When I don't know what to make for lunch, I always reach for a couple of eggs. Fried eggs with roasted vegetables or avocado toast with fried eggs are always solid options. However, even I get bored of the same meal so, today I'm taking those basic fried eggs and jazzing them up. Add a sauce, some spice, vegetables, and garnishes and you end up with one fancy vegetarian lunch. Try these Calabrian chili fried eggs with roasted eggplant sauce, crunchy nut topping, and balsamic swiss chard and you won't be turning back to boring fried eggs. I know I won't!
Calabrian Chili Fried Eggs
Ingredients
Roasted eggplant sauce
- 1 large eggplant
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt plain
- ¼ cup olive oil plus 2 tbsp
- juice of ½ lemon
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- salt and pepper
Nut topping
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup sliced almonds raw
- ¼ cup pepitas raw
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds raw
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Balsamic swiss chard
- 2 tablespoons oil
- ½ medium red onion thinly sliced
- 1 bunch swiss chard chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Remaining ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Calabrian chili oil
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2-3 Calabrian chilies chopped
- crusty bread for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Use a sharp knife and score the flesh in a crisscross pattern. Drizzle 2 tablespoons oil and season eggplant with salt and pepper. Wrap eggplant in foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until softened.
- Scoop out enough of the eggplant flesh to fill 1 cup. Transfer to a blender and add yogurt, remaining ¼ cup olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and tahini. Blend until smooth and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Make nut topping. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add sliced almonds, pepitas, and sesame seeds. Toast until golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and season with sumac and salt. Spread nuts on parchment paper and let cool completely.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add sliced onion and saute until softened, about 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add swiss chard and saute until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and balsamic vinegar and saute for another minute. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat, and keep warm.
- Wipe pan clean and heat 2 tablespoons Calabrian chile oil over medium heat. Cook eggs until desired degree of doneness and season with salt and pepper.
- Spread roasted eggplant sauce on two plates. Top with balsamic swiss chard, Calabrian chile eggs, nut topping, parsley, capers, and chopped Calabrian chilies. Serve immediately with crusty bread.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
If you like a bit of kick in your food, you're going to enjoy these Calabrian chili fried eggs. Calabrian chilies are a medium-hot chili, somewhere in between a jalapeno and habanero. Not only are they the perfect heat, but they're also slightly smoky, adding another element to the dish.
To offset the spicy eggs, we're going to make a roasted eggplant sauce. Cut a large eggplant in half and use a sharp knife to score the flesh. Drizzle olive oil and season the eggplant in salt and pepper. Then, wrap up the eggplant and roast it in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until the flesh is soft.
Scoop out the flesh; you need about 1 cup. Take that roasted eggplant and puree it with garlic, Greek yogurt, olive oil, tahini, lemon, salt and pepper. The roasted eggplant sauce is almost like a babaghanoush but creamier and tangier. Set it aside while you prepare the remaining elements.
Now that we have something creamy, we need something crunchy. Here enters a crunchy nut topping consisting of toasted sliced almonds, pepitas, and sesame seeds. Season the nuts with a pinch of salt and sumac and let them cool completely. You can make the nut topping several days in advance.
For the vegetable component, we're going to saute swiss chard and red onion with a touch of balsamic vinegar. You can swap out the swiss chard for kale, spinach, or any other leafy green.
Saute the red onion until softened, then add the swiss chard. Once the greens are softened, add the garlic and season with balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Saute for another minute, then remove from heat and keep warm.
Now that everything else is ready, it's time to fry the eggs. Heat a couple of tablespoons of Calabrian chili oil and fry the eggs until your desired degree of doneness. If the chili oil is too spicy, use half chili oil and half olive oil.
Spread a generous amount of the roasted eggplant sauce onto plates and top it with balsamic swiss chard, Calabrian chili fried eggs, nut topping, sliced chilies, capers, and fresh parsley.
Serve the eggs with crusty bread for a complete meal. My husband said this meal was excellent and I'm going to have to agree with him. Yes there are many components but the end result is a flavor and texture explosion. I promise, you'll love it!
For more egg inspired dishes, check out these eggs in purgatory with potatoes!
Kevin
I randomly googled calabrian + basalmic and found your website. These recipes look awesome. I'm going to start with the eggs and the Tuscan Soup. Bookmarked this site. Thanks!
Cherry on My Sundae
Thanks so much for visiting! Let me know if you have any questions to the recipes, I'll be happy to help.