We grew up in suburban Melbourne, with parents who organically grew their own food and enjoyed the slow food lifestyle….long before it became fashionable. Summer holidays were spent climbing the fruit trees in the backyard and sharing the harvest with our wonderful neighbours. There was always an abundance of eggs from the chickens and zucchini and tomatoes from the garden, amongst other things. For us, this trip down memory lane to our childhood garden is where this recipe originates. In reality, you will find a variation of it in various provincial Italian recipe books.

This simple and rustic recipe for cooking eggs is a great option for those ‘vegetarian’ days when you decide what to eat and don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. Super tasty and full of protein, you can serve it at any time…from breakfast to supper. We love making this basic eggs and tomato sugo dish in the summer using our fresh garden tomatoes, basil and zucchini, along with organic eggs from mum’s chickens, they are pretty hard to beat. If you don’t have the luxury of home grown tomatoes, use the ripest tomatoes you can find (even if you have to leave them on the window sill for a day or two to soften, and allow a few extra minutes to cook the sugo.

Today, we experimented with the addition of sliced potatoes to this recipe.  However you can certainly omit the potatoes and just serve with a good crusty ciabatta bread.

What you will need:

4 eggs (or more eggs if you like)

2 zucchini cut into cubes

2 small white washed potatoes thinly sliced

6 fresh red ripe medium tomatoes (garden variety preferable) roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves sliced finely

1 brown onion cut into wedges

2 tbs olive oil

1 good bunch of basil

Sprig of chopped chives to garnish

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Heat a flat non stick pan. adding the oil, garlic and onion.
2. Saute for 2 minutes on low to medium heat.
3. Add the sliced potatoes, stir through and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for a 4 minutes on low heat.
4. Add the zucchini and stir through
5. Add roughly chopped tomatoes, season lightly, cover. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
6. Add basil and stir through, replace lid and cook for 10 minutes. Stirring every couple of minutes
7. Remove the lid and cook on high for a further 5-7 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated. To test if the sumo is ready, use your spoon to draw a line in the sauce . If you see the bottom of the pan, the dish will be ready for the eggs.
8. Crack the eggs on top of the sauce, leaving at least 2 centimeters between each egg. Cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 3 minutes on low to medium heat.
   

   
9. Remove the lid, and cook until the eggs are cooked the way you like them. Finish with a sprinkle of chives.

Serve.