Spanish Tortilla with Broccoli, Chorizo and Onion

You might not know this, but eggs are kind of my thing.  If you have read this blog at all in the past (or gone to brunch with me) then it should be fairly obvious.  Then again, Alex does try to curb my egg obsession so there aren't as many egg recipes on this blog as there might otherwise be...  So maybe it's not as obvious as I think it is.  Actually, I tried to add eggs to our dinner last night and Alex shot me down.  Anyway, I decided that I wanted to make this recipe to use the broccoli I picked up from Fairway last week along with the eggs from the farmers' market.  And for those of you not familiar with Spanish tortillas - they are essentially heavier frittatas with thinly sliced potatoes inside. used As we started to make the dish Alex told me that I had selected two of the things that we are worst at in life - flipping eggs and homemade mayonnaise (or aioli in this case).  We have tried to make mayonnaise three times in the past - once with the food processor, once with our immersion blender and once with the blender.  All three times we failed.  Epically.  We ended up with thin, runny, greasy messes each time.  And it happened again.  Apparently we really suck at making mayonnaise.  But this time we Googled how to rescue a broken aioli and found out that we are not the only people who have this problem.  There were several articles and blog posts citing Julia Child's method for saving a broken aioli or mayonnaise.  We used her method and it totally worked!  Hurray!  But our tortilla didn't flip too well...  It broke into a million pieces and chunks got stuck to the pan.  So we failed there too.  And there was really no rescuing it because it's not like you can put a frittata/omelet/Spanish tortilla back together.  But in the end it's the flavor that matters and the flavor was good.  It didn't really occur to me until we put the ingredients in the pan, but I think you should either add more eggs or cut down on the amount of broccoli and chorizo in the future.  The ratio of filling to eggs is a little off and the broccoli is heavy, which makes it hard to flip the tortilla successfully.  It was still pretty heavy (partially due to the ratio of eggs to filling and partially because of the combination of ingredients and flavors), but I knew that was likely to happen going in because Spanish tortillas always strike me as heavy.  I thought that the absence of potato would make more of a difference and make it taste a little lighter, but not so much.  Either way, it was a tasty dish and we finally made a (semi-)successful aioli!  Yay!

Recipes after the jump!

 

Spanish Tortilla with Broccoli, Chorizo and Onion

Available at Serious Eats

INGREDIENTS:

6 large eggs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups bite-sized broccoli florets

1 medium onion, finely sliced (about 1 cup)

3 ounces chorizo, finely sliced or diced

In a large bowl, whisk eggs together with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Set aside.

Heat half of olive oil in a 10-inch non-stick or cast iron skillet over high heat until simmering. Add broccoli and cook without moving until well charred on one side, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is very tender, about 5 minutes longer. Add onions and chorizo, season to taste with salt and pepper, reduce heat to medium, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until onions and broccoli are completely softened, about 5 minutes longer.

Add broccoli/onion mixture to bowl with eggs and stir immediately to combine. Return skillet to heat and add remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Heat until shimmering. Add egg mixture and cook, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until eggs are about 1/3 set, about 1 minute. Continue to cook, swirling pan gently until eggs are set about 2/3 of the way through and base of tortilla is deep golden brown, about 5 minute longer.

Place a large plate over the skillet and using both hands and two kitchen towels, invert skillet and plate so that tortilla flips out onto the plate with the cooked-side up. Carefully slide back into skillet. Continue to cook, gently swirling pan until tortilla is golden brown on second side, about 4 minutes longer. For a perfect shape, invert onto plate and slide back into skillet 4 to 5 more times. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest at least 5 minutes and up to 3 hours before slicing and serving with allioli.

Spanish-Style Allioli (Olive Oil and Garlic Mayonnaise)

Available at Serious Eats

INGREDIENTS:

1 large egg yolk

2 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon juice (from 1/2 a lemon)

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 cup vegetable, canola, or light olive oil

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place egg yolk, water, lemon juice, and mustard in the bottom of an immersion blender cup. Pour oil on top and allow to settle for 15 seconds. Place head of immersion blender at bottom of cup and switch it on. As mayonnaise forms, slowly tilt and lift the head of the immersion blender until all oil is emulsified. (For food processor instructions, see note above).

Transfer allioli to a medium bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in extra-virgin olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

NOTE #1: If you don't have an immersion blender with a cup, you can make the allioli in a food processor. Coming egg, garlic, lemon juice, water, and mustard in a food processor. With machine running, slowly drizzle in the canola or light olive oil, scraping down the sides as necessary. Transfer the half-finished allioli to a bowl and proceed with step two.

NOTE #2: If your aioli (or mayonnaise) breaks like ours does, there are two ways to rescue it.  Either take about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard or a room-temperature egg yolk and put it in a metal bowl.  Take your hand whisk and add in about a tablespoon of the broken sauce, whisking constantly.  It should be thick.  Start to very slowly stream the broken aoili into the mustard/egg yolk, whisking constantly.  Whisk like your life depends on it.  Do this very very slowly at first, making sure the sauce stays thick.  Keep adding the broken aioli into the new sauce in a slow thin stream and eventually, you will incorporate all the broken sauce into a lovely new sauce. We went with the dijon mustard approach because our remaining egg was not at room temperature, but that will obviously result in a more mustard-y sauce.