Piperade Basquaise

Ingredients

• 4 long sweet green peppers
• 1 red pepper
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 800 g ripe tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 4 tbsp olive oil or duck fat
• 1 1/2 tsp piment d'Espelette
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 8 eggs
• 4 slices of Bayonne ham
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Score a cross in the base of each tomato, cover with boiling water for 30 seconds, then slip off the skins and chop the flesh
• Deseed the peppers and cut them into thin strips by hand
• Slice the onions and the garlic thinly
• Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and set them aside

Steps

1. Warm 3 tablespoons of the oil in a wide, heavy pan over low heat.
2. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook them for 12 minutes, until soft and translucent but not coloured.
3. Add the pepper strips and the garlic, then cook for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the peppers collapse.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, the sugar, 1 teaspoon of the piment d'Espelette and a good pinch of salt.
5. Cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, until the mixture is thick and jammy with no watery liquid left in the pan.
6. Warm the remaining oil in a small frying pan and lay in the ham slices for 30 seconds a side, just to release their fat, then lift them onto a plate.
7. Turn the heat under the vegetables down to its lowest setting.
8. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir them slowly through the peppers with a wooden spoon.
9. Keep stirring gently for three to four minutes, until the eggs are barely set and still glossy.
10. Take the pan off the heat at the point it still looks slightly underdone, because it carries on setting.
11. Spoon the piperade onto warm plates, drape a slice of ham over each and dust with the last of the piment d'Espelette.