There are few things more wonderful than a poached egg. Indeed, a recent one I had made me go all Proustian on you. But, while sometimes a poached egg is all that you want – comforting, rich, delicious with a buttered English muffin – sometimes, you need a little something with it. A little heat, a little spice – for ehaven’s sake, a vegetable or two. When I read about Eggs in Purgatory on Serious Eats a few years ago, it instantly appealed to me – spicy, tomatoey, eggy goodness. I made a few small tweaks to make the dish my own, adding briny olives for depth and jarred pesto for ease.
Eggs in Purgatory
Ingredients:
1 Large can peeled tomatoes
1 Onion, diced
2 Tbs. red pepper flakes/chili paste/hot sauce*
3 Tbs. jarred pesto (unpictured
8 Olives, pitted and roughly chopped (Stuffed or unstuffed work well, unpictured)
2 Eggs (or up to 6 – as many as you want to eat!)
2 Tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
Olive oil for sauteeing
Salt, pepper, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese to taste
Bread for serving
Eggs in Purgatory
Ingredients:
1 Large can peeled tomatoes
1 Onion, diced
2 Tbs. red pepper flakes/chili paste/hot sauce*
3 Tbs. jarred pesto (unpictured
8 Olives, pitted and roughly chopped (Stuffed or unstuffed work well, unpictured)
2 Eggs (or up to 6 – as many as you want to eat!)
2 Tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
Olive oil for sauteeing
Salt, pepper, and grated Pecorino Romano cheese to taste
Bread for serving
*Just don’t use an obviously Asian or Mexican tasting hot sauce. I have used hot pickled cherry peppers and dried chili flakes, but something like jalapenos might be a little out of place. Tabasco works well here, but it’s one of the few places I wouldn’t recommend Sriracha
1) Sautee the onion in oil over medium heat until translucent.
2)Add chili paste/hot sauce…
Tomatoes…
Pesto, olives, and Worcestershire sauce.
3)Let tomato sauce simmer for about 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Taste for seasonings and add more of whatever you need. Is it too sweet? Add some salt. Too briny? Add some sugar or tomato paste. Too mild? Throw in some more heat! You want this to be a rather aggressively flavored sauce.
4) When the sauce is flavored to your liking, crack the eggs into the sauce
and cover the pan for about 4 minutes, or until the whites JUST barely set.
5)Ladle the eggs and sauce over a piece of bread, top with Parmesan cheese and serve
This dish might just be the answer to your prayers. Satisfying yet light, spicy but not painfully hot, interesting but comforting…what could be wrong? Juicy tomatoes, salty olives, garlicky pesto all enriched with that runny, rich egg yolk. Sopped up with a piece of bread and topped with some sharp cheese, there is nothing that could be better.
Forget purgatory…this is pure heaven.
I agree purgatory looks a lot like heaven. GREG
@Sippity-same page, once again!