Well, we´ve been home a week and, as expected, it´s been a week of running around seeing folk, catching up with all that awaits you after a 2 month absence and lots of eating and drinking!
When I first used to visit Big Man before I lived in Spain, he was puzzled as to why I used to complain at the lack of vegetables in our diet. Spain has beautiful vegetables pretty much all year round. The problem is, when you live in the mountains and are eating in restaurants, the focus is on heavy mountain dishes – predominantly meat. Of course, this week, he´s come to understand what I was talking about and started groaning that he couldn´t face another meat heavy meal.
No problem, the little bit of veggie gardening we managed to do this year was tucked happily in our freezer and our lovely hens were happy to oblige with delicious free range eggs. The result? A delicious, home cooked, not too heavy, but satisfying meal made entirely from home grown ingredients.
It´s similar to a Spanish dish called Huevos a la Flamenca, which I´ll show you another time, but today it was less about the jamon and the chorizo, and all about the vegetables. Leave out the eggs and you have a vegan meal, add them in and it´s vegetarian.
Ingredients for 2 people as a main course
- 1 sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 cup of crushed tomatoes
- 3 mixed peppers, cut into thick slices
- About a cup of a favourite green vegetables (I used our runner beans, thinly sliced)
- 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
- A sprig each of oregano and rosemary
- A glass of wine (or water) Salt & Pepper
- Olive oil
Start by gently frying the onions and garlic in a little oil until they start to soften then add in the peppers. Cover with a lid and when the peppers start to soften add the rest of the ingredients. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer gently for about 20-30 minutes until the peppers have broken down and are very soft. Taste and adjust the seasoning and if too liquid, cook for a minute or two to reduce the sauce and remove the herbs.
Transfer into individual (heat proof) serving dishes if you like, then crack two eggs into each portion. You can either pop the dishes into the oven on a medium heat for about 10 minutes until the eggs are set, or continue to cook on the stove top (this is what I did). If you like a soft yolk, using a chop stick or the “wrong” end of a spoon, gently stir the white into the vegetables as it cooks, avoiding the yolk. The white will “scramble” into the vegetables and the yolk will stay soft.
Eat with plenty of crusty bread and listen to your body thanking you for giving it a welcome hit of Vitamin C. A glass of wine also helps, but then it´s made of grapes and grapes are fruit…right?!
Chica Andaluza 
Wonderful colours! A great idea for eating more vegetables. And a lovely shot of your mountain – you must be pleased to be home!
It´s great to be home – even on a grey morning!
That does look delicious. Now I have visions of your garden in my head and am jealous all over again.
You have a fantastic garden of your own Mr Greg!
That would bring a little little light into the grey, rainy time that we are having at the moment. Really lovely:)
It was a sizzling bowl of sunshine in the fog!
Yum!
🙂
Now THAT is something that I can mop my bread in! Our capsicums are tiny but “there” and we have a zucchini eruption being promised along with an exponentially increasing promise of some tomatoes to go with it. Once the eggplants realise that “there is no place like home” and stop lusting after South Australia’s temperatures and decide “bugger it! Time to get going” we will probably get a few of them as well. I chose a smaller fruiting variety specifically for that point…when you add some rocket, and some spinach or silverbeet the possibilities are endless BUT this delicious unctuous creation is going to have to come first! I am marking it on the calendar for mid January and will post about it when I make it (after I stop swooning that is 😉 )
By the way…did you want to enter the free handmade spoon draw that is coming up on Saturday? Steve made a gorgeous wooden spoon from Blackwood (acacia) sourced from the property and I am giving it away on Saturday. I know you were away when we posted about it and if you would like a chance to enter the draw you are most welcome (and it will go part way to salving Steve’s pride as only 11 of my 106 “followers” have responded 😉 )
Oh yes please – sorry I missed that one! How wonderful that he made something from beautiful acacia. And funnily enough, as I was cooking this dish, I thought it would be a good one for you. I often do veggie meals, but not often vegan as they often have eggs or cheese – so I think this will be ok for you when all your lovely veggies start conforming!
No egg for me…free range Serendipity Farm gorgeous yellow orbs for Steve…heaven on a frugal stick and a degustatory and most heavenly pleasure for us both… it’s not often that we can share a recipe like this 🙂
It´s nice that you can share a meal!
Oh my…what a great way to get some veggies.
Very tasty indeed!
It looks it!
…and, of course, veggies make a meal look so colourful!
Colours of summer and heat!
Oooh…that looks absolutely scrumptious! I want your hens too….ahhh, my dream of having a huerto and some gallinas. Lucky you! And welcome home!
Good old hens – their eggs are so tasty and so very different from what you can buy in the super!
I can only imagine! Sniff sniff.
