Flamenco eggs. By Rick Stein.

Ingredients
4 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
80g serrano ham, chopped
1 heaped tsp hot smoked paprika
8 large tomatoes (about 750g), skinned and chopped, or 2 x 400g tins peeled plum tomatoes
1 tsp tomato purée
75g peas, fresh or frozen
100g fine green beans
4 free-range eggs
12 slices chorizo
1 red pepper, roasted and skinned, cut into 8 strips (or use peppers from a jar)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the griddled bread
4-8 thick slices bread
1 garlic clove, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
small handful flatleaf parsley, chopped, to serve

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 (alternatively you can finish cooking on the hob).
Heat the oil in a large, lidded, ovenproof frying pan or shallow casserole over medium–low heat.
Cook the onion and garlic for 5–10 minutes, or until soft.
Add the ham and paprika and fry for 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and tomato purée, cover the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are reduced and pulpy.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to the boil.
Add the peas and beans cook for 3–4 minutes, then drain and refresh in cold water (frozen peas do not require pre-cooking).
Scatter the peas and beans over the tomato sauce.
Break the eggs into the sauce.
Arrange the chorizo slices and red pepper strips around the eggs.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the egg whites are set and the yolks still soft; check after 8 minutes.
Alternatively, cook on the hob over a medium heat with a lid on the pan for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rub the bread with the garlic, brush with the oil and griddle it on a ridged pan or in a frying pan.
Scatter the parsley over the dish and serve with griddled bread.

Viennese gulasch. By Rick Stein.

BBC Food - Recipes - Viennese gulasch. Гуляш.
Ingredients
100g lard
1.25kg onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp sweet paprika
1.5 tbsp hot paprika, to taste
0.5 tsp caraway seeds, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 tsp brown sugar
1.5 tsp salt
12 turns of the black pepper mill
2 tsp cider vinegar
1.5kg shin of beef, cut into 3cm/1in pieces
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Method
Heat the lard in a large pot and fry the onions until they are deep golden brown.
Add the garlic, cook for a minute, then add the tomato purée, paprikas, crushed caraway seeds, sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar and cover with 1 litre pints of water.

Bring to a boil, then add the beef.
Turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 and half hours.
Check the pan fairly frequently and stir, adding more water to cover the meat if necessary.
Check the meat for tenderness, if not tender add a little more water and cook for a little longer.
Remove the meat when done and, if needed, continue to cook the liquid to thicken the sauce.
Serve sprinkled with a little chopped parsley with new potatoes, spatzle or dark rye bread.

Moussaka.

Rick Stein From Venice to Istanbul Moussaka recipe
Recipe of the month is from Rick’s latest adventures From Venice to Istanbul. Here’s the delicious moussaka recipe he discovered in Greece.
“I jumped at the chance of visiting his house in Kardamyli.
I spoke to his housekeeper, Elpida, who agreed to cook me the moussaka loved by the great man.
She fries everything separately first, including the potatoes, which don’t always come as part of a moussaka. Put in the base of the dish, the potatoes act like a sponge, soaking up all the meat juices released during cooking. ”

So:
Salt
1 aubergine, sliced lengthways
3 courgettes, sliced lengthways
About 300ml olive oil
2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthways
2 small onions, chopped
10g/2 cloves garlic, chopped
750g minced beef
3 beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
12 turns black peppermill
For the béchamel
100ml butter
100g plain flour
750ml full-fat milk
3 eggs
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
150g graviera cheese (or Gruyère if unavailable), freshly grated

Begin by salting the aubergine and courgette slices and leaving them for about 30 minutes, then rinse and dry on kitchen paper.
Fry in plenty of the olive oil over a medium heat until lightly browned and starting to soften, then drain on kitchen paper and set aside.
Fry the potatoes in the same way.

In a separate pan, heat 70ml of the olive oil and fry the onions and garlic for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the minced beef and brown it before adding the tomatoes,cinnamon stick, bay leaf, ₁½ teapoons salt and the pepper.
Simmer for 30–40 minutes.
When done, remove the cinnamon and bay leaf.

In a deep ovenproof dish, about 24cm x 35cm, arrange the potatoes in a layer.
Top with a third of the beef, then the aubergine, another third of the beef, the courgettes, and finish with the remaining beef.

Heat the oven to 220°C/gas 7.
Make the béchamel sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes so it loses its raw taste.
Slowly incorporate the milk, and continue stirring until the sauce thickens.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs,nutmeg and 100g of the grated cheese.
Spread the béchamel over the layered meat and vegetables and top with a further 50g grated cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes, then take out and leave to cool.
Serve warm.
The dish is also very good the following day.