Obi's Post: Sovereign Greek Default Potatoes and Eggs

Posting this for him as he hasn't been able to sign in yet.

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Like Ejade, economics has forced a radical change in my culinary habits. I now cook in a style I refer to as "Economic Downturn Cuisine"... it's basically survival cooking to keep myself alive on my $200/ month food budget without sacrificing too much in the way of gustatory ebullience.

Materials and Methods*:

* all measures are approximate. I usually don't bother and add "by eye or momentary whim". I also don't cook with any added salt; so if you're a hypertensive addict, add salt to taste.

4 averaged sized New Red Potatoes

1 small to medium yellow onion

1/2 a red roasted pepper

3 slices of salami

3 eggs

1 oz (about a heaping tablespoon) of a can of diced chili

peppers

minced garlic, black pepper, and either oregano or thyme

to taste

Olive oil - about 1/2 a shot glass' worth.

1. slice the taters up: cut them in half and then into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Parboil about 10 minutes and drain well, or nuke on high for about 5-6 minutes.

2. Peel and slice the onion into 1/4 thick rings.

3. Cut the salami in 1/2 wide strips. Do them separately or they tend to stick together in the pan.

4. add the oil to a frying pan. I use a 10 in cast iron wok.

High heat ...add the minced garlic, the potatoes, and the other herbs. Cook with frequent agitation until the tater edges start turning a little brown. Three to 5 minutes usually suffices depending on what kind of pan you're using and how skilled you are at cooking over a roaring maximum blast furnace flame.

5. add the onions, cover and agitate frequently - you're going for turning the onions slightly translucent without turning the potatoes into cinders. About 5 minutes usually works.

6. add the salami strips, diced chilli's, and roasted red pepper. Cook covered and with frequent agitation until the salami is "sweating"...i.e. the salami fats are liquefying and joining with everything else. Usually takes 3 to 5 minutes on a low or medium flame.

7. Break three eggs on top of the cooking potato pile, break the yolks once, cover and turn off the heat; allowing the heat of the potatoes to cook the eggs. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but eggs done this way tend to be sweeter tasting than faster cooking methods.

Takes about 5 minutes... check the eggs periodically. You're looking for opaque whites and a little bit of a jiggle.

8. Briefly turn the flame on again and toss/fold the eggs lightly into the potatoes, etc. This should take about 30-45 seconds.

9. Serve.

This is a very strongly flavoured dish with a surprisingly high satiety value. And yeah, it looks like an accident, but it tastes pretty good. It feeds two normal appetited humans or four metro sexuals pretty easily. Good with a salad on the side, or as a side dish to sausage, pork, chicken, hummus, or grilled green beans.

Sprinkling with a little grated parmesan also punches it up a bit.

A nice variant is leaving out the roasted red peppers and replacing them with about 6 thickly sliced mushrooms. Swapping out the thyme/oregano for tarragon also works well with the mushroom variation.

In the photo I've served it with halved fresh grape tomatoes and a tortilla that's been flame toasted on an open burner and then cut into 6ths. Tortillas are significantly cheaper than pita... ;).