French · Authentic-ish French
Piperade
195 kcal a serving, against 351 for the traditional version. That is 156 kcal off, or 44%, with 14.5g of protein. Serves 4. 40 minutes.
What the traditional version is
A very heavy pour of olive oil, usually around 60g or more, is used to slowly fry thickly sliced onions and red peppers until deeply sweet and completely soft. Fresh tomatoes, garlic and a pinch of paprika join the pan to create a rich, oily red stew. A huge batch of whole eggs is then cracked straight in and stirred through until just set, absorbing all that highly flavoured fat into a rich yellow scramble.
What changed, and what each change costs
60g of olive oil down to 10g
You really don't need half a mug of oil to soften vegetables. I use a tiny amount to get the onions going, then use a splash of water and a tight lid to steam-fry the peppers until they collapse. The water does the work the oil usually would.
What it costs you. You lose that rich, mouth-coating oiliness that makes the traditional dish feel so luxurious. The vegetables taste a bit sharper and less decadent, and you miss out on the orange oil pooling at the edge of the plate.
400g of whole eggs down to 200g, making up the volume with 200g of egg whites
Whole eggs carry a lot of fat in the yolk. By dropping half of them and making up the volume with pure egg white, you keep the bulk of the scramble while dramatically cutting the heavy finish.
What it costs you. Egg yolks bring fat, flavour and a deep yellow colour. The resulting scramble is paler and slightly less rich. It's a noticeable shift in texture, though the intensely flavoured pepper stew hides the difference fairly well.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 351 | 195 |
| Protein | 15.3g | 14.5g |
| Fat | 25.1g | 8g |
| Saturated fat | 5.3g | 2g |
| Carbohydrate | 17.9g | 17.9g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 4.4g | 7.4g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish French prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. eggs.
The method is in the book
What you've got is a bright and punchy breakfast that actually leaves you with the energy to go about your day. A rich, fatty restaurant dish is a different dish and you know where to find it. The natural sweetness of the red peppers does all the heavy lifting, carrying the lighter egg mixture perfectly. I eat this straight out of the pan with a slice of toast.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish French, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback