Eggs Baked with Tomatoes and Champignons

Christmas tradition in Poland is beautiful but not that entertaining. We have Santa, presents, carols and delicious food. We also send letters to Santa and try to hear him coming through the chimney at night. But Catalan tradition is way better and funnier. As we’re having a pre Christmas rush over here, almost on each street there is a Christmas market, where you can buy many different typical things plus this:

I had no idea what it is for and why would anyone buy a piece of wood looking like this. Well, there is  a good reason – it’s called Tió de Nadal, you take it home, give sticks to your children, they hit the stump while singing or screaming “shit, shit, shit”, then you cover it with a blanket so it won’t get cold and apparently it poos presents during the night. How original is this!

There is another thing as well. All over the city you can meet stands with figures of man making poo, just like this one above. Catalans buy it not for fun, but for luck 🙂 I love this one as well.
I’ll spend my Christmas just with Mr T. in Barcelona this year and we will beat this piece of wood like crazy with a hope that it will produce tons of amazing presents for us. I’ll even leave some cookies and warm milk for it.

You will need (for 1):

• 1 small shallot
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 5 cherry tomatoes
• 2 champignons
• ½ tsp butter
• 2 eggs, separate yolks from whites
• 1 tbsp cream
• mozzarella, grated
• 2 slices of bacon
• parsley
• salt and pepper
• 2 toasts for serving

Fry bacon. Chop onion and garlic and fry it on a pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until it’s golden. Add cherry tomatoes cut in 4 and sliced champignons. Fry for about 5 minutes, so it gets soft.

Heat an oven to 180*C. Place baking dish in an oven just for a minute so it will be warm and then put the butter inside and cover it with tomato mix.

Separate yolks from whites. Add cream to whites and mix it. Pour whites over tomato mix, place yolks on top, spread over bacon, mozzarella and parsley. Season with salt and pepper for taste. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Serve with toasted bread. I brushed mine with an olive oil and fried on a pan.

Enjoy, Marta