This is my very loose interpretation of Huevos rancheros, so any Mexican readers- please don’t hate me for creating my own version of this classic dish. I know you can have corn tortilla, refried bean and avocado, but this is my very simple version, which I love as a tea time snack or brunch. We usually have this as a quick supper with a cold glass of beer. Or it works as an excellent brunch on a Sunday morning. You can let the tomato sauce bubble away and then bang it in the oven between reading the papers and refreshing your coffee.
We recently got some lovely free range eggs from Willem (the OH’s work colleague who takes care of two hens) and we decided to put them to good use. My Dad also got 4 new hens. You might remember he lost the other ones in last year’s savage attack. So, he’s trying again and recently got four new pullets. Most of them are laying very well, but the fourth hen surprised us all one morning when s/he started to cock a doodle doo! It turns out he was confused, but has now firmly decided that he is indeed a cock and he is quiet the angry teenage boy. I’ll have to keep you posted on the egg situation 🙂 This recipe is pretty quick and easy to make. It’s basically just a nice spicy tomato and pepper sauce with an egg baked in and garnished with some thin slices of spring onion. It’s best served with some crusty bread to dip into the egg and to mop up all the delicious sauce.
Here’s how:
- 1/2 a green pepper, thinly sliced into strips
- 1/2 a yellow pepper, thinly sliced into strips
- Good splash of olive oil
- 3 shallots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ½ birds eyes red chilli, chopped finely
- tablespoon of tomato puree
- 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
- tin of tomatoes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of paprika
- salt and pepper
- pinch of sugar
- 2 free range eggs
- Spring onions, thinly sliced
Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Roast the chopped peppers in an oven proof dish in the preheated oven. Coat in some olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.
In a medium sized saucepan, sauté the chopped shallots over a medium heat. Cook the shallots until translucent and slightly golden. Add the garlic and chopped chilli and cook for a further few minutes. Next, add the tomato paste and red wine vinegar and cook on a low heat for a few minutes before adding the tin of chopped tomatoes. Taste the sauce and season with salt, pepper, sugar and smoked paprika. I like a lot of smoked paprika, I think it gives a great smoky flavour, but you can use less if preferred. Leave to cook on a low to medium heat for about 15 minutes. Make sure and taste the sauce and season more if necessary.
Divide the sauce into two medium sized oven proof dishes. Make a well in the centre of each dish of sauce. Break the egg in to the centre of the well. Cook for 5 -10 minutes, or just until the egg white is set and the yolk still runny. Serve straight away with some crusty white bread.
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