basquing in tomatoes and peppers

This is not a cooking blog.  It is a blog about my life in Mexico.

But I do enjoy cooking.  Probably, because I enjoy eating good food.

Before my little intestinal disorder hit me last Saturday (and, yes, I am aware of the seeming irony of juxtaposing that phrase with the last paragraph), I created a dinner based on a recipe I received on the internet, spiced up with a bit of local Mexican creativity.  Let me share it with you.

For about five years or so, I have subscribed to Lynne Rossetto Kasper's Weeknight Kitchen -- a weekly recipe to assist busy cooks with creating delicious, but simple, suppers.  Some of the recipes require ingredients that are difficult to obtain in Mexico. 

But about two weeks ago, the weekly recipe was Peppers and Tomatoes with Eggs.  That I could do.  Anything with a vegetable base is a natural for my local market.

The recipe is basically a Basque dish -- piperade -- with some modern deconstruction.  And a few Cotton flourishes.  Here is what I did.

The recipe calls for quite a few sautéed vegetables.  I could have used the large sauté pan I lugged down from Oregon, but I chose my wok instead.

I sautéed a sliced onion in olive oil until the onions were soft.  Next came three sliced cloves of garlic and two diced jalapeño peppers stirred for about a minute. I then added four diced tomatoes.

The recipe called for peeled tomatoes.  For good reason.  The tomatoes are to be cooked down into a liquid.  But I like to retain most vegetable skins for texture.  If I were to try this recipe again, I would peel the tomatoes.

Collapsing the tomatoes took about ten minutes of cooking.

I am not very fond of green bell peppers.  The recipe listed a green bell pepper and a red bell pepper --both roasted.  I substituted a yellow pepper for the green.  And skipped the roasting.  The roasting would have added a different flavor.  I didn't.  Next time.

While the tomato-pepper mixture simmered, I fried up several strips of bacon.  My friend Roy Miller says bacon improves everything.  It certainly was true with this dish.

I added a bit of butter to the tiny amount of bacon grease (Mexican bacon is so lean it does not leave behind much grease) and scrambled four eggs, adding the torn up bacon just as the eggs were finishing up.

The topping is incredibly versatile.  It could be stuffed in a tortilla or be poured over garlic toast.

I chose the most un-Mexican option of all.  Fettucine.  And it was a perfect match.  I suspect it would have worked well with any pasta.

I ended up with about eight servings.  And a week's worth of lunches and dinners.