More than half-baked

Being struck down by a 'debilitating' illness this week didn't make me physically incapacitated, but rather, verbally incapacitated (hence, being completely unfit for my normal school teacher/yelling-at-the-kiddies duties). Needless to say, I've been bored out of my brains as I'm not really a fan of the repetitive nature of the free-to-air Olympic coverage and I can only watch my Sex & the City box set so many times (No. Wait. Scratch that, SATC never gets old). This, compounded with the fact that I had the bare basic ingredients in the fridge, and payday wasn't coming for another 24 hours, left me with the ultimate challenge... How to use up what I've got in the fridge and not just have eggs on toast for lunch. My solution? Baked eggs! Brilliant recipe creation by the Spaniards (I think!) and the easiest way to use up eggs, sausages and left over canned tomatoes from Friday night's pizza sauce.

This (probably) isn't traditional, especially considering I've used lean Italian sausages from Woolies, and I just sort of chucked in things as I thought of them, but it tasted pretty damn good and so I thought it share-worthy for inspiration the next time you get stuck with this challenge.

Baked Eggs with Sausage and Sourdough (served 1 hungry hippo - but could easily serve 2)
3 sausages
2 eggs
1/2 can tinned tomatoes
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
pinch cayenne pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Grated parmesan to serve (Optional)
Toasted sourdough, to serve

 1. Preheat oven to 180C. Heat oil in a medium frypan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, until soft. Remove thyme and save for later. Add paprika and cayenne pepper and cook until fragrant. Reduce heat.
2. Add tomatoes and simmer gently for 5 minutes to reduce liquid. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Meanwhile, heat oil on a griddle pan over medium heat and lightly brown sausages.
4. Place tomato mix in a small baking dish. Top with sausages then gently crack eggs into the middle of the dish (on top of the tomato). Top with sprigs of thyme.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until eggs are just set. Sprinkle with parmesan and serve with sourdough.

Considering how quick this was to prepare and how little thought actually went into the cooking process, I really wasn't expecting anything too special. But I have to say, this is a winner!! The rich tomato sauce, the slight fennel-spicing of the Italian sausages, the gooey yolk and crispy bread was all a perfect combination. This is one of those great dishes that works for pretty much ANY meal - breakfast, brunch, lunch, Sunday dinner...

However, as stated before, this is about as traditional as eating museli for breakfast in Japan. Anyway, to improve the authenticity of this dish, I would suggest using a chorizo sausage (even though the Italian one was tasty). Also, a light sprinkle of something like a manchego, instead of parmesan, is recommended. This will make for a much more 'Spanish' flavour and would probably be even tastier too!

Enjoy!

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