Menemen (Tomato and Pepper Scrambled Eggs)
A recipe for Menemen (Tomato and Pepper Scrambled Eggs) from the cookbook, Smoke and Seasoned Bread. Loosely scrambled eggs are paired with tomatoes, peppers, cheese, and sucuk.
Servings 2 Servings
Ingredients
- 14 ounces (400 grams) white onions finely diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 1/2 ounces (300 grams) beefsteak tomatoes
- 7 ounces (200 grams) cherry tomatoes
- 3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) sivri peppers (about 4), deseeded and finely diced
- 2 eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 3/4 ounces (50 grams) Kaşkaval cheese grated
- 1/4 ounce (10 grams) sucuk (Turkish breakfast sausage), sliced
- 1/2 ounce (15 grams) butter
- sea salt
- warm rustic bread to serve
Instructions
- In a large frying pan over low-medium heat, fry the onions in the olive oil with a big grind of salt until they are soft and translucent.
- Meanwhile, blanch the beefsteak tomatoes and cherry tomatoes in boiling water for 1-1 1/2 minutes, which will make peeling their skins much easier.
- Chop the beefsteak and cherry tomatoes and set aside in separate piles. The beefsteak tomatoes will be our base flavor and cherry tomatoes will lend sweetness.
- Once the onions have sweated down, stir in the peppers. We only want to fry them for a couple of minutes so that they still have bite.
- Add all the chopped beefsteak tomatoes plus half of the chopped cherry tomatoes to the pan and stir. Add a big grind of salt and leave over medium heat for the moisture to cook out.
- Once the tomato liquid has evaporated, the mixture will be dry enough to start frying again. You'll hear the difference in the tomatoes; they will change from a simmering blip blip blip to a frying hisssssss.
- Whisk together the eggs and the egg yolks, then swirl them into the pan. Add a grind of salt to season, then gently stir for about a minute over medium heat to combine with the onion mixture.
- While the eggs are still runny, pour in the remaining chopped cherry tomatoes and leave the mixture to cook.
- As soon as the eggs have cooked and look like a loose omelet, transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish. Top generously with the cheese and sucuk, then place under a hot grill until the cheese melts and the sucuk is warm.
- Add the butter to the top of the dish, then you're ready to eat.