GOOD MORNING
Eggs poached in tomato sauce will smack out any sleepiness.
It used to be that whenever I craved a bowl of runnyyolked eggs poached in red sauce, I’d whip up some shakshuka. I first tasted this North African dish, made from stewed tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers and plenty of spices, on a trip to Israel, where it’s extremely popular, and have been hooked ever since.
Lately though, I’ve widened my eggs-and-red-sauce circle to include the evocatively named Italian version: uova in purgatorio, or eggs in purgatory. (It may be named for the boiling tomato sauce the eggs are poached in, or the fiery red-pepper flakes piquant the Both sauce recipes tomato is spiked sauce feature with.) and a softlyc difference ooked is in eggs, the season- but the ings. While heady spices like turmeric, cumin and coriander scent the North African dish, the Italian incar- nation is all about the pungencyofg ood olive oil and garlic, a little basil or rose- mary and the pleasurable burn of crushed red-pep- per flakes. It can be a mildly or intensely spicy combination, purportedly good for hangovers with all that chili smacking any residual fog from your brain. Crunchy, fragrant garlic-rubbed toast makes it a complete meal. Eggs in purgatory is exqui- sitely easy to make — even simpler than shakshuka because t here are no onions or peppers to slice and sauté. The only ingre- dients you’ll need to cut up are a garlic clove (or two), to be browned in olive oil along with the red-pepper flakes, and some anchovies before you stir in the canned tomatoes.
A word to anchovy avoiders: Yes, you can certainly leave them out; they aren’t even traditionally found in this kind of purgatory. But, if you’re at all open to them (or possibly obsessed with them, like I am), they’ll add an umami flavor t hatworks nicely with the acidity of the canned tomatoes.
Stirring a few anchovies into the pan is also a flavor-enhancing trick I use when making marinara sauce (which is wha tthisred sauce essentially is before you crack in the eggs). So if you happen to have any good marinara on hand, you can use it here to poach the eggs. Just be sure to get it simmering hot all over so the eggs cook evenly. Otherwise, you could end up with undercooked whites and overcooked yolks — a combination no one adores.
Like shakshuka, eggs in purgatory can be served for breakfast, brunch or a light supper, whether you’re hung over, or just in a hu rrytoget asatisfying,f ull-flavored dish on the table quickly.