This wonderful egg dish comes from the incomparable Rick Stein, in his cookbook Rick Stein’s Long Weekends, published in 2017.

Rick Stein’s idea for this book is as if you spend a long weekend away from home, and experience the local food. If one lives in England, as Mr. Stein does, it’s quite easy to visit other European cities for a long weekend.

The other recipes in the book (I’ve bookmarked many) are not all Spanish. He focuses on a varieties of cities, including Vienna, Bordeaux, Cadiz, Berlin, Bologna, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Reykjavik, Thessaloniki, and Palermo.

The recipe, in English, is Flamenco Eggs with Tomato and Serrano ham. According to Stein: “This is what you might call Spain on a plate, a sum-up dish of everything we love about Spanish cooking: Serrano ham, chorizo, pimentos, tomatoes, garlic, and onion.”

I agree. And it’s fabulous!

Huevos a la Flamenca

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 ounces Serrano ham, chopped
1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
8 large tomatoes, skinned, chopped, or peeled canned plum tomatoes
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 1/2 ounces peas, fresh or frozen
4 eggs
12 slices chorizo sausage
1 red bell pepper, roasted and skinned, cut into 8 strips (or use from a jar)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Small handful flat-leaf parsley

For the griddled bread:
4-8 thick slices bread
1 clove garlic, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Cook the onion and garlic until soft, 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the ham and the pimentón picante, fry for 3 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Cover the pan and cook until the tomatoes are reduced and pulpy, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Cook fresh peas for 3 minutes then drain and refresh; frozen peas do not require precooking.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Scatter the peas over the tomato sauce in the pan. Break the eggs into the sauce. Arrange the chorizo slices around the eggs, and the red pepper strips over and around the eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake until the egg whites are set and the yolks still soft, about 10 to 15 minutes, checking after 10.

Rub the bread with the garlic, brush with the olive oil, and griddle it on a ridged pan or in a frying pan.

Scatter the chopped parsley over the dish and serve with the griddled bread.

Make sure to use high quality smoked paprika.