Catalan-Style Broad Beans with Eggs

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g frozen broad beans
• 60 g mild chorizo
• 1 brown onion (about 120 g)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 200 g tinned chopped tomatoes (½ of a 400 g tin)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp dried mint
• 1 bay leaf
• 150 ml water
• 4 eggs
• 2 slices of country bread (about 50 g each)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large deep frying pan with a lid
• Chopping board
• Slotted spoon
• Ramekin
• Toaster

📖 Steps

1. Peel and finely slice the onion; peel and chop the garlic, removing the green shoot if there is one. Cut the chorizo into thin slices about 3 mm thick, removing the skin if it's thick. Keep the broad beans in the freezer until it's time to cook them.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan or sauté pan over a medium heat. Fry the chorizo for 2 min, until it releases a fragrant orange oil, then lift it out with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan.
3. Add the onion to this fat and sweat it for 6 to 8 min over a medium-low heat, stirring often, until soft and translucent but not browned. Add the garlic and paprika and stir for 30 seconds: burnt garlic turns bitter.
4. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and let them cook down for 3 min. Add the still-frozen broad beans, the water, bay leaf, mint, chorizo, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 min over a low heat, stirring from time to time.
5. Check they're done: the broad beans should be tender and the sauce just thick enough to coat them. If it's too runny, cook uncovered for 3 min more; if it's catching, add a splash of water. Taste and adjust the salt, bearing in mind the chorizo is already salty, then remove the bay leaf.
6. Make 4 small wells in the beans with the back of a spoon. Crack each egg into a ramekin first, then slide it into a well: the yolk is less likely to break. Lightly salt the whites and add pepper.
7. Cover and cook for 5 to 7 min over a low heat, until the whites are fully set and opaque and the yolks are still wobbly. Keep an eye on them from 5 min: an overcooked yolk no longer runs and loses all its appeal for dipping bread.
8. While the eggs are cooking, toast the slices of bread. Bring the pan straight to the table and serve 2 eggs per person with a generous helping of beans, and the toast for dipping into the yolks.