Shop for this week's Dinner in Minutes

This dish could be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It's good enough to deploy as a staple in summer, when peppers and tomatoes are plentiful.
You might wonder: If it's basically eggs, bacon and vegetables, why does it take 40 minutes to prepare? Technique. Cooking the eggs slowly, with the vegetable base, yields the creaminess referred to in the title. A few minutes of stirring over low heat, as opposed to the usual scrambling, elevates the ingredients.

A spice you should have on hand. (Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post)

And about some of those ingredients: The onion, tomatoes and bell peppers are cooked with olive oil; this is called a piperade. Pancetta is a cured, rolled bacon that is not smoked; it is available (sliced) at large Giant stores and at Whole Foods Markets. Piment d'espelette is a sweet, coarsely ground version of dried Basque red peppers, and it is available at La Cuisine in Alexandria (703-836-4435) and through online purveyors.

Boldface items in this list are for your shopping convenience; to view the entire recipe, click on the recipe title.

Creamy Eggs With Tomatoes and Peppers, Basque-Style
4 to 6 servings

Serve with multigrain toast.

Adapted from Sur La Table's "Eating Local," with Janet Fletcher (Andrews McMeel, 2010).

3 ounces sliced pancetta (see headnote; may substitute thick-cut bacon)

1 medium yellow onion

2 medium bell peppers, preferably of different colors, such as red and yellow or yellow and orange

3 medium cloves garlic

6 to 8 stems thyme

6 to 8 Roma tomatoes

8 large eggs

Leaves from 3 or 4 stems curly parsley, for garnish

Piment d'espelette, Spanish smoked paprika or sweet paprika, for garnish (see headnote)

Questions?

-- Bonnie S. Benwick