Pancetta Peppers and Eggs

Photo by Amber De Grace on flickr.

Normally, we go out to brunch on the weekend. (Protip: go to Mintwood Place.) But this weekend, we felt like we needed showers after our strength training class, and so we bought some eggs and pancetta, and I raided the pantry. I was looking for a bag of dried Guajillo peppers, but apparently I used them up the last time I made adobo sauce. I did have some Arbol peppers, however, so I got three of those soaking while I prepped the rest of the ingredients. I chopped up a shallot and a couple of plum tomatoes, and grabbed a bit of fresh thyme, mint, and rosemary. I also whipped the eggs with a bit of milk, and I was ready to go.

I let the shallots stew in a tablespoon of butter for a good twenty minutes before adding the peppers (deseeded), the herbs, and a handful of pancetta. Once those had cooked for a while, I took out the herbs, chopped them, and added them back in, along with the eggs. One of the tricks to scrambled eggs is to just let them sit for a while without stirring them. It helps keep them quite creamy. After they had mostly set, I stirred them up and let them finish. Some queso or feta would have been great to add at this point, but since we did not have any, I went without. The second trick to scrambled eggs is to remove them from heat just before they're quite done. I don't do so well at this, usually removing them a little early. But since they keep cooking after you plate them, it's important to make sure they don't overcook.

They turned out well. I was a bit nervous about the peppers, as I'm not used to working with peppers that are that hot. Three, deseeded, seemed to be a good number to give the finish eggs a medium to hot level of spiciness. I'm not sure the mint added much, but both the thyme and the rosemary gave the dish a bit of depth, while the tomato helped keep it fairly light. Definitely a keeper.