Our neighbour Flo left us eggs and onions in exchange for feeding her cats and hens while she and her husband spend a few well-earned days rest in Corsica.
So, here’s another omelette/scrambled egg thing. (see courgette eggs).
This time a classic peasant dish from the Basque Country in the southwest corner of France. Sweet local peppers are in season now–late like everything else–piled high on the market stalls. The ones I used were sun-ripened in Pezenas (southeast of us) and sweet–thinner- skinned than their year-round supermarket cousins.
Eggs, peppers and tomatoes (also from Pezenas) make up PIPERADE–plus a pinch of cayenne for PEP.
Some versions make a purée of this mix before adding the eggs–which is an option.
I favour leaving the vegetables roughly cut to add texture.
Serves 2 / 3
1lb onions–sliced or chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1lb tomatoes–skinned if fresh, and roughly-chopped (if tinned [canned] drain the juices)
3 medium red peppers–skinned with a peeler (not hard, with a good peeler!)
…and sliced into strips
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper–more if you like–a matter of taste
6 eggs
salt and pepper– to taste
- Heat the oil in a medium pan.
- Add the onions and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes–they should become soft and pale.
- Add the pepper strips and turn them over in the onion.
- Cover and cook for about ten minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, cayenne, salt and pepper and mix in.
- Cook for 10 minutes covered on the same low temperature; then a further ten uncovered to lift some of the excess liquid.
- Whisk the eggs together.
- Add them to the sauce and turn over gently…
- …until the eggs are done to your taste.
Comfort food!
Served with a green salad it makes a handy light lunch.
Robin Ellis 
I just am just about to make this now having some little eggs from my neighbours’ beautiful bantam hens! Good timing!
Bob has been in hospital for nearly three months with a series of problems but he is now home and started on recovery! He landed in a ward dealing with type 2 diabetes / general medical (he is not diabetic). I was utterly shocked at what I experienced there. The lucky patients only lost a toe but they were few and far between. Mostly they were losing feet and lower limbs. And so many people in just a medium sized town. I had not realised that such suffering had reached epidemic proportions. All were considerably and very overweight. Bob was the only slim person in the ward most of the time. I have never before seen legs that were black, not just dark but black. I asked several people if they had been given any advice about diet and they all said ‘yes’ but well they hadn’t really followed it. I could not believe it so I told everyone about your excellent book and I just hope that some will follow it and that the sales in the west of Scotland go up! In the next bed, I heard the wife of a patient say “Oh I see they are going to change your insulin tomorrow and I nearly forgot I just brought you a Mars bar”……….
Very sad to read this, Eva. The Mars bar bit especially. Relatives and friends often don’t understand the condition and its possible consequences. A good and informed support system is as important as a good doctor I feel.
Yes it’s up to each of us to take as much responsibility for our own health and those of our friends / family as we possibly can and to keep challenging the norms and take advantage of the information now so widely available.