Where it all begins – Eggs, cheese & Tomatoes

When you arrive somewhere new and the hotel room has a small kitchen, the first thing you do is figure out breakfast. Everything else can wait. You find the nearest supermarket, you walk the aisles once, and you buy the things that make sense. Eggs are always on that list. They are cheap, they keep for a week, they cook in five minutes, and you do not need to explain them to anyone. They are the obvious starting point.

The version I keep coming back to is fried eggs with feta and cherry tomatoes. The feta is strong and salty in a way that processed cheese never is, so a small amount does a lot. Cherry tomatoes go in whole (or halved if you want them to break down a little faster), which means zero prep and a bit of freshness on the plate. Add a pinch of paprika to the oil before the egg goes in and the whole thing shifts in a way that is hard to explain until you try it. It is still simple, but it tastes like you actually thought about it.

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 2 eggs
• 50g feta, crumbled
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• Pinch of paprika
• Olive oil or butter, salt, pepper

How to make it

Get a small pan on medium heat and add your olive oil or butter. Before the egg goes in, add a pinch of paprika directly to the oil and let it sit for about 30 seconds. The oil picks up the flavour and carries it into the egg as it cooks. Do not skip this step.

Add the cherry tomatoes to the pan now, cut side down. They will start to soften and blister at the edges while you crack the eggs in alongside them. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Fry the eggs to however you like them. I go for a set white and a yolk that is just about runny, which takes about 3 minutes on medium heat. If you prefer the yolk fully cooked, put a lid on the pan for the last minute.

Slide everything onto a plate. Crumble the feta over the top while the eggs are still hot. The cheese will soften slightly from the heat without fully melting, which is exactly where you want it.

A couple of things worth knowing

Feta varies a lot. The good stuff is made from sheep's milk (sometimes with a little goat's milk) and has a sharp, salty flavour with some crumble to it. The cheaper blocks in some supermarkets are made with cow's milk and taste noticeably blander. It is worth checking the label if you have a choice.

The paprika tip works the same way with butter as it does with oil. If you use salted butter, go easy on the extra salt over the eggs since feta already brings a lot.

This is around 310 calories with 18g of protein, which for something that takes ten minutes and uses three main ingredients is a reasonable result.