Huevos a la Flamenca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy frying pan, about 30cm
• •Four oven-safe cazuelas de barro, 14 to 16cm each, or one 28cm shallow oven-safe dish
• •Rimmed baking sheet
• •Slotted spoon
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Four small cups for cracking the eggs

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the oven

   Heat the oven to 200°C conventional, 180°C fan, or 400°F. Set four room-temperature 14 to 16cm oven-safe cazuelas de barro on a rimmed baking sheet. Have every vegetable cut before you begin; once the pimentón reaches the pan, the tomato must follow quickly so it cannot scorch.

   If you don't have individual cazuelas, use one 28cm oven-safe frying pan or shallow baking dish. The eggs may need one or two extra minutes because the larger base loses heat more quickly.
2. 2

   Fry the potatoes

   Warm the olive oil in a 30cm frying pan over medium heat. Add the diced potatoes and fry for 12 to 15 minutes, turning gently, until tender inside and pale gold at the edges. They should hold their shape, not become crisp. Lift them into a sieve with a slotted spoon, season with 2g of the salt and leave them to drain. Strain the oil and measure 45ml back into the pan; keep the remainder for another savoury dish.

   Test a potato with the point of a knife. It should enter without resistance. The oven gives the edges their final colour, but it won't rescue a hard centre.
3. 3

   Start the sofrito

   Set the pan with the reserved 45ml oil over medium-low heat. Add the chorizo and cook for 2 minutes, just until it releases a little red oil, then lift it out and reserve it. Add the onion with 2g salt. Cook gently for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until dark gold, soft and almost jammy. Add the asparagus and cook for 3 minutes, then add the garlic for 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón for 20 seconds, and immediately add the crushed tomatoes.

4. 4

   Reduce the tomato

   Return the pan to medium heat until the tomato bubbles, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes. Stir more frequently as it thickens. It is ready when the colour has deepened to brick red, the oil glints at the edges, and a wooden spoon drawn through the middle leaves a clean path for two seconds. Add the remaining 2g salt and the black pepper. This is the point that decides the dish: a wet sofrito gives you watery eggs.

   Taste before adding more salt. Jamón and chorizo both bring their own, and the sauce becomes saltier as it reduces.
5. 5

   Fill the cazuelas

   Stir the fried potatoes, peas, roasted pepper strips and reserved chorizo into the thick sofrito. Cook for 3 minutes so the peas lose their raw chill and everything is hot. Divide the mixture among the four cazuelas and scatter the jamón through it. Make two broad wells in each dish. Crack each egg into a small cup first, then slide one into every well, keeping the yolks whole.

6. 6

   Bake the eggs

   Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, watching closely from the seventh minute. Pull the cazuelas when the whites are opaque and set at the edges but still tremble faintly beside the glossy yolks. The barro carries on cooking after it leaves the oven, so wait only 2 minutes before serving. Put each cazuela on a heatproof plate and bring it to the table with thick bread for the yolk and sofrito.

Chef Tips

• •Use firm, semi-cured chorizo made with garlic and pimentón. Loose raw Mexican chorizo dissolves into the tomato and changes both the texture and seasoning. If the right chorizo isn't available, omit it and increase the jamón to 130g; the dish will be leaner and less smoky, but it will still make sense in a Sevillian kitchen.
• •Outside tomato season, good tinned whole tomatoes are the sound choice. Fresh winter tomatoes carry more water and less flavour, which means a longer cook for a thinner result. Save the raw ones for the month when they smell of tomato before you cut them.
• •Pimiento morrón is a sweet roasted red pepper sold in jars or tins. Ordinary jarred roasted red peppers are the proper substitute; drain them well and expect a little less sweetness than you get from good pimiento morrón.
• •Earthenware holds heat fiercely. Pull the eggs as soon as the whites set, or the yolks will be firm by the time the cazuela reaches the table. Metal cools faster and gives you a little more room.
• •For pregnant people, young children, older adults or anyone with a weakened immune system, use pasteurized eggs or bake until both whites and yolks are firm.
• •A cold fino from Jerez suits the tomato, jamón and pimentón without weighing the dish down. Serve water as well; between the cured meats and hot cazuela, you'll want it.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato sofrito can be cooked up to 48 hours ahead. Cool it promptly, cover and refrigerate, then reheat it until bubbling before adding the vegetables, meats and eggs.
• •The complete potato, vegetable and meat base can be assembled one day ahead without the eggs. Refrigerate it in a covered container, reheat it gently in the frying pan, and divide it among room-temperature cazuelas before cracking the eggs.
• •Do not move a chilled earthenware cazuela straight into a hot oven; the sudden temperature change can crack it. Keep the cazuelas at room temperature and add the reheated base just before baking.
• •Once the eggs are baked, serve them at once. Leftovers can be refrigerated within two hours and reheated until fully hot, but the yolks will no longer run.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 610g)