This Provençal dish uses a simple technique and ingredients to make a vibrant savoury cake. Serve warm with a tomato and red onion salad, or, even better, wrap in foil, refrigerate and serve next day. Serves six.
15 free-range eggs
80ml double cream
200g feta, crumbled
Up to 200ml olive oil
Salt and black pepper
For the 'red' mix
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp tomato paste
2 red peppers, cut into thin strips
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp caster sugar
For the 'yellow' mix
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp ground turmeric
For the 'green' mix
6 spring onions (green only), sliced
25g basil leaves, shredded
15g tarragon, finely chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
1 green chilli, thinly sliced
Start with the red mix. Sauté the onion in four tablespoons of oil for 10 minutes on medium heat. Add the tomato paste, peppers, coriander, sugar, half a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, for five minutes. Transfer to a bowl, leave to cool, then whisk in a third of the eggs, cream and feta.
For the yellow mix, sauté the onion in four tablespoons of oil for five minutes. Lower the heat, add half a teaspoon of salt, some black pepper and the turmeric, and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, leave to cool, then whisk in the second third of eggs, cream and feta.
In a bowl, mix the green ingredients and whisk in the rest of the eggs, cream and feta, plus half a teaspoon of salt. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 4.
Heat a 22cm nonstick frying pan, pour in a little oil and make a shallow omelette with half the red mix. Just before it sets on top, transfer to a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Repeat with the yellow and then green mixes, placing omelettes on top of each other and alternating the colours, until you have a pile six deep. Bake for 12 minutes, leave to cool a little, then place an inverted plate over the crespéou and flip over. Serve as is, or trim the edges with a sharp knife, to neaten.