Gazpacho Soup, Spanish Tortilla and a Surprise Picnic Birthday Party

I have been meaning to do this post for a while, I'm two weeks late to be precise but with so many things to do and the veria/wholefoods event, it's been impossible. To be honest, I am so glad the event is over, I was stressed and  nervous, my first TV appearance cooking LIVE, I mean, I had a reason to be nervous. 

Moving on. Two weeks ago, It was my cousin Raquel's birthday, she turned 30. My other cousin Nadia and I planned a surprise picnic birthday party for her. It was really hard to keep this from her, specially because we got two of her best friends to come, one came from France and the other one from Honduras. She had no idea. To get her to the park, we told her that I was planing Luca's (my son) first picnic. She fell for it. We told everybody to bring something to share which was really nice. 

I made Tortilla Espanola (Spanish tortilla) and a refreshing Gazpacho soup. I also made tres leches baked in jars for favors, I used Banksy's famous image (balloon girl) to created a label, she loves that image. 

It came out great, she was really surprised, and we all had fun, my son Lucas loved it too. He was running around and even skipped a nap. I love to bake in jars, this time I used baby food bottles. I was afraid the glass wasn't going to resist the heat but it turned out great. It was so easy to carry, everybody loved it and most important, mess free. :)

Ingredients:

For the Gazpacho

Marinate:

2 garlic cloves

4 lb tomatoes halved

1 lg yellow onion, roughly chop

1/2 red bell pepper, Roughly chop

1/2 green bell pepper, Roughly chop

1 cucumber seedless, Roughly chop

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 vineger

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

2 cups water

In a big bowl, mix together all the  ingredients except the water and cucumber. Mix well, cover it and refrigerate for 1 hour. Add the cucumber. In batches, add the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth adding water as needed. Taste for seasoning. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Is best If you leave it over night, the longer gazpacho sits, the better.

Tortilla Espanola

4 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

5 eggs

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 olive oil 

Salt and Pepper 

Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil and add the onion, cook until onions are soft, about 6 minutes, set them aside. 

Heat the rest of the oil in a 10inch non-stick frying pan, add the potatoes and cook slowly in low heat until tender, we don't want the potatoes to brown too much. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl, add salt and pepper. When the potatoes are done, drain off excess oil into a bowl, then add the potatoes  and the cooked onion to the eggs, mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of oil back to the frying pan and pour in the potato mixture and spread out evenly. Cook over medium heat until set, about 3 or 4 minutes (don't stir them).  Shake the pan occasionally to prevent the tortilla from sticking. Turn the tortilla (you can use a plate) and cook for another minute or two.

Note: You could carefully lift the side of the tortilla to see if it has lightly browned.