A couple of years ago I traveled to Barcelona and Madrid with my two best friends. As a major foodie, I planned all of our meals (let’s be real, I planned all of our everything… me? controlling?). But one of our best experiences was a random little cafe that we happened upon for lunch one day. They weren’t even serving lunch yet (it was only noon, after all) and the owner didn’t speak much English, but he ended up bringing us dish after dish of classic, no-frills Spanish cooking – pan con tomate, sliced cheeses, and tortilla. At the time, I knew that there was this thing called tortilla that bore no resemblance to the Mexican taco and burrito casings, but this was my first experience tasting it, and I was an immediate convert. It’s just potato, onion, egg, and cheese served room temperature – basically a frittata – but the flavors balance perfectly and it tastes like you could be sitting in any Spanish home kitchen, i.e. exactly as comforting as you’d hope. After deciding to recreate this experience using Food52 founder Amanda Hesser’s Spanish Tortilla recipe, I figured adding a bit of nutrients with a Spanish-inspired side salad would be a great opportunity to practice the lessons I learned in my Basic Vinaigrette post.

And yes, I topped that Spanish tortilla with a totally non-Spanish Sriracha mayo. #scandalous #sorrynotsorry

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