Shrimp and Potato Chip Tortilla
I don’t make a habit of having potato chips in the house, because I really don’t have much self-control around them. But when I read in Anya von Bremzen’s go-to cookbook, The New Spanish Table, that chef-genius Ferran Adrià makes a tortilla de patatas (that glorious traditional Spanish omelet) with potato chips, I was tempted to buy some. That same year, 2005, my friend, chef José Andrés, a protégé of Adrià’s, also included a potato-chip tortilla recipe in his energetic book, Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, so the decision was obvious. It turns out that this humblest of dishes, one of my favorites when I traveled in Spain, was perfectly easy to scale down to single-serving size. To justify its place on my dinner table, though, I added shrimp to make it a meal. Eat with a green salad or other crisp vegetables on the side. If desired, spoon some Red Pepper Chutney (page 17) on top.
If you don’t have a very small skillet, this will still work; it won’t be as thick as a Spanish tortilla and will instead be closer to a frittata.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, and the pimenton.
Step 2
Lightly crush the potato chips in the bag. Stir them into the eggs and let the mixture sit until the potato chips are soft, 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 3
Pour 2 teaspoons of the oil into a very small skillet over medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is soft and starts to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the shallot to a plate to cool.
Step 4
When cool, stir the shallot into the egg mixture. Stir in the cilantro and shrimp until thoroughly combined.
Step 5
With the skillet still over medium heat, pour in the remaining 2 teaspoons oil. When it starts to shimmer, pour in the tortilla mixture. Let it cook undisturbed for a minute or two, then shake the pan back and forth and run a thin spatula around the edges of the tortilla. If there is loose, runny egg, lift an edge of the tortilla with the spatula and tilt the pan to let the liquid egg run underneath. Cook until the top of the tortilla is still wet but no longer a runny liquid, 3 to 5 minutes or longer, depending on the size of the pan. Run the spatula around the edges of the tortilla and then all the way underneath it to make sure the bottom is not sticking.
Step 6
If your spatula is large enough, use it to flip the tortilla in the pan. Alternatively, take a plate slightly larger than the skillet, and invert it on top of the skillet. Using oven mitts, grab both sides of the skillet, also holding the plate, and quickly and decisively turn both skillet and plate upside down, inverting the tortilla onto the plate and removing the skillet.
Step 7
If the skillet looks dry, add another teaspoon or so of olive oil, and when it starts to shimmer, slide the tortilla back into the skillet, uncooked side down. Shake the skillet to straighten the tortilla, decrease the heat to low, and continue cooking until a skewer inserted into the center comes out dry, 2 to 3 minutes.
Step 8
Invert the tortilla onto a plate again, let it cool for a few minutes, and eat.
