Ode to tomato – Kayanas

Sep 12, 2011

“The street filled with tomatoes, midday, summer, light is halved like a tomato, its juice runs through the streets. (….)
The tomato offers its gift of fiery color and cool completeness.

Pablo Neruda   “Ode to tomato”









Every summer I look forward to harvest the first ripe tomatoes in order to make kayanas with the right taste.
That magnificent combination of tomatoes and eggs is my favorite main course for the hot summer days. It is also nice over toasted bread as an appetizer in a summer lunch, or as a rich sauce for pasta.
Kayanas can be seasoned with oregano, basil, mint or garlic but please only one of them; tomato has to be the King of flavor.
This food reminds me of my childhood, when my mother used to cook it with tomatoes from our garden. I could eat that every day for the whole season!






Serves 2

ingredients:

600gr peeled and finely chopped tomatoes
4-6 eggs
150gr olive oil
1 Tsp sugar
salt, pepper, oregano

In a saucepan put the tomatoes, sugar some salt and pepper and simmer in low heat until  2/3 of the juices are evaporated.
 Add the olive oil and oregano and continue cooking the sauce for a few more minutes before you add the eggs. Add the eggs WITHOUT beating them, - just break them over the tomato sauce and when the whites just start to set, stir gently with a wooden spatula until the eggs are totally cooked. The final result should look like a red canvas with white and yellow spots!
Kayanas, is mostly cooked in Peloponnese, where I come from.





5 comments

  1. Hi Pano, I love this for a light evening meal. Thank you. Would you consider it a crime to add some feta together with the olive oil and oreganum and let the feta melt into the tomato sauce? (I admit that it does change the flavour...!)

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    1. Sorry. I forgot to sign, I'm Petrus Viljoen (a friend of Tania Theodorou).

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    2. Hi Petrus,
      Feel free to add feta it will definitely make it taste even better. You can add all sorts of ingredients that match with tomato, like oregano or basil, maybe olives if you like them but not to many different staff all at the same time.

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    3. It says it’s anonymous but it’s me Panos on the message above. Thanks

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  2. Thank you, Pano. I hadn't thought of adding olives. I'll try that sometime. 😊 Petrus.

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