Yotam Ottolenghi

Hoppel Poppel

This is a dish from Berlin, where my mother’s father is from, and she used to prepare it when I was growing up. My mother wasn’t very particular about the ingredients – it’s a great user-up for day-old potatoes and any odd bits of cooked meat – but frankfurters are probably the best. Pork sausages aren’t normally found in Jewish homes, but my mother would go out of her way to get some. I guess the German in her was slightly stronger than the Jew. Us kids loved it for the naughtiness, even though we were under strict instructions not to make too much noise about it to our friends, so as not to offend. On a couple of occasions I made this for my own kids, and though there’s no wickedness involved, they still wolfed it down happily.

Serves 4

8 large eggs

2 tbsp double cream

5g chives, cut into 1cm lengths, plus 1 tbsp extra to garnish

40g unsalted butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, halved and sliced

¼cm thick

250g cooked waxy potatoes (such as Charlottes), peeled and cut into roughly 2cm cubes

200g frankfurters, sliced at a slight angle ½cm thick

1 green pepper, cut into roughly 1½cm cubes

80g mozzarella block (lowmoisture mozzarella), roughly grated salt and black pepper

Beat together the eggs, cream, chives, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper and set aside.

Put 30g of the butter and all the oil in a large, nonstick sauté pan over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes, until softened and lightly browned.

Add the potato and frankfurters, half a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper and fry until starting to brown and crisp up, stirring occasionally, another 5 minutes. Stir in the green pepper and cook, for about 7 minutes, or until softened and everything is nicely coloured, shaking the pan often.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the last 10g of butter to the pan, swirling to melt. Pour over the egg mixture and sprinkle with the cheese. Cook for about 3 minutes, using a spatula to gently fold over the mixture in a few places, without completely mixing everything together. Sprinkle over the extra chives and serve directly from the pan.