083. Basque-style gratin with eggs (French recipe)

A gratin is any sweet or savoury dish baked in the oven until it forms an appetising crust. It's very popular in France and Spain. Usually a gratin is meat or fish. The lasagna whose recipe I've already given, for instance, is also cooked "au gratin".

But this time I want to tell you about a very healthy and no less tasty recipe for a Basque-style gratin with eggs, which appeared in the northern regions of Spain and spread across the world very quickly.

Cooking time ≈ 2 hours.

Ingredients:

• 4 fresh tomatoes
• 2 fresh courgettes
• 1 sweet red pepper
• 4 hen's eggs
• 100 g cheese
• 1 onion
• 1 head of garlic
• 20 g butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• parsley, salt, pepper to taste

Finely chop the pepper and the onion.

Peel and slice the courgettes, removing the seeds.

Pour olive oil into a heavy pan, add the onion and fry it a little.

Add the pepper to the onion.

When the pepper has fried a little, add the courgettes and stew until golden.

Add the finely chopped tomatoes (skin them first — the process was described in the recipe for spaghetti with sauce "À la bolognaise") and the finely chopped garlic. Pepper, salt and stew for a couple more minutes.

Put the future gratin into a dish greased with butter. Make two "furrows" and break the eggs into them.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Put into the oven at maximum temperature for 15–20 minutes (if you have a grill setting, better use it). Watch that the cheese crust doesn't dry out. Take it out and sprinkle the gratin with finely chopped parsley.

The Basque-style gratin with eggs is ready.

Bon appétit!