I’ve run up against this issue many times, in many places, through many decades. Every time, I’ve learned something new about the fraught relationship between the two lead players: Tomatoes and Eggs. And how to get them to play nice together…
Rich, vibrant, full-flavoured Shakshuka: Made with fresh tomatoes, chunky red and green
green sweet peppers and onions, and flavoured with cumin, coriander and paprika…
There’s a ridiculously wide range of opinions – and traditions – involving eggs and tomatoes. Some folks say ‘never the twain shall meet’, while others can’t stomach a fried egg that isn’t doused with ketchup…
My American education
When my birth Dad was still alive – after his life partner (not my Mom) had passed on – I used to drive him down to his winter place in Ft. Myers Beach every fall. Then fly down in the spring to drive him back. He just HAD to have his own car there.
Anyway… Two or three times a week, Dad and I would walk over to his favourite breakfast place, in the strip mall the backed onto the east side of his RV park. We’d slip through the unofficial gate in the 8 ft. dividing fence between the two properties, and march straight up to the back door of The Good Egg.
The Egg opened at 6 am, and you had to get there early to claim a table without having to wait in line. We always arrived about 20 past 6, and had to sit at the counter, just like at an old-school diner.
One-man show
The one-man show at the grill featured Carl, a German tourist who had come to FtM several winters before on a package tour with a gaggle of other sun seekers from Stuttgart. And never went home. Dad used to joke that he applied for refugee status and was still waiting for his hearing.
Depending on what day of the week you visited the joint, you might run into any of half a dozen older, retired gals from the Park, who worked part-time waiting tables.
An egg magician
Carl could not only juggle up to 4 raw eggs at a time, but was also a master egg chef. They said no-body had ever asked for an egg dish he didn’t know to make. His Western Omelet was the best one I’ve ever tasted.
But Dad, after a dozen winters in the US, had been infected by the universal culinary virus that af-flicts older Americans. Everyone at The Egg – even Dad – doused their eggs, in whatever form, with ketchup. Some added several shakes too many of what we now regard as excess salt. I got used to being the only one there who didn’t even think about touching the ketchup bottle.
Disclaimer: Ketchup has only one legitimate application outside of topping traditional burgers and hot dogs: As a side dip for a classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Period.
Ketchup, for me, represents one extreme of the eggs-and-tomatoes continuum. The evil end…
Tomato paste?
So they say… “Tomato paste is concentrated so it provides a deep, tomato flavor with just a small amount,” explains Yahoo! Life food writer Austin Havens-Bowen. “You might have pure tomato paste, salted or unsalted, or a brand that blends spices, sugar, and aromatics like garlic or onion. All of those compact flavors means it can easily give a boost to eggs…”
The method is simple. Just fry up a teaspoon or two of the paste in your well-oiled or buttered pan and crack the eggs in on top. They won’t fry, as such. But they won’t burn on the bottom or around the edges, either.
The underlying message is to experiment with fresh herbs and spices until you arrive at a combin-ation of flavours you can call your own.
Childhood memories…
After Dad was gone, and I had long since stopped going south twice a year, I remembered something that might have explained his particular affinity for ketchup with his eggs. His Mom was a very proper Victorian English gal whose family came to Canada after the First World War. And they brought their very British Middle Class habits with them.
One culinary oddity (for non-Brits, at least) was Stewed Tomatoes: Fresh, ripe tomatoes, sliced thick with a teaspoon of sugar, a generous shake of salt and pepper and a dash of cloves, fried up in the same fat as the breakfast eggs until they broke down into a ‘stew’.
Mom told me, years later, that Granny took her aside and taught her to make them, insisting Dad would ‘need’ them for breakfast two or three mornings a week. And he did.
The far, sane end of the spectrum…
Farthest removed from the Ketchup camp, anchoring the sane, pure-of-heart end of the continuum, lies one of the world’s really special dishes: Shakshuka. It’s a rich, vibrant full-flavoured dish made with fresh tomatoes, sweet onions, chunky red and green sweet peppers, and flavoured with cumin, coriander and paprika.
The crowning glory is fresh eggs, cracked into the pan a couple of minutes before serving, so they come out runny-yolked with ‘poached’ whites.
This unique delight is a North African breakfast staple. And it’s just brimming with vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients.
My take
I love eggs any which way you want to serve them. And I think tomatoes are a natural accompaniment. Just don’t even mention ketchup in relation to eggs in my presence. Or in connection with any other breakfasty dish. Thank you.
~ Maggie J.