Uova in Purgatorio – Eggs in Purgatory – 地獄鬆餅蛋

Keev September 14, 2012

A classic dish of eggs baked in tomato sauce. Great for breakfast or brunch. In this version, I added some bacon and sausage. Tomatoes are fruits which, when vine-ripened, taste sweet. I use canned San Marzanno. You can substitute wedged whole heirloom or vine-ripe tomatoes. I tend to not cook my tomatoes much. When I was in cooking school and when I first started cooking we use simmer tomato sauce for up to 3 hours. I am sure there as many ‘secrets’ for great tomato sauce as there are varieties of tomatoes. I bet I’ve heard most of it. From the brand of canned tomatoes, which tube of tomato paste, adding shrimp paste, and a host of other ‘secrets’. IMHO, the reason we need all this secrets is basically because we started with poorer quality tomatoes. Find a good to great tomato (fresh or canned), use the flesh of the tomato sauted with some sweet onion and extra virgin olive oil. That’s it.

Alas I digress…but in reality, I can’t afford to use quality ingredients. So I’m always looking to infuse, macerate and build my flavour profiles in my meals. After my tomato sauce is brought to a simmer, I’ll take it off the heat completely and add fresh herbs and drizzle some quality finishing olive oil into the tomato sauce then cover(saran wrap) and leave to cool down. I also use the the green tomato stems and branches that are packed with tomato flavour. I cook with them and leave them to cook down. I’ll remove it before storage or serving. Something that I’ve never understood is the use of years old dried bay leaf. Why oh why? What purpose does it serve? Other than risking to hurt someone’s throat if you forget to remove it. Haha…! It does happen, people get their throat cut from a bay leaf. Not fun.

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

40 mins

A classic dish of eggs baked in