Coquette's Eggs

I will admit that what drew me to this recipe was the name.  However, what made me actually pull all of the ingredients out of the fridge was the simplicity of it, and the sheer fact that it just sounded good.  Sophie Dahl (yes, this is another of her recipes) has it filed under the Spring Breakfasts section.  But as it calls for feta cheese, I thought this sounded a bit strong and rather rude first thing in the morning.  So instead we had this for dinner, and I think I made the right call.

What I did was this: I got a Picolo Como loaf of bread at the store, sliced it, brushed the slices with olive oil, put them on a baking sheet, and then popped it in oven for a few minutes.  I also roasted asparagus, excellent choice, if I do say so myself.  And I poured two glasses of wine (one for me and one for Michael, respectively), and I poured a small glass of sparkling water for Emilia.

It is true that Michael spent half of the dinner worrying about his dental work.  But other than that, it was very good — extremely simple and quite a nice little dinner, really.  (Apparently the crusty loaf of bread got a little too crusty for him in the oven.  And he has never forgiven me for once serving him a bean dish that sent him to the dentist the next day.  In my defense, it didn't occur to me that rocks would actually be included in the bag of dried beans I bought from the store.  I rinsed them thoroughly and cooked them up according to the recipe, but I neglected to look for rocks.  What can I say?)

Anyway, back to the recipe at hand.  The whole thing takes no time at all, but it's probably best to start with your peppers. Sophie Dahl suggests using roasted red peppers from a jar, but I actually like to roast peppers myself. It is very easy, all you have to do is put the pepper on a lined baking sheet, plonk it in the oven under the broiler, and turn it with tongs as needed. Once it is all blackened up, put it in a bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap. After a few minutes, remove the plastic wrap, and the skin from the pepper should come right off. Then slice it up and use it accordingly. Simple as that. And I think much better than anything you can get in a jar.

As for the coquette aspect of the dish?  I'll leave that for you to decide.  If nothing else, you can't deny that the name gives it a certain charm. 

Coquette's Eggs
Serves 2

4 eggs
salt and pepper
1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, and sliced (or a jar of roasted red peppers)
a chunk of feta cheese, crumbled
a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

Break your eggs into a bowl and whisk with salt and pepper.  Pour a bit of olive oil into a pan and heat gently.  Pour the eggs in and make scrambled eggs.  Miss Dahl does not like her in the manner of an omelet, so she suggest stirring them constantly while on very low heat.  As for me, I prefer the omelette-ish sort of scrambled eggs, so I only stir them from time to time.  However, the whole cooking process should be less than a minute, unless you've doubled the recipe or something. 

In a separate pan, heat a bit more oil, toss in the roasted red peppers and the crumbled feta.  (I forgot the cheese was supposed to be crumbled so mine is cubed, in a not very attractive fashion.)  Let it heat up for a minute or so.   You may want to get this started before you get the eggs cooking just so you don't end up with waiting eggs that have turned cold and rubbery.

Once the eggs are done, pour the peppers and feta on top, and top it with fresh basil.  Miss Dahl suggests serving it 'with some good toast and a saucy smile.'  Whereas we had extra crunchy, or as I like to say 'rustic', bread and a few scowls from my husband.  (Recipe from: Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl.  Harper Collins, 2009.)