Based on the stickie note flag on the page, the Romesco, Chickpea, and Smashed Egg Bowl caught my interest when I first got my copy of Smitten Kitchen Every Day. Which was immediately upon publication in 2017, so it’s an example of why I’m doing this project.

I did make some substitutions and changes for this recipe, somewhat treating it like a template. Here’s the rundown:

• I did not roast my own red peppers. My husband makes a romesco with jarred roasted red peppers and it’s delicious, so I decided to save myself some time. I got a jar of whole roasted red peppers and was able to get two of them out without much difficulty.
• I used fresh tomatoes (the “on the vine” kind from the grocery store) and did not peel them.
• I made some quinoa because it felt like it’d go really well, and indeed it did.
• I used greek yogurt because that’s what I keep on hand. Sometimes I’ll thin it out but I didn’t bother this time.
• I used fresh baby arugula because we already had some we needed to use.

This came out really well, and there’s a lot here that you can prep ahead of time. While it did make a lot of dishes, you can get it down to one skillet/frypan instead of two, just by wiping it out a bit after the first use. And if you make the eggs or the romesco ahead of time, that’ll cut down on the pile of dishes as well.

We had this for dinner and it was quite good. We particularly liked the combination of romesco and yogurt, and I was glad I made the quinoa, I liked the greens & grains vibe. The soft-boiled eggs work nicely here, but you could do whatever your preferred egg is.

I did find that the raw garlic here is a little overpowering. I used one large clove; next time I think I’ll try one small clove. I might also throw it in the pan with the tomato for a minute to mellow it out a bit. When serving I’ll also chop up the charred scallion, as they were difficult to cut once they were in the bowl, and I wanted it to be a little more distributed.

I did get the marcona almonds for this, but they are pricey (moreso than I thought, apparently I wasn’t paying quite close enough attention when I did the grocery order). While they’re a nice touch I think you’ll do perfectly fine with regular regular roasted almonds.