Campfire Skillet Serbian Sweet Corn and Pepper Eggs with Kajmak Toast

Build your fire early and let it burn down to a bed of glowing coals — you want steady, even heat, not leaping flames. Set a cast-iron skillet on a grate about six inches above the coals.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons sunflower oil or lard
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 farmers-market red bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips
• 2 ears sweet corn, kernels cut from the cob (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 ripe field tomatoes, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 8 large eggs, beaten with a splash of milk
• 1/2 cup kajmak, or crumbled feta mixed with a spoonful of sour cream
• Salt and cracked black pepper
• Handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 4 thick slices country bread, for grilling

Instructions

1. Build your fire early and let it burn down to a bed of glowing coals — you want steady, even heat, not leaping flames. Set a cast-iron skillet on a grate about six inches above the coals.
2. Add the oil and the diced onion and cook, stirring often, until soft and just starting to colour, about 6 minutes.
3. Add the pepper strips and cook another 6 to 8 minutes, until they slump and their edges char in spots. This is where the flavour comes from — don't rush it.
4. Stir in the corn kernels and chopped tomatoes and cook 4 minutes more, until the tomatoes break down into a loose sauce and the corn turns bright.
5. Sprinkle in the paprika and a good pinch of salt, stir once, then pull the skillet to a cooler edge of the fire for a moment so the paprika doesn't scorch.
6. Pour the beaten eggs over the vegetables. Let them set for 30 seconds, then push them slowly around the pan with a wooden spoon until just barely creamy — they will keep cooking in the hot iron after you take them off.
7. Toast the bread slices directly on the grate until striped and smoky, then spread each thickly with kajmak.
8. Dot the eggs with the remaining kajmak, scatter over the parsley and plenty of cracked pepper, and serve straight from the skillet with the toast.
9. In Serbia this is essentially a campfire version of the summer standard: peppers and tomatoes cooked down until sweet, then bound with eggs. Kajmak — a fresh clotted dairy somewhere between clotted cream and young cheese — is the touch that makes it unmistakably Balkan, melting into the hot eggs rather than sitting on top of them. If you are cooking on a real fire, the smoke does half the seasoning for you.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 480 kcal
• Protein: 22g
• Fat: 31g
• Carbohydrates: 31g
• Fiber: 4g
• Sugar: 9g
• Sodium: 620mg