Pisto Manchego con Huevo
Tomatoes, peppers and courgette, cooked down slow in olive oil until jammy, topped with a fried egg. Castile-La Mancha's everyday vegetable dish.
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total
- 1 h
- serves
- 4
- level
- easy
Pisto manchego is the everyday vegetable dish of Castile-La Mancha, built from whatever the garden gives: peppers, zucchini and tomato, cooked down slowly until they turn soft and a little sweet. A fried egg on top turns it from a side into a full meal.
There is no shortcut version that actually works here. Give the vegetables real time over low heat so they soften and concentrate instead of staying watery, and the dish rewards you with almost no effort beyond patience.
Part of our 20 best Spanish recipes list.
method
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan or earthenware cazuela over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
Add the bell peppers and cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until they soften.
Add the zucchini and garlic and cook for another 10 minutes.
Stir in the tomato and bay leaf. Lower the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is soft and jammy and most of the liquid has cooked away.
Season with salt, and a pinch of sugar only if the tomato tastes sharp. Remove the bay leaf.
Fry the eggs separately in a little olive oil, keeping the yolks runny. Serve the pisto hot, in bowls, with one fried egg on top of each.
chef's tips
- Pisto wants real time on low heat. Rushed on high heat, the vegetables stay watery instead of turning silky.
- Dice everything roughly the same size so it all finishes cooking together.
- A runny yolk is meant to break over the vegetables and act as a sauce, so do not cook the eggs hard.
- Pisto keeps and reheats well for a few days, and some people prefer it the next day once the flavors settle.