Basque breakfast sandwich (pintxos arraultza)

It's hard to go more Spanish than this: Eggs, chorizo, bread!

Credit: The Latin Kitchen

• makes

  8

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

This is a pintxos, which is like a tapas. The difference is tapas are free and pintxos you pay for. This one comes from the Basque country, on the coast of Spain, a rich region full of heritage. It is one of my favourite regions in Spain. Life there is so easy, so relaxed, no stress. This pintxo is called arraultza, and it's basically an open-faced sandwich with chorizo, caramelised onion, and an egg. I love chorizo so much. They have a great texture, great perfume, and they remind me so much of the chorizo that my father used to make at the farm when I was growing up.  

Ingredients

• ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil, divided
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 2 large raw spicy chorizo sausages, removed from casings if thick, and cut into sticks or cubes
• ¼ cup (60 ml) beer
• 8 thick slices baguette (about 1.5 cm thick)
• 8 eggs (see Note)
• ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley

You can make this with boiled or fried eggs - see Note. 

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, heat 1½ tablespoons (30ml) of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, until onions start to soften. Add chorizo and continue stirring and cooking for 4-5 minutes.

2. Deglaze pan with beer and allow beer to reduce completely, stirring the onion and chorizo occasionally. Remove chorizo and onions from the pan. Add sliced baguette to the pan to toast for 1-2 minutes per side, until golden brown. (Alternatively, you can push the onion mixture to one side and toast the bread on the empty side of the pan. Either way it soaks up a lot of the flavor from the pan.)

3. Remove bread from the pan and set aside. Pour onion mixture into a bowl.

4. In the same pan, heat remaining olive oil (you may not need all of it if the chorizo has released enough fat to fry the eggs).

5. Crack eggs into the pan, working 2 to 4 at a time, and cook for 3-4 minutes, to desired doneness.

6. Top baguette toasts with onion-chorizo mixture. Season eggs with salt and pepper and place one cooked egg onto each toast.

7. Repeat with remaining eggs. Serve toasts garnished with chopped parsley.

Note

• An alternative way to make this is with boiled eggs, as shown. Cut some of the chorizo on an angle (if using eight slices of bread, you will need 8 chorizo slices and only 4 eggs), and then chop the remainder finely, to use to make the chorizo-onion mix. Serve as shown, with the onion mixture used as a garnish, and any remaining mixture served in a bowl on the side. Garnish with chives or parsley.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

This is a pintxos, which is like a tapas. The difference is tapas are free and pintxos you pay for. This one comes from the Basque country, on the coast of Spain, a rich region full of heritage. It is one of my favourite regions in Spain. Life there is so easy, so relaxed, no stress. This pintxo is called arraultza, and it's basically an open-faced sandwich with chorizo, caramelised onion, and an egg. I love chorizo so much. They have a great texture, great perfume, and they remind me so much of the chorizo that my father used to make at the farm when I was growing up.