Passport & Plate - Strapatsada
Greece | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
• 2-3 medium-sized tomatoes
• 2 eggs
• Crumbled pieces of feta
• 1 (green or red) pepper cut in slices (optional)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
For one serving
How to prepare this recipe• Cut the tomatoes in slices and put them in a cooking pan in medium heat. Let it cook until most of their juices is gone but allow some liquids to stay so as the tomatoes are still slightly wet –approximately 15-20 minutes. Then cut the pepper in slices and add it as well. Add the olive oil.
• Mix the eggs in a bowl and add the feta crumbles, salt and pepper (quantity of your preference)
• Add slowly the eggs with the feta to the tomatoes and pepper in the cooking pan
• Cook for 3-4 minutes by mixing all the ingredients together
• Once the egg whites are ready, take the pan off the heat and serve in a plate
• The dish does not have the form of a "proper" omelette. It should look “messy” and that makes it so different
• You can serve with slices of freshly baked bread. You can eat it cold as well.
The story behind this recipeStrapatsada does not mean anything in Greek. For me, it is a synonym of summer and heat bringing childhood memories from Greece.
It is simple and easy to make: you only need tomatoes, peppers, salt and pepper, eggs, feta cheese and olive oil. This dish makes an easy lunch or light dinner; it is so versatile and fun.
When I make it, I still remember my grandmother who picked a few tomatoes and peppers from her garden that smelled earth and summer. For the eggs, she had her chickens. On each laid egg, she had the habit to put the date on with a pencil so as to remember how fresh it was. If the egg was of the same day, could be eaten raw. I was astonished with the ease of finding the ingredients and most importantly the speed of the process. When you are a child and you are hungry, food should be ready imminently, in a few seconds. Working mothers never satisfied this need for instant "culinary" gratification. The food would always be ready in a few minutes, in a little bit, they said. I knew well what that meant, often an-hour long wait, feeling cheated or just a child with no powers. Strapatsada was so fast, uncomplicated and tasty that never betrayed me or laughed at me. My grandmother took me seriously as well as her fresh ingredients. Once the tomatoes were losing their juice, she added the sliced pepper, then the mixed eggs, the oil, the feta, the salt and the pepper. The dish was not pretty or elegant, nothing to do with the preppy looks of an omelette. It was just plain, fresh food, salty and peppery with a tiny sweetness and same day eggs all of them together in a messy, chunky piece. Each bite was a slice of summer. I was there, loved and taken care of by both nature and my grandmother.
