Recipe: Pisto Manchego

Pisto manchego is similar to ratatouille. It can be served warm to accompany a main dish or cold as a starter or to accompany a salad. Pisto can be used as a filling for sandwiches, savoury crepes, empanadillas or little puffed pastry pies or even as a pasta sauce. Pisto manchego freezes well, so you can make a big batch and use as required. This is an easy recipe for a traditional Spanish dish which originally came from Castilla la Mancha (hence it's name, Pisto Manchego) but is nowadays a favourite simple dish cooked and served all over Spain.

(｡◕‿◕｡) Ingredients for 4 people:

- 6 eggs

- 4 large ripe tomatoes

- 2 large onions

- 2 fleshy green peppers

- 2 medium-sized courgettes

- 1 red pepper

- 100g cured ham in small pieces (optional)

- virgin olive oil

- 1 teaspoon of sugar salt 

Preparation

Peel the onions; remove the stalks and the seeds from the peppers; scrape some of the peel off the courgettes without actually peeling them and scald the tomatoes to remove the skins. Then cut all these vegetables into cubes. Put a deep frying pan or earthenware dish on the heat. Cover the base with oil and sauté the ham, if you want to add this to the dish. Add the onion and the peppers and lightly fry everything for about 8 minutes, without stopping stirring with the skimming ladle. Add the courgette and, when this is also cooked, add the tomatoes. Mix well and allow the ratatouille to cook over a low heat for about another 20 minutes. Ten minutes before the end, put in a little sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes and salt, to taste.

Presentation

Serve in a dish, with the eggs fried around it, or in the earthenware dish, with the eggs solidified in the oven. In the latter case, you will have to put the ratatouille in for the last few minutes with the eggs on top until the whites solidify and it is ready to serve.