Piperade is a French Basque dish made from peppers, onions and tomatoes. In Spain’s Basque country it’s called piperrada. The colors of the ingredients– green, white and red– echo those of the Basque flag.
As a side dish, piperade is very popular. Frequently, it’s paired with a protein or two for a complete meal. In this case, we’re adding eggs to the peppers, onions and tomatoes we’re going to prepare.
This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs we’re exploring eggs as an ingredient. I chose to make piperade with eggs for several reasons: 1) Julia Child, Nigel Slater AND Dorie Greenspan have recipes for it (no doubt other featured chefs have recipes as well…the combination is common in Mediterranean cooking) and; 2) I’ve eaten the Spanish version on many occasions, usually with a fried egg served over top of the piperrada.
Other cultures around the Mediterranean make similar dishes with peppers and onions. The Italians have pepperonata and the Isreali’s have shashuka. Another variation with eggs is Turkish menemen.
Aside from using the local peppers and onions, the seasoning varies quite a lot between the various incarnations of piperade. I’ve stuck with my understanding of Spanish and Basque cuisine.
Piperade is all about the peppers
The espelette is a red pepper associated with the French Basque region. It’s considered to be mildly hot as things are reckoned on the pepper scale.
The espelette’s production and marketing is protected by an AOC designation. If you lived in Basque country, these peppers would be widely available to you. It’s possible to buy espelettes grown elsewhere, but outside of the AOC, they’re just sparkling peppers.
Use whatever mild to medium hot pepper you have on hand to make your piperade with eggs. I bought a pack of multicolored bell peppers.
The same goes for the onions. Use any onion you have available.
And if you don’t have fresh tomatoes, use canned.
Traditionally the peppers and onions are cut into strips or petals. My peppers were already diced so I diced the onions to match them. When adding eggs, it’s not that big a deal.
There’s no need to complicate a simple dish like this. If you like the ingredients, odds are you’ll like the end result.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil and/or butter plus more if needed
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 cup bell peppers, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 small roma tomatoes, seeded and diced (about a cup)
- 4 large eggs (2 per person)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 handful chopped parsley and/or other fresh herbs
Instructions
- Heat the oil and red pepper flakes over medium heat.
- Saute the peppers and onions until they've softened and begun to change color, five minutes or so.
- Add in the tomatoes and garlic. Season with salt, pepper and half of the parsley. Lower the heat and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Beat the eggs with some salt and pepper and add to the veggies. Stir as you would for scrambled eggs with the goal of keeping the curds as soft as possible.
- Garnish with the remaining parsley and serve with toast.
There are variations of piperade where chicken or fish are steamed/braised in the pan over top the vegetables (similar to this recipe with cod and leeks)
Piperade is served as an accompaniment to other meats. Dorie Greenspan’s recipe adds a splash of vinegar for interest and to brighten the oily vegetables.
Julia Child’s recipe arranges slices of ham over top the veg while Nigel Slater’s is most similar to what I’ve prepared.
No matter which version you make, be sure to drop by I Heart Cooking Clubs for more egg dishes.
Interesting dish made more appealing and spicier with these AOC designated espelette. Eggs are providing a bland canvas for a whole host of ingredients. Very informative!
Love peppers, so this dish is for me! Lotta flavor in this, and pretty easy to make. Just a darn nice dish! Thanks. 🙂