Chilli Eggs with Grilled Peppers

So the final meal of 2006 is over (steak and kidney pudding if you’d like to know!) and the dieting begins – or in Michael’s case a touch of austerity. Not that our meals are actually austere, just using less fat for cooking, along with a little bit of common sense like puddings (and finishing off the Christmas cake) only on Sundays. In fact the kitchen garden at this time of year is a great incentive to sensible eating. For the first time ever we have our own celery: it doesn’t look very prepossessing in its plastic pipes but once disgorged it looks and tastes like the best Fenland celery that comes with the earth still clinging to it. Along with the celery, the carrots, parsnips, cauliflowers, leeks and cabbages appear to be flourishing, and I feel a few delicious soups coming on. Meanwhile it is also the season for snack meals, in contrast to the blow-outs we’ve been used to for the past couple of weeks. Here is one – with apologies to our kitchen garden – that comes almost entirely from the supermarket shelves. Waitrose and M&S do jars of excellent char-grilled peppers (but you can also buy the roasted peppers). Jalapenos come from the Waitrose Cook’s Ingredient range: they are not as fiery as you might imagine, though you can also get what they call the ‘tamed’ version.

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  Serves 2

Ingredients
1 x 400g tin Italian chopped tomatoes, drained
1 x 280g jar grilled peppers in oil, drained (but reserve the oil)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
4 pieces jalapeno pepper
12 black olives, pitted
4 large eggs
1 dessertspoon oil (from the peppers)
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
Pre-heat the grill to its highest setting.

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Method

Start off in a large frying pan by heating the oil, then adding the chopped onion. Soften it for 5 minutes or so before adding the garlic and cooking for another minute. Meanwhile, chop the peppers roughly, then chop the jalapeno quite fine. Now pour the chopped tomato into the pan to join the onions, followed by the chopped peppers and the jalapeno, and finally sprinkle in the olives.

Season with salt and freshly milled pepper, give it all a good stir and continue to cook for a further five minutes.

Then move the pepper mixture to the edges of the pan, making a space in the centre. Break the eggs into the centre of the pan, season with salt and pepper, then cook over a medium heat for 4 minutes before transferring the frying pan to the grill – approximately 4 inches from the heat. Cook until the eggs are set to your liking, but do keep a close eye on them because things can happen quite quickly at this stage.

Serve with brown bread and butter.

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