You know you’ve met a true carbohydrate lover when she craves not just warm bread, but warm bread with potatoes; not just a bowl of fluffy jasmine rice, but rice with chana bateta. Let’s take a minute to consider the real ingenuity of the burrito: it’s not in the guac nor the carnitas, but rather in the combination of tortilla and rice.
The latest edition of the Five-Ingredient Sandwich is cut from the same carby cloth. Slices of potatoes, tossed with oil and smoked paprika, pile up on soft foccacia to create a killer vegetarian sandwich. There’s arugula, mayo, and an egg as well.
The dual inspirations for this both come from Spain, and neither is in the double carb club. The first, a mountain of freshly fried potato chips with a spicy tomato sauce and a fried egg, was what my sister Kate and I subsisted on when we visited Madrid. We kept wanting to try new restaurants, but we kept returning to the one with the freshly fried potato chips, the spicy tomato sauce, and the egg.
The second, the Spanish omelet or tortilla espagnola, you probably know about. That, a bread-free meal-in-a-skillet will have long won you over if you’re a busy, new, poor, or space-challenged cook. My friend Marc has perfected the dish (his tip: use plenty of oil when frying the potatoes), but we’ve got an old BGSK recipe you can start with here.
Old inspiration aside, this sandwich has a modern vibe and a versatile nature. Whip one up when you’re tired of scrambled eggs and hash browns or when there appears to be nothing in the house to eat.
Have a five-ingredient sandwich you adore? Tell me in the comments, and I’ll add it to the repertoire. See the first few posts in the series here.
**Recipe**
Five-Ingredient Pimenton Potato & Egg Sandwich
Serves 1
Ingredients
1 square fresh focaccia
1 medium red potato, sliced to 1/4-inch thickness
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (pimenton)
Salt
Olive oil
Handful arugula
2 teaspoons mayonaise
1 egg
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the potato slices with salt, smoked paprika, and oil, and roast in one layer for 20 minutes, until just beginning to get crisp. Don’t wait for them to get super crispy, because you really don’t want them to dry out.
Meanwhile, slice the focaccia in half horizontally. Slick the bottom with mayo. Pile on the arugula. When the potatoes are ready, use a spatula to layer them on top of the greens.
Now, heat a small nonstick frying pan over medium high heat for about 4 minutes, until it just starts to smoke.
Meanwhile, beat the egg with a pinch of salt.
When the pan reaches desired heat, in one fell swoop you want to film the pan with oil, pour in the beaten egg, and turn off the heat. Grab the spatula and pull the cooked eggs towards the center of the pan, tilting the pan back towards where you came and letting the still-uncooked eggs take the place of what you just pulled. Repeat this from every angle, pulling in cooked eggs and letting uncooked take their place until a tilt no longer makes any liquid move. It won’t take long at all, maybe less than a minute. Fold four sides in so your omelet resembles a little package the size of your sandwich. Place on top of the arugula and potatoes. Set the second piece of focaccia on top. Cut the sandwich in half and serve.
Photos by Carly Diaz
