Baked eggs with potatoes and anchovies

I recently purchased 2 clay baking pots that are perfect for baking eggs. Baked eggs are addictive, especially in this chilling weather. Tasting a piping hot mouthful of oozy egg yolks mixed with soft chunks of tomatoes and baked potatoes is the perfect way to pass a lazy Sunday.

A few weeks ago, I also bought a can of skarpsill from Ikea which is a Swedish marinated fish similar to anchovies and I had no idea what to do with it. And then it occurred to me, why don’t I put it with the baked eggs? It turned out that I didn’t quite like the flavour of this fish as it was somewhat…..’rosy’……or ‘herby’ or something. It tasted quite different to regular anchovies, even the texture is quite different.

Note: the recipe states to just use regular anchovies which I think will work better than the skarpsill. You can also exchange the anchovies with chorizos and it might taste even better.

Baked eggs with potatoes and anchovies
serves 2

Ingredients
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 large tomato, cut into wedges
• half brown onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 8 cocktail potatoes or 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tbsp vegetable stock (or 1 tbsp vegetable paste)
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried or fresh oregano
• 4-5 pieces of anchovies
• 1 tbsp grated cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil
• serve with pieces of Turkish or other good quality bread

Optional: You can replace anchovies with chorizos or Spanish serrano ham. You can also add in half a large capsicum which needs to be sautéed until soft if you wish.

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C.
2. Wash and cut the potatoes, then boil it in a pot of water for roughly 10 minutes or until soft and cooked.
3. In the mean time, heat a pan on medium high with olive oil, cook garlic and onions until transparent.
4. Add in tomatoes, can of tomatoes, tomato paste and stir.
5. Add in smoked paprika, oregano and stock, tasting as you and make sure you don’t make it too salty (remember the anchovies are quite salty).
6. Add in potatoes when they’re done and stir through, cook for 2-3 minutes until potatoes are well coated with the sauce.
7. Put in anchovies, stirring as you add each one and tasting it as you go.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. Transfer items of the frying pan to 2 oven proof pots. Using a spoon, create a small well in the middle of the sauce and potatoes then crack an egg into the well.
10. Bake in the oven for roughly 10 minutes or until the egg white has become solid white.
11. Remove from the oven, top with grated cheese and heat for a further 1 minute or until cheese has melted.
12. Remove from the oven, top with more pepper and olive oil and serve with toasted Turkish bread.

Question time: Do you like anchovies? Have you ever tried Ikea’s Skarpsills and do you like it?

Tagged as: anchovies, baked eggs, potatoes, Recipes, skarpsill