Pipérade with Poached Eggs

Serve bowls of this stew with toasted slices of rustic olive bread. Prep and Cook Time: about 1 hour.

Yield: Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 2  ounces  large rounds or pieces thinly sliced pancetta
• 1 1/2  pounds  red, yellow, and/or green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and slivered lengthwise
• 1  small red onion, slivered lengthwise
• 1  tablespoon  minced garlic
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• About 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2  cups  low-sodium chicken broth
• 2  tablespoons  sherry vinegar
• 2  Roma tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
• 1/4  cup  halved pitted kalamata olives (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2  to 4 soft-poached eggs (recipe follows)

Preparation

1. Pour olive oil into a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to get crisp and brown, 4 to 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to a bowl.

2. Add peppers, onion, garlic, thyme, and 1/2 tsp. salt to pan, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften, 7 to 10 minutes. Lower heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 25 minutes longer.

3. Add chicken broth, vinegar, tomatoes, and cooked pancetta to pan. Increase heat to medium-high, and boil, stirring often, until liquid is very slightly reduced and thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in olives if using, and season to taste with pepper and more salt.

4. Meanwhile, poach eggs (recipe follows).

5. Spoon pipérade into 2 wide, shallow bowls, and nestle 1 or 2 poached eggs in each serving.

Perfect Poached Eggs

1. Put about 3 in. water in a wide pan; bring to a boil over high heat. With a slotted spoon, quickly and gently immerse eggs in the shell, 1 at a time, for 8 seconds, then lift out.

2. Pour out all but 1 in. of water from pan; reduce heat so bubbles on pan bottom pop to the surface only occasionally. Crack eggs 1 at a time, and, holding shell close to the surface of the water, break it open to let egg slide gently into water. Cook to desired doneness (poke gently with a spoon to check), 3 to 4 minutes for soft-poached eggs.

3. With slotted spoon, lift eggs 1 at a time from water.

Note: Nutrition analysis is per serving.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

452 (70% from fat)

Protein:

18g

Fat:

35g (sat 11)

Carbohydrate:

18g

Fiber:

2.7g

Sodium:

1621mg

Cholesterol:

337mg