Tortilla Espanola
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Spanish-style potato, egg, shrimp, and bacon omelette, with homemade chive aioli
This is the fourth recipe from Cooking Space.
This recipe brings me back to my time as a young cook working in Spain. In those days, we would cook to receive the basics—like room and board—but beyond that, there wasn’t a lot spending money or other expendable resources. The tortilla quickly became a staple, usually for lunch, and also as a late night after-work snack.
Traditionally, tortilla Espanola’s main ingredients include potato, egg, and onion, and while we’ll certainly be including all of those in this version, I also want to a share a recipe that pushes it bit further than that. Enter the shrimp and bacon. Like the omelettes you’re likely more used to eating, the options are really limitless in terms of what you can add to it. I encourage you to make this version, then once you get a feel for the techniques involved, try experimenting with other ingredients the next time you make it.
Speaking of technique, we’re going to be employing some skills that you may not have tried in the kitchen before. Specifically, emulsifying your aioli through integrating oil slowly into your blender to thicken and set it. You’ll also be getting some experience in flipping your tortilla from one pan into another, but I promise it’s not nearly as scary as it sounds. Cooks of all levels should be capable of the techniques required here, but it might be helpful to watch me perform them before you give them a try!
Ingredients
For the tortilla
8 Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs
3 Cloves Garlic, sliced
3 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced
2 ½ cups white onion, sliced
2 cups shrimp (70/90)
½ cup bacon lardons
1 cup spinach, blanched and chopped
3 tbsps oil
Kosher salt
For the chive aioli
4 egg yolks
2 tbsps lemon juice
¼ cup oil (for emulsification)
3 garlic cloves
¼ cup chives
¼ cup basil, blanched
¼ cup parsley, blanched
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Preparation
Prepare the tortilla
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
In a sauté pan over medium high heat, add a touch of oil and add the bacon lardons. Cook to render the fat from the bacon, about five minutes.
Lower the heat to medium and add sliced onion and garlic to the same pan, and sweat for four to five minutes.
Once the onion and garlic are almost done cooking through, add the shrimp into the same pan. Stir gently to coat the shrimp as it picks up the fond from the pan, for about one minute. Add salt to taste.
Remove from heat and transfer contents to a half sheet tray to cool.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add sliced potatoes and blanch for five to six minutes, until they’re mostly cooked but still toothsome. Strain the potatoes and place in a medium bowl.
Add the bacon, onion and shrimp mixture to the bowl of potatoes. Add in blanched and chopped spinach. Gently fold the ingredients together.
In a small bowl, beat eight Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs. Once beaten, pour eggs over potato mixture and gently fold together.
Place a pan on the stove over medium-low heat. Add one tbsp. of oil to coat the bottom. Pour your tortilla mixture into the pan and tap gently to settle.
Cook until tortilla is just set, about four minutes. Run a rubber spatula around the outside of the tortilla to ensure that it won’t stick. Place an identically sized pan over the top of the tortilla pan, align the handles and grip tightly. Quickly flip them over so the original pan is on top, and the tortilla mixture is set in the new pan (watch the video for the technique). Remove the original pan and give the bottom pan a quick shimmy to ensure that it’s seated properly.
Cover the pan with foil and place in your preheated oven for 12 minutes.
Remove, uncover and flip onto serving platter.
Prepare the chive aioli
You can perform this step while the tortilla is baking in the oven.
Add chives, garlic, parsley, basil and lemon juice to a blender with a small amount of oil. Blend to puree. Once pureed, add 5 egg yolks. Blend again.
To create the emulsification, open the top of the blender and while blending, slowly add oil.
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