Sirene baked in a clay pot with tomato and egg (Sirene po šopski)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Butter the bottoms of four small clay pots (gyuveche) with some of the butter.

2. Dice the tomatoes, cut the bell pepper into thin strips and slice the hot peppers into rings.

3. Roughly crumble or dice the cheese and divide it between the pots; pile the tomatoes and peppers on top and dot with the remaining butter.

4. Cover the pots (with lids or foil) and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese softens and the vegetables release their juices.

5. Take them out, carefully crack an egg on top of each, sprinkle with the paprika and bake uncovered for another 6-8 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

6. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve hot in the pots, with fresh bread.

Tip: 'Šopski' refers to the Shopi people around Sofia, whose cooking is simple and full of vegetables and cheese. If you don't have clay pots, use a small baking dish; you can replace the sirene with feta.