Huevos Rotos Asturiana

Huevos rotos, or “broken eggs,” is one of the most popular dishes in taverns and homes all across Spain. This incredibly simple combination of fried potatoes, chorizo or jamón, and fried eggs can be served any time of day. In Asturias it is most common as a dinner or a mid-afternoon small lunch. Being American though, this combination of ingredients screams brunch to me, so I often make this for a weekend family breakfast.

Essentially a combination of home fries, fried eggs, and whatever sausage you like, huevos rotos are infinitely variable. Sometimes known as huevos estrellados (mostly in Madrid where it’s a fried egg on french fries – or even worse; potato chips), this dish is equally at home with a cup of coffee or a beer. I make mine with smoked Asturian chorizo and a pepper and onion mxiture for added flavor.

Utterly confusing for me as an American, Spaniards do not eat eggs for breakfast. As a matter of fact, they rarely eat them outside of dinner. That makes me the odd duck out in serving this as breakfast / brunch food, but I care not one whit. No matter. The Asturian version of this pan-Spanish classic is a Southern breakfast dream come true. Smoked pork sausages, fried onions and peppers, crispy home fries, and runny fried eggs. It’s a perfect breakfast, hangover cure, brunch main dish, or single-guy lunch.

That said, I see the Spanish point of view in this as well. Huevos rotos is a weeknight dinner that comes together fast, feeds a gang of people cheap, and only takes one pan. There’s not much wrong with those attributes eh? So as an American immigrant to Spain, this is a dish that is on the menu all day.

And that means that I go hard on this recipe. Why wouldn’t you, right? You are already saving time and effort getting into this kind of one-dish recipe, so why not put the maximum effort into the few ingredients? You’ll need a well stocked spice cabinet for my version, but it will be well worth the effort.

Ingredients

• 800 g white potatoes. I use leftover boiled potatoes mostly, but you can start with fresh.
• 4 smoked Asturian chorizo. You can substitute uncured smoked chorizo from a good Mexican butcher
• 2 bell peppers. I use one red and one green for color. Dice large
• 2 medium yellow onions. Dice large
• 2 cloves garlic. Chop
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes.
• 1 pinch dried oregano.
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 4 large eggs.

Instructions

1. If starting with raw potatoes, parboil them in salty water until a fork pierces them with little resistance. Rinse the potatoes to cool them, and dice into cubes.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat
3. Slice the sausages into rounds and toss them in the skillet
4. Toss in the prepared peppers and onions, drizzle the 2 tbsp of oil on top and toss to coat
5. Season generously with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Adjust heat as necessary if mixture seems to be cooking too quickly.
6. Add garlic and oregano just at the end, stir to incorporate and cook 1 minute more.
7. Stir in the vinegar
8. Transfer pepper mixture to a platter.
9. Toss the potatoes in the skillet, adding a little oil if needed, and crank the heat to high.
10. Stirring frequently, fry the potatoes until crispy and golden. About 10 minutes.
11. Remove the potatoes to four plates and cover each with a quarter of the pepper/onion/sausage mixture
12. Reduce the heat to medium-low and fry four eggs sunny side up
13. Place an egg on top of each plate and garnish with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper