Basque Piperade with Baked Eggs & Saucisson Basque
Sweet stewed peppers, onions, and tomato spiced with Espelette, eggs baked right in, and crisped saucisson basque on top — a cozy one-pan breakfast straight from the Basque country.
Piperade is the classic Basque pepper stew, and our Saucisson Basque is seasoned with the very same Espelette pepper and saffron, so the two were practically made for each other.
You slowly cook down peppers, onion, and tomato until jammy, crack in some eggs to bake, and crown it with crisped saucisson. It's rustic, warming, and built for a slow morning with bread to mop the pan.
One skillet, a little patience, and a very good breakfast.
Ingredients
For the Piperade
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers (red and green), sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon Espelette pepper (or paprika with a pinch of cayenne)
1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon salt
3 oz Saucisson Basque salami, sliced
4 eggs
For Serving
fresh parsley
crusty bread
flaky salt
Featured in this recipe:
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium. Add the onion and peppers and cook 10 to 12 minutes until very soft.
Add the garlic and Espelette and cook 1 minute until fragrant.
Stir in the crushed tomatoes and salt. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes until thickened and jammy. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Crisp the saucisson briefly in a separate dry pan, or stir half of it into the piperade and reserve the rest.
Make four wells in the piperade and crack an egg into each. Scatter the reserved saucisson around.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake 8 to 10 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.
Finish with parsley and flaky salt. Serve from the pan with crusty bread.
Chef Notes
Cook the peppers and onions low and slow — the sweeter and jammier the base, the better the dish.
Pull the eggs when the whites are just set; they keep cooking from the residual heat. No oven-safe skillet? Cover the pan on the stovetop instead and cook until the eggs set.
Substitutions & Tips
Espelette pepper is traditional, but sweet paprika with a small pinch of cayenne gets you close.
Dry Chorizo or Calabrese both work in place of the saucisson basque. Add a handful of greens or some leftover potatoes to stretch it further.
Serving & Storage
Best eaten straight from the pan while the yolks are runny.
The piperade base keeps for 3 days in the fridge and reheats beautifully — just rewarm it, add fresh eggs, and bake again to serve.
Published
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