RECIPE: Huevos Rotos
The broken eggs that complete me
If you’re not British, you may assume our national dish is fish and chips, all newspaper cones and seaside nostalgia. In reality, the true national dish, and the one people actually make at home, is ham, egg and chips. It lives in a category of British food that is so resolutely beige, so aggressively unsexy, that it escapes scrutiny. It’s been around since the war and it remains untouched by reinvention or glamour.
Thick-cut ham or gammon, chips, fried eggs. It belongs as much in the home kitchen as it does in the pub or a motorway caff off the M6.
(For readers unfamiliar with these cultural institutions, Isaac Rangaswami’s brilliant instagram page ‘Caff’s not Cafés’ is a love letter to Britain’s remaining greasy spoons, or “caffs”. I once tried to put my uncle in touch with him when Isaac was writing about where London black cab drivers eat, but my uncle’s response was that the places he would frequent had all but disappeared.)
Back to the dish. Spain, naturally, has a hotter version. Huevos rotos translates as “broken eggs”, which sounds a bit tragic until the plate arrives. Fried olive oil potatoes piled high, delicate jamón draped over the top, eggs ready to split open so their yolks flood every crevice. You’re supposed to attack it immediately, before the potatoes lose their crispness and while the yolk is still performing its magic of turning into a sauce. The fat of the ham softening over the hot potatoes. It has the same comfort as the British version but without the mug of tea. (I like mine with an ice cold beer.)
There isn’t really a fixed recipe for huevos rotos. It’s more of a suggestion than a set of instructions. A loose idea rather than something to be obeyed too closely. The only real requirement is fried potatoes, eggs, and something umami enough to pull the whole thing together once the yolks break. Garlicky prawns work a treat!
If you’re vegetarian, or simply don’t eat pork, I’d strongly suggest swapping the ham for oyster mushrooms or ceps. Fried properly in plenty of olive oil until golden at the edges they bring that same savoury depth without feeling like a compromise. Peppers also work beautifully: either finely sliced and softened slowly in olive oil until sweet and almost jammy, or left whole and blistered. Long green peppers or Pimientos de Padrón are especially good here, with their wrinkly skin and soft flesh.
I’ve also written a version in the next Ottolenghi cookbook Simple Too which is a sort of cheat’s vegetarian take (baked rather than fried) for anyone who finds the idea of deep-frying slightly too much on a weeknight. (Out in September.)
RECIPE
You’ll want a big potato per person if this is their main meal. Agria potatoes with low moisture work well, maybe a Yukon if you’re stateside. A slightly waxy potato like a Cyprus potato or Desirée. Less fluff and more bite. But seriously, fry some oven chips if you want, I’m not judging.
Peel your potatoes, wash them of their starch, dry in a towel and then fry.
I fried these potatoes in an inch and a half of olive oil and they were gorgeous. None of this triple cooked malarkey. A little tip here if you feel like your potatoes are cooking but not crisping, is to pile them to one side of the pan and give room to 1/4 of the batch at a time before moving them back around. (top right pic) Or of course, fry in batches. I like to give a few a squeeze with some tongs to get a little gnarly for some extra crispy bits.
The jamón. You could push the boat out and get the good stuff, or you can reserve that for top tier Bellota for a special occasion and just get whatever looks good and available to you. I like the Cebo Iberico you can buy more cheaply but it is no less delicious on a dish like this.
Once your potatoes are fried, sprinkle them with fine salt immediately and from a height. Fry a couple of runny yolked eggs, slide them on top and then dress with the topping of your choosing.
I am still in the land of olive oil fried potato (Spain) and I’m very keen to share some recipes from my time here and of our Spring culinary retreat Sobremesa ! I have just about recovered from the sheer overwhelming joy of hosting our second retreat this past week with my friends Nicola, Jordon, Gitai, Annie B and my family.
You’ll find the most lovely account of all things Sobremesa and a recipe for Nicola’s most delicious chocolate pistachio amaretti she served for our elevenses over on her substack that just went live. And please do follow us on our brand new instagram page! We will continue to update it so you can get a feel for the retreat and hopefully join us on one soon. xx
Well that's lunch sorted.
My current comfort food!