eggs and potatoes. I use extra virgin olive oil and butter on the skillet, as well as sea salt and pepper for seasonings. That’s it!

I am very fortunate to be able to purchase farm fresh, free-range eggs from a good friend. A bonus for my dish last night was that my grandparents brought me organic red and brown potatoes from their summer garden in Western North Carolina!! This meant I was able to leave the skin on! YES!!

This dish can be a bit tricky if you like your eggs a soft scramble like we do. Which is why I don’t make it in a traditional omelette style. I didn’t want any brown on the eggs, and I wanted them just cooked. Believe it or not, it does affect the texture. Timing, technique and heat are everything with this dish. Even the size of your skillet is important. I used a non-stick medium skillet, and made each person’s portion separately. Eggs cool quickly, so each portion is made to order.

I usually skillet fry the potatoes after I bake them….but since I was in a hurry tonight (we here hungry and had been on the boat all day) I diced the potatoes up really small (bite size), and boiled them like I was making mashed potatoes. After draining the potatoes, I heated up a bit of olive oil and browned these up with sea salt and pepper. I do this in my largest skillet. While the potatoes are browning, I prepare my eggs by whisking them in a bowl. I add a tablespoon or two of water and some sea salt and pepper.

When the potatoes are ready I put them aside. Then as I make each portion I butter my medium non-stick skillet, with the stove setting on about 6 or 7. The pan needs to be hot for the eggs to set on the bottom quickly, but not overly hot so they brown. Then I add a scoop of the potatoes scattered a bit in the pan and pour in a bit of the eggs (enough to coat the bottom plus whatever serving size you want). Quickly move the pan around so the eggs swirl around the edges. Add salt and pepper. Then scrape the eggs through the middle and turn the pan so more eggs from the top coat the bottom of the pan.

Keep scraping and turning the pan so that all eggs get contact with the heat. You have to work fast. Then start flipping and pull off of the heat when you get the consistency and doneness you like. For me it is almost immediately after I have flipped all the sections. Basically soft scrambled eggs. Pour onto a plate and butter your skillet for the next batch. Of course there are many options for add-ins here. But this version is our favorite. Eating each bite with some egg and potato in it. We also keep some skillet potatoes to eat on the side with ketchup.

Yummy….filling and easy! Especially if you have your potatoes baked up ahead of time. Stay tuned….my next post will be about my birthday dinner out at Grande’s Bella Cucina. It was very good, and we had a lot of fun! This was my first time taking pictures of my meals while out in public for the sole purpose of food blogging!