Huevos a la Extremeña

Huevos a la extremeña belong to Extremadura: eggs baked in shallow earthenware over fried potatoes and tomato sofrito, with jamón curado and the oak-smoked pimentón de la Vera that gives the dish its regional surname. It is frugal, substantial food, as sensible for a weeknight supper as for a late breakfast. This isn't merely eggs in tomato sauce. The potatoes carry it, the cured ham seasons it, and Extremadura's pimentón marks it.

The method that decides the dish is the sofrito, the slow vegetable base. Cook the onion and pepper until soft and dark gold, then reduce the tomato until a spoon leaves a clean path across the pan. A watery sauce makes the eggs simmer from below while their tops stay raw. A thick one holds them properly, so the whites set and the yolks remain soft. Stir the pimentón in off the heat before the tomato goes in, because scorched pimentón is bitter and no amount of jamón will argue it back into good sense.

Use ripe tomatoes when the market has them. In colder months, whole peeled tomatoes from a tin are the honest choice; they need a few more minutes in the pan and taste deeper, but they are better than a hard winter tomato. Away from Spain, any unsmoked dry-cured ham can stand in for jamón serrano, though it may be softer and less nutty. A good smoked paprika works at a pinch, but it lacks the rounded oak smoke of pimentón de la Vera. No hace falta haber pisado España. My Margin beside this recipe says only: thick sauce, soft yolk.