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Strapatsatha (Στραπατσάδα)

In 1492, any Jews who did not convert to Christianity were obliged to leave Spain, their homes and belongings behind.

Exiled Jews were accepted in different parts of the Ottoman Empire and many Jews settled in Thessaloniki, Greece’s 2nd largest city, in northern Greece.

What little the Jews could bring with them was their faith, sense of survival and culture. A big part of anyone’s culture is their food.

Up until the beginning of WWII, Thessaloniki had a thriving Jewish population of over 50,000.

As long as I can remember, my family and relatives have enjoyed Strapatsatha as a brunch as Greece, a late night supper. A 6Pm dinner in Greece is unheard of!

Strapatsatha was a dish brought to Greece by the Sephardic Jews from Spain. It’s a loose omelet of tomatoes and feta and there are many variations of ingredients in between.

What you have here is my family’s interpretation and you may certainly take the basic premise of the dish and run with it. I like adding thin slices of fried spicy sausage. Try some Chorizo, Kielbasa or even Pepperoni…all fantastic!

The key to this dish is having very ripe, tasty tomatoes otherwise, don’t bother! This dish is also similar to the Greek omelet called Kagiana. Strapatsatha is a loose omelet and perfect for mopping up with some good, rustic bread.



Strapatsatha 

(for 1)

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 ripe tomato

1/4 cup diced sweet banana pepper

3 scallions, diced
handful of crumbled feta

3 eggs

  1. Pour your olive oil into your skillet and heat up on medium-high heat. Using a box grater, grate your tomato into the skillet and reduce to medium to simmer for a couple of minutes or until most of the water is gone. Now add the scallions and saute for a minute or two.
  2. Add your crumbled feta and let it heat through for a minute. Now add your eggs and stir the eggs to scramble them until you have cooked your eggs to a loose mixture of an omelet. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
  3. Plate your omelet, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil and serve with crusty bread.

NOTE: Try adding some slices of fried sausage like Chorizo or Kielbasa.

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33 Responses

  1. This is one of my favourite meals of all time! I had no idea that Separdic Jews brought this to Thessaloniki. I thought it was some tsombano in Florina that came up with it. lol The banana peppers, tomatoes and feta take the eggs to a whole new level.
    Everyone, please try this. It’s simple but soooo flavourful. And Peter is right, you MUST have lots of crusty bread to go with this.

    SK

  2. No wonder they serve buckets of crusty bread at every meal in Greece…to sop up all the wonderful juices:D

  3. This looks amazing, Peter. But can you stop it with the chorizo already? You are killing me. I am going to just start carrying it around with me like I would a granola bar with all these delicious posts. LOL

  4. I think most of the time i come here i am learning new dishes.
    What is sweet banana peper.
    Is it a fruit or veggie

  5. I love the history lesson that you give with all of the food that you create! That is one incredible egg dish!

  6. People from Makedonia and those living in Thessaloniki are very familiar with the origins of Strapatsatha.

    As I mentioned in the recipe’s intro, this dish is also known as Kagianas and there are as many versions of this as there are Greek opinions!

    An in depth article can be found at this link: http://www.kulanu.org/greece/salonica.html

  7. Peter, is this my ka ya na?? The real deal?? I’ve been waiting for this post. As I told you before, I order this (ka ya na, as its written on all the breakfast menus in any greek owned restaurant here in Chicago)everytime I go out for breakfast, but believe me, it dosen’t look anything like this when I order it!! The pepper and sausage addition in yours, takes it to a new level! And I’ve never ever seen olive oil! You’ve ruined me!!! I’ll never order this again, I want your version now!!!

  8. Nice. Everything you make looks so good. You’re very consistant.
    I have this weird fascination with Jewish cooking & Kosher cooking, even though I’m not Jewish. Yes! I know how to cook Kosher.

