Skillet Eggs with Chorizo and Vegetables

This is a thick vegetable stew that can definitely put to good use a glut of vegetables at the end of summer. It’s very similar to ratatouille but with soft eggs on top. This is the perfect supper when served with a hunk of crusty French bread to soak up the vegetable juices and the eggs.

I did not add the chorizo to the dish. I diced the onions into 1/2-inch pieces. The bell pepper, eggplant and zucchini I chopped into 3/4-inch pieces. The vegetables could’ve been chopped into smaller pieces, but I went for a more rustic and chunky stew. I added only 1/3 cup water to my fresh tomatoes because they seemed very juicy after I skinned and chopped them. I topped our eggs with a pinch each of hot paprika and smoked paprika. The cooking times seemed accurate for all the vegetables to turn tender. Our 4 eggs were cooked 2 to 2 1/2 minutes for the whites to set slightly and still have a very runny yolk. The dish was a satisfying and warming stew with the eggs. Our biggest problem was it made a HUGE amount of stew for 2 people to eat! Next time, I would cut back on the quantity of vegetables.

This skillet eggs with chorizo sounded like a nice way to enjoy what’s at the farmers’ market right now. I made this recipe one evening, thinking that I’d be able to create a nice, quick breakfast after adding the eggs the next morning. That night we enjoyed this without the eggs as a side dish to the roasted chicken we’d made for dinner. The next morning we enjoyed this veggie “stew” with runny-yolk eggs nestled in.

I liked the fact that the veggies were al dente and had some crispness to them. I used a 14-ounce can of fire-roasted chopped tomatoes with their juices. That seemed to be enough liquid so I didn’t add the water called for in the recipe.

We were all a little leery about trying this dish—we were just out of our comfort zone—but to my surprise everyone loved it. It was a huge hit. I think this recipe would be easy to make just the way your family likes it—spicy or mild and with a variety of spices or vegetables. A lovely, healthy, comfort food meal.

I started with a tube of chorizo, which I cooked with the finely chopped onion for a few minutes, then added the bell pepper, also chopped somewhat fine. I didn’t find an eggplant when I went to the store so I used a little more tomato and zucchini.

I cannot predict my family’s schedule and ended up having to postpone our dinner plans that night. I put my vegetable sauce in the refrigerator and 2 days later resumed making the recipe. At this point, all I had to do was reheat the sauce and add the eggs. I served the dish with baked tortillas. I almost wish I’d served it over crisped polenta or maybe even grits.

This skillet eggs recipe worked very well for me as written. I believe the expectation is to use a cured chorizo, which is fortunate, as it’s the easiest kind of Spanish chorizo to find. I added the chorizo after sautéing the onion and pepper, just after adding the garlic, cumin, and pepper flakes. This was quite a bit of chorizo, so depending upon how much you want, I think you should vary the amount between 4 and 7 ounces.

I used canned diced tomatoes. I drained the tomatoes, and used the reserved liquid as part of the 2/3 cup water called for. The cooking times in the recipe were accurate for yielding very tender vegetables, which in my opinion is what you want in this recipe. Before adding the eggs, it’ll help keep them in a compact form if you take the back of a spoon and hollow out a little nest for each egg.

The 5-minute cooking time specified gives a perfectly cooked egg with a runny yolk. If you want your eggs more thoroughly cooked, you’ll need to increase the time. I chopped the onion in a 1/4-inch dice, which is my standard when size isn’t specified. This worked for me. I also thought 1/2-inch pieces of zucchini were just right (mine might’ve even been a bit smaller). The amount of water worked, although part of my “water” was the reserved tomato juice.