Easter brunch.Piperrada,eggs with peppers

Piperade (Gascon and French) or Piperrada (Basque and thus Spanish

I can not bypass Easter weekend without a post involving eggs.I am sure that at some point over the Easter weekend  we will be entertaining some sort of brunch, either for ourselves or including a gathering of friends. Piperrada is a typical Basque dish prepared with onion and garlic,Serrano ham and tomatoes, sautéed and flavoured with red Espelette peppers. It has all the vibrant flavours of northern Spain. The colours coincidentally reflect the colours of the Basque flag.Like Ratatouille, Pipérade defies categorization. Is it a side dish? A relish? A sauce? An appetizer? A tapas dish? To me  you make it what you want, it is essentially a dish of savoury scrambled eggs.It is very often served as a tapa on a slice of baguette.In my version I normally use pequillo peppers or red pimentos that I have roasted and skinned.Obviously,one can´t do this without the eggs- and the better the eggs the better the dish-but the other ingredients should be allowed the odd substitution or even be left out. After all this is a simple supper and not something that requires attention to detail.This type of dish was one of my mothers standbys but her version included cheddar cheese and tomatoes, but no peppers.

Serves 4

2 red peppers or 2 tinned piquillo peppers drained
6tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1  small onion,shredded
75g Serrano ham,cut in strips
350g tomatoes peeled and diced
8 eggs
salt and pepper 
Roast the peppers under the grill until charred. wrap them in a cloth until cool enough to handle,then peel them.Discard the seeds and stem,then cut the peppers into strips.If you are using tinned pimientos,simply cut them into strips.Heat half the oil in a frying pan and sautée the garlic and onion.Add the strips of of ham,then the tomatoes and peppers.Fry for about 15 minutes until some of the liquid has evaporated.Tuirn into a bowl and set aside. Beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.Heat the remaining oil in the pan and pour in the eggs.Stir them,cooking very gently,then add the pepper mixture.Cook without stirring until the eggs are set.