Tater Tot Egg Bake With Bitter Greens Salad

“To suit our mainly vegetarian household, we decided that the Thanksgiving sides would become our mains,” says author and publisher Hetty McKinnon. And that menu always, always includes tater tots. This year she decided to turn the tots into an egg bake, which is directly inspired by, and strikingly reminiscent of, tortilla española. A Spanish tortilla is traditionally made with oil-poached potatoes, but using their processed counterparts is not new, notes Hetty: “Many years ago a chef friend shared that she used leftover french fries, and chef Ferran Adrià famously makes his with potato chips.” It turns out that tater tots, with their crispy exteriors and creamy middles, are perfect stand-ins. The finished product is full of texture and somehow still brimming with a tot aroma that’s undeniably familiar, even if you’ve never tasted one. If you’re surprised by (and skeptical of!) the amount of tots in this recipe, don’t worry, a lot of them break down to form a creamy union with the gently set egg.