Bocadillo de Tortilla de Patatas

Bocadillo de tortilla de patatas, in its Madrileño bar-counter form, is a thick wedge of tortilla de patatas tucked into crusty barra, plain enough to eat standing up and serious enough to carry a whole lunch. The tortilla is cooked across the peninsula, yes, but this sandwich belongs to the bar counter, the work bag, the train, and the picnic table. What makes it this bocadillo is not decoration. It is good bread, a settled tortilla, and a centre soft enough to be tender but firm enough to slice.

The method that decides it is the potato first, then the rest. You cook the potatoes low and gentle in olive oil, more poached than fried, until they bend without browning. That slow oil gives the tortilla its sweetness and keeps the wedge tender inside the bread. For a bocadillo I let the tortilla rest before cutting; slice it straight from the pan and it collapses into the crumb. Give it fifteen minutes and it behaves.

If you are far from a Spanish barra, use a plain crusty baguette or a firm roll, not soft sliced bread and not a loaf that tastes stronger than the filling. Yukon Gold potatoes will do where Spanish waxy potatoes are not on the market; they hold their shape and give you the right soft layers. Onion is the argument that never ends. I put it in here because a bocadillo wants the moisture. If you leave it out, the sandwich is still itself, just a little plainer.

My Margin says only this: rest the tortilla, then bread. A small line, and it saves the lunch. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.