  9. Love anything with a hefty chunk of crusty bread on the side :-) And all those ingredients are right up my street. Thank you for sharing a delicious-looking/sounding family recipe with us.

  10. I do love those soupy-goopy dishes full of good things, and this has some of my faves: chorizo, feta, tomatoes, mm-mm!

  11. I was doing good till we got to the eggs. Sorry, I just cannot do eggs. But let’s go back down to the Romesco Sauce – oh yum!!! And using the prawns, very clever! Now, serve me up one of those Peter and I will be a happy camper!
    Have a great weekend! Do you still have all that snow??

  12. SK, it’s one of my faves too!

    Val, try this omelet out.

    Elly, I can’t get enough of the Chorizo, mea culpa!

    Marie, what do ya think…did I satisfy your craving? This was made with you in mind.

    Pete, it seems this dish is a fave among all Greek families.

    Emi, the Jewish cooking of Europe is quite funky and tasty.

    Jen, it’s my pleasure.

    Ferdzy, Chorizo is a wonder ingredient.

    Deb, that’s it…egg recipes for another week!

  13. Very intersting. I have a fascinating book on Jewish Cuisine and all the regions they branched out to. Shepardic Jewish food is my favorite part of the book. I love to mix my eggs up like this with all sorts of goodies.

  14. I love strapatsada, although make it slightly different than you do Peter. Yours looks lovely and, like Elly, I’ll take chorizo wherever I can get it. As for the origin issue, I think it’s sort of like moussaka: the origins are lost in time and may very well have been “invented” by more than one group of people. The recipe is in my Cookbook of the Jews of Greece but Sam is probably right that the name has Venetian origins, and his timeline of both Jews and tomatoes coming to Greece is accurate. So who knows? But I’ll definitely enjoy good food like this, no matter where it comes from.

  15. Great piece of history Peter and the dish – extremely interesting – wherever did you find this? It almost looks like a strata that didn’t stay in the oven long enough – yummy.

  16. Lisa, this dish usually has no meat, whip it up!

    Glam, it appears the Sephards left their mark with food across Europe.

    Cake, there are a few theories on the origins of this dish. I know and relayed to you all the one I’m familiar with…from the Jews of Thessaloniki.

    Laurie, wouldn’t it be boring if we all made Greek dishes the same way?
    Once again, many theories to the origins of Strapatsatha…Sephardic Jews, Sporadic Isles, Corfu and the Venetians. Is there a “pure” Greek food? Greek food is one of the best because it borrowed from other peoples, cultures and cuisines.

    Giz, our family’s made this quick omelet/scramble since I can rememeber.

    Hvi, how many Greeks each night eat Strapatsatha at any given time? This is very popular.

  17. Now, this is completely new to me…bananas with egg and chorizo..hmmm. Am very very very curious…which means I will have to make this one day.

  18. I would eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner. But Peter dear, praytell, where are you getting fresh, ripe tomatoes in March when you’re so far north? You’re growing them in your closet, aren’t you.

  19. Heather, we do have hot-house tomatoes and around this time of year they actually start having some decent flavour.

  20. Anon, the world is very aware of the Holocaust and it’s important to remember and to learn from our mistakes and to promote tolerance.

    I must also remind you this is a food blog and I’ve made a great effort to avoid political, historical and grandstanding in this blog.

    This is an inclusive blog, a celebration of good food, wherever it’s origins.

    Keep on topic.

  21. Hello Peter

    I do agree with you – you write about food, and do it perfectly with interesting posts. However – as you mentiond WWII and the jewish communite of greece, it seemd to me a mistake not to mention that fact.
    Forgive me, but this is a sensetive subject, but the responsibility is not yours.

    greetings from Israel
    Orit

  22. My mom used to call this avgo me domata (nothing else inside) all through my childhood years and would serve it with a piece of feta, bread and a glass of milk. It was my lunch at least a few times a week. I loved it and love the memory!!! I never knew it’s real name and origins until now. Thank you!!!

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