Preparation
Prepare the vegetables
Halve the peppers, remove seeds and the white ribs — they make piperade bitter. Slice the flesh into strips about 5 mm wide. Briefly scald the tomatoes in boiling water, peel and roughly dice them (fresh summer tomatoes are worth gold here). Cut the onions into fine strips, the garlic into thin slices.
Melt the peppers gently (30 minutes)
Warm the olive oil in a wide, shallow pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sweat until translucent, without colour. Briefly cook the garlic and ham strips. Then layer in the pepper strips, cover with the sprig of thyme and the bay leaf, and braise very gently for 30 minutes — the peppers should “melt”, not fry. Stir occasionally and keep the heat low enough that nothing browns at the edge of the pan.
Add tomatoes & Espelette
Add the diced tomatoes, season with the sea salt and the level teaspoon of piment d'Espelette, and let reduce uncovered for another 30 minutes. The piperade should reach the consistency of a thick, glossy ragout — no free water left, but not dry either. If the tomatoes taste very acidic, stir in the pinch of sugar now. Remove the thyme and bay leaf.
Fold the eggs into a cloud
Whisk the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt only lightly — white and yolk should just be combined. Reduce the heat to the very lowest setting, pour the eggs over the warm piperade and draw them in with a wooden spoon in long, slow figure-eights. Do not stir as you would for scrambled eggs — the eggs should bind the piperade, not break it up; 90 to 120 seconds, until they are just set. Take the pan off the heat at once; the residual warmth carries on cooking.
Serve
Ladle directly from the pan onto warm plates, dust with a pinch of piment d'Espelette and freshly ground pepper, lay a few thin slices of Bayonne ham on top. Warm, crusty country bread is the perfect partner — piperade is made to be mopped up.
Why this wine?
The Prélude settles beside the piperade like a ray of sunshine: its bright strawberry and citrus fruit plays with the sweetness of the melted peppers, while its crystalline acidity lifts the smoky piment d'Espelette without ever overpowering the soft eggs. Rosé from Bordeaux meets Basque sunlight — both remain light, both remain precise.
