Mercado de la Paz in the Salamanca district is home to what has been voted the best tortilla in Spain, we had to try it. The market is locally used, part trendy hang out part food market, if I lived close by, I would use it a lot. Casa Dani is a tapas bar in the market but is also what seems to be the back bone of the market - a food delivery/collection counter behind the tapas bar was constantly busy. The bar has a double counter system, a bar with another bar directly behind it testifying to the popularity of the place. It doesn’t take over the market but it is significant in its presence. There is a full menu but we didn’t trouble it, it was a simple order – one with and one without. They make two kinds of tortilla one with onion and one with out. It is my firm belief that all good things start with an onion so I was already biased. It was a perfect tortilla, really it was. The slice arrived still warm and oozing. The potatoes hadn’t been fried but were dry and almost mashed with a few chunks here and there. The flavour from the onions was that of onions that have been sauteed for hours, dark brown sweet, soft, the base flavour that anchors so many amazing dishes, rooting them in your memory for ever, dramatic but true. Tortilla is beaten eggs fried with potatoes and onions inside, it not difficult or sophisticated but when the chemistry is right – wow! At Casa Dani the chemistry is amazing, I tried to watch the woman who was cooking them, she had a line of four pans all going at the same time. Make the mixture, hot potatoes and onion into the eggs, mix, stand and then into the pan, let it sit then cover with a plate, let it stand again, then turn and slide it back into the pan, I am making everything past four pans at the same time up because she refused to let me see how she made it, shutting her little service windows and shooing me away. However the tortilla was truly perfect, the outside set with a little colour but not crispy, oozing egg in the middle not raw but cooked and thickened to an unctous creamy loveliness. The flavour was the most comforting thing I have eaten, it made me wish for my Dad, it was all of his favourite things in one place, onions, eggs and potatoes. I wished I could be sharing a plate with him, I wanted to phone my brothers and sister - Oh lads, Dad would love this! I wanted to see his joy reflected in my joy, but that is a by product of grief, you get to take the people you have lost on all of these lovely trips with you, they stay with you in these silly lovely ways.
The tortilla in Casa Dani was good, so good I insisted that we go back again the next morning for breakfast (the man behind the counter looked a little surprised) it was worth it, just as good the next day.
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