Have you ever stopped to think about how food connects all human beings? It’s amazing how something as simple as a meal can bring people together from all walks of life.
I´m sure that you agree that the food we eat is often influenced by our culture, history, and geography.
From this idea I jumped into my records of life to discover that the more I travel the more I realise that the humanity´s food connection goes deeper as food also has the power to connect us on a larger scale.
That is why my food memories got activated the first time I had “shakshuka” for breakfast in my last trip to Dubai. I felt I was having the vegetarian version of “Huevos a la flamenca” ( or “Flamenco eggs” in English).
If you have ever been in any of my culinary experiences you already heard me saying that we, Spaniards, do not usually have eggs for breakfast. However, eggs are for us a great dinner or lunch option.
So this dish of “Flamenco eggs” has been a classic among the classics in the traditional tapas bar in Andalusia, and I am sharing with you today my version of this easy, delicious and complete way of cooking eggs.
Let´s jump into it!
RECIPE
Ingredients (6 servings):
- 1 fresh egg per person.
- 1 pound and a half of peeled and diced potatoes (*have a look at chef´s tips section at the end of this post)
- 1 pound and a half of tomato sauce (*have a look at chef´s tips section at the end of this post).
- 1 onion.
- 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil to cook the onions.
- 1/3 cup of white wine ( optional and only if you are making your own tomato sauce)
- 1 tsp of smoked Spanish paprika (I use it sweet, but go ahead with the hot one if you enjoy a kick of spiciness in your food).
- 1 or 2 leaves of bay leaf.
- sea salt (to taste).
- ground black pepper. (to taste)
- 1 cup of green peas.
- 1 cup of peeled and sliced Spanish chorizo.
- 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil for deep frying the potatoes for a frying pan of 8 or 9 inches.
Utensils:
- 1 knife.
- 1 cutting board.
- 1 9 inches skillet or frying pan to fry the potatoes.
- 1 stainless steel spider strainer.
- 1 ceramic baking tray.
Preparation:
Step 1. Prepping
- Peel and slice the onion in julienne.
- Peel and dice the potatoes.
- Season the potatos with a bit of salt. At the moment of frying the potatoes might have relased some water, so you may drain them and tap dry with a kitchen paper towel before frying them.
- Boil the green peas in boiling water.
- Slice and peel the chorizo.
Step 2. Cooking all the ingredients in a skillet + frying the potatoes.
- Oil a skillet with 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and sauteé the onion at medium heat until sweeting. Add the wine (optional) and cook everything togther at high heat to evaporate the alcohol.
- Tomato sauce:
- If you are using canned tomato sauce, add it to the cooked onions and stir well to mix.
- If you are making the tomato sauce right now, just add the diced ripe tomatoes to the onions, season with salt, pepper and a bit of sugar until getting a nice sauce.
- Frying the potatoes: fill the skillet with the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Heat the oil up until it reaches 180°C (375ºF) approx. In batches cook the potatoes for 12-15 minutes in the oil, using a slotted spoon to toss every 3-4 minutes so they cook evenly. Once the potatoes are tender in the centre and golden on the outside, remove them from the oil using a slotted spoon and drain the extra oil.
Step 3. Oven and plating up.
- Mix the potatoes, the green peas and the tomato sauce with the cooked onion. Taste it to cjeck the salt point and some or even a bit of fresh ground pepper if needed.
- Put the mixture in a deep ceramic baking tray.
- Place the slices of chorizo on top.
- Place a couple of leaves of bay leaf on the mixture.
- Crack the eggs on top carefully not to break the yolk.
- Preheat the oven at 200ºC / 400ºF. Put the tray in the oven and bake it for 15 minutes or until you see the white is perfectly cooked and the yolk has a beautiful orange colour and it would be runny inside.
Chef´s tip
1.- Type of potatoes: Russet potatoes or Maris Piper work great in this recipe.
2.- Tomato sauce: you can use premade tomato sauce or make your own, but if you take the premade sauce option I highly recomend to enrich it with cooked-almost-caramelised onions.
3.- Vegetarian version: if you skip the chorizo you may have a vegetarian version of this dish (if you include eggs on your vegetarian diet)
4.- Suggestions: have a nice loaf of bread on the table at the moment of serving and eating …because you will really need it!