Huevos a la Flamenca

Huevos a la flamenca are Sevillian, an Andalusian cazuela of eggs baked over tomato, potatoes, peas, peppers, jamón and chorizo. What marks them out from other baked eggs is that generous vegetable base and the cured larder tucked through it. The eggs cook in the same shallow cazuela that comes to the table, their whites settling into the sauce while the yolks stay loose enough for the bread.

The method that decides the dish is the sofrito, the slow-cooked onion and tomato base. Cook the onion low until dark gold and soft, then reduce the tomato until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a clean path. That concentration gives the sauce its sweetness and keeps it from leaking water around the eggs. Rush it and you get pale onion, wet tomato and wandering whites. Nobody asked for that.

Far from Seville, use good tinned tomatoes when fresh ones aren't fragrant and heavy; the flavour will be rounder and less bright, but much better than a poor raw tomato. Look for firm, paprika-red Spanish-style chorizo rather than loose raw chorizo. If you can't find it, leave it out and add a little more jamón. My Margin has one warning here: pull the eggs sooner than your eye wants, because the hot barro keeps cooking them at the table. Siempre sale, si lo sigues, it turns out if you follow it.