Now I want to see your Huevos a la Flamenca – you are a temptress 😉
Indeed! Actually, I have made them a few times recently to blog the recipe but they never look great in the photo 😦
This looks absolutely wonderful, Tanya! Even though I eat a meat-heavy diet, I will hit a saturation point and go meatless for a few days. This dish would fit in quite nicely, though I’d prefer it with the eggs. However, if eggless, I bet it would be a nice topping for some polenta or as a “sauce” for linguine. You know me well enough by now, Tanya. I may go meatless but I’m not about to go without my pasta or polenta. 🙂
And I don´t blame you – this would be fabulous with polenta with some cheese on top too! Like you, we´re not vegetarian but sometimes a day of vegetable antipasti and cheese goes down very well indeed!
The first half of my life was definitely meat-heavy and how! Now nothing pleases more than a beautiful dish such as this – one feels good at the beginning of the meal and even more so at the end! Love fogs, so absolutely adore that mountain photo of yours 🙂 !
Sometimes when we have fog here and the dogs go outside, we can´t see them! Mind you, we also get those perfect sunny cloudless days so I´m not complaining. Glad you liked the dish 🙂
Yum! With Christmas almost here I know we are going to feel the same about all the meat meals in our very near future. This one is going into my book for then. Thanks Chica.
Great idea – a post Christmas meal!
Ooh lovely. It’s the same round here with restaurants, very meat orientated – if you want veggies you have to cook them yourself. Even better if you can grow them yourself too.
It´s funny isn´t it? Not much choice for the poor vegetarians 😦 I think it´s changing, but slowly, slowly…
You have been so busy of late. It must be nice to be home and enjoy a nice dish like this for a change of pace. We often have eggs for lunch or dinner on the weekend. One of my husband’s favorite is peppers and eggs scrambled together…I think we will have them your way next time.
Ooh they sound good – a sort of piperade? Mine were half scrambled so I got to dip my egg in the runny yolk!
Just stopped back by to wish you and Big Man a wonderful Christmas.
Sorry I have only just picked this up, it was lovely to receive your good wishes! Hope you had a beautiful Christmas with your loved ones and that 2013 is happy and healthy for you all.
Am I allowed to copy you in my blog? Your recipe, I mean……
Congrats for yours , by the way!
Of course – I would be most flattered! Grazie mille 🙂
We found this to be a problem in Prague. All of the meals were so heavy and no veggies. Since we’ve been back I’ve been enjoying lots of salads and soup. Wish I had a vegetable garden. Maybe someday I won’t live in a flat. Enjoy your time in Spain!
Yes, after a few days, yuou need some respite from the meat! Thanks for the good wishes 🙂
Tanya, this is my idea of comfort food! Warm and cozy, easy on the stomach, good for the heart, and even better with wine. And I love the view of your fog-shrouded mountain.
The mountain makes me feel all cozy and warm when I am looking at it from my sitting room with the fire lit!
¡Hola Tanya! Me encanta tu receta, es perfecta porque ahora estamos vigilando lo que comemos con vistas a lo que nos espera en las fiestas…
Pues si, vamos a tener unos días en que nos vamos a hinchar!
Ooh, this reminds me quite a bit of Shakshuka. I love the north African/Spanish crossover.
I think I was inspired by that as I had recently seen an Ottolenghi programme where he cooked it with aubergines!
Love having veggie dishes this time of year. It feels so refreshing and recharging in the midst of the holiday overindulgence. Love the looks of this dish!
Sometimes a plate full of sweet tasting veggies is just what you need right now!
Looks and sounds familiar to one of my favorite summer breakfasts, but I’d eat it any time of year.
Happy Holidays!!
Me too!
Mmmhh, now I want eggs! But we’ve been eating peppers and onions for several days in a row, so I guess they would have to be eggs without peppers and onions. You can see I enjoy peppers and onions very much.
You clearly do love peppers and onions! Maybe you´ll be ready for them again in a week or so 🙂
I have been doing my best to add more and more of dishes like that to our menu
There are days when I literaly don’t want to see a piece of meat in my dish and this sounds like a wonderful recipe for days like that!
Oh Sawsan I know how you feel – this is a perfect antidote to a meat heavy diet!
Just popping in to say hello and happy christmas 🙂
Belated greetings to you too!
Feliz Navidad… peace and joy for the new year! Mmmm…
Gracias and the same to you – hope it was a good Christmas and all the best for 2013!
i wish my chickens would be happy to oblige with an egg or two, I have come home to none at all!.. good to be home though eh? or at least in one of them and possibly your favourite one! Love to the big man, don’t stay out too late on New Years!! What am i saying!? Stay out! Ring it in. Party!! c
Thanks celi – the egg production is up, Think ours prefer the slight cold! All the best to you and yours on the Farmy 🙂
Here here to a non-meat heavy dish. I have to fight to get light and vegetarian dishes onto our table with two men around here asking where the meat is, lol! This is more what my daughter and I could eat every day.. very pretty and light!!
Funnily enough, Big Man is the same usualy “what, no meat?” but lately he´s actually started to request days that are meat free!