Our one-pan eggs have been on the menu in some form since the beginning. It’s changed a lot, starting as a humble shakshuka, then spending some time spicy with sausages and bacon. Today, it’s a lot lighter and a lot more simple, with plenty of spinach – not that you’d know it.

While the gochujang isn’t essential and can easily be substituted for chilli sauce, it’s a nice touch and you’ll find it in a lot of our recipes – it’s a sweet, spicy Korean paste made from fermented glutinous rice, but it’s got a lot more character than chilli sauce. Look at us, talking about adding depth and character like this is a proper recipe book. Oh, and now we’ve acknowledged you, the reader. Stop! This is getting too meta!

Serves 2

Ingredients

vegetable oil, for frying
2 medium brown onions, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
800g canned chopped tomatoes
20g gochujang
50g spinach
4 medium or large eggs
bread for toasting – your choice, we use sourdough
sea salt and black pepper

Garnish

sliced spring onion
chilli
coriander

Method

In a flat pan, heat a splash of oil at medium heat and add your onions, red pepper and garlic.

We’re going to sauté them, so keep them moving and turning until they begin to brown, then add the canned tomatoes, gochujang and salt and pepper.

Give the whole mix a stir, turn the heat to low and leave to cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. That’s a long time, especially if you’re cooking with gas or don’t have a lot of ventilation in your kitchen, so make sure to check on it.

Now 45 minutes older and wiser, you’ll find the tomatoes will have broken down and that your whole kitchen smells amazing. You’ll need to heat the grill (broiler) to medium now.

Turn the heat back up to medium, add the spinach, give it a stir, and break your eggs into the mix, then give the whole lot 3 minutes.

Now, put the whole pan under the grill to finish for 3–5 minutes. Keep an eye on it, which will probably be easy if your pan handle keeps you from closing the oven door like mine does. Oh, and put your bread in the toaster.

We’re looking for the whites of the eggs to be cooked, but the yolks to be runny. When you’re ready, put something down on your table or kitchen surface to rest the hot pan on and take the whole pan from the oven.

We garnish it with spring onion (scallion), sliced red chilli and coriander (cilantro), but you can add more spinach, or whatever you like really. Depending on how much you’ve made, this one is great served family-style with everyone helping themselves from the pan, but it’s just as good for one – and that way people won’t complain when you double-dip your toast.

Grind: A Modern Guide To City Living – 3 spicy brunch recipes to kickstart the Easter bank holiday weekend