Spanish food can have an intimidating simplicity. How can you make great cuisine, a chef wonders, out of such a small handful of ingredients?
Few dishes in the Spanish repertoire are simpler than Tortilla Española, a flat omelet made with onions, potatoes, olive oil and just enough eggs to hold it together.
The first time I made this dish it struck me as one-dimensional, so I did what I do when a recipe seems to lack spark. I made the dish with better ingredients — farm-fresh eggs, organic potatoes and a good, late-harvest Spanish olive oil. When this upgraded version failed to impress me, I tried adding a few classic Spanish ingredients: toothsome, piquant dried chorizo and nutty Manchego, a semi-firm sheep’s milk cheese.
The result, if not strictly traditional, pleased me: The chewy slices of chorizo exploded on the palate when you bit into them, and the Manchego melted into the eggs to give them a faint tanginess. The smoked paprika (a key seasoning in the chorizo) gave the tortilla an appetizing reddish-gold hue, like the colors of a sunset.
I make my version in a nonstick pan, starting it on a stove top, lightly browning the tortilla on one side and finishing it in the oven.
Though it can be eaten as a hearty breakfast, it’s worth experiencing it in the Spanish manner. Rather than being served whole, the tortilla is cut into wedges and smeared with garlic mayonnaise; it is consumed close to room temperature, rather than hot as Americans would prefer it. It is eaten late at night and washed down with sherry rather than coffee and orange juice.
Tortilla Española
Serves four as a main dish or eight as a tapa.
Ingredients
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced
4 ounces good-quality, dried hot chorizo (such as Palacios)
8 eggs, lightly beaten
3 ounces grated Manchego cheese
Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and lightly caramelize the onions over medium heat, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and remove the onions to a mixing bowl.
In a large saute pan, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, add the potatoes and stir to coat with the oil. Cover and stir often, until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked and lightly caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add the potatoes to the onion.
In the same pan, lightly saute the chorizo, about 1 minute. Add the chorizo to the potato mixture.
Add the eggs and the Manchego to the potato mixture. Season the mixture with a good pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.
Heat the remaining oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the egg mixture to the pan, and lightly brown the tortilla on one side. Place the pan in the oven, and bake about 10 minutes or until the tortilla is about three-quarters set. Remove the pan from the oven, place a plate on top of the pan, flip the tortilla on top of the plate, and slide the tortilla back into the pan. Bake another 5 minutes or just until set. Cool slightly and slice. Serve with garlic mayonnaise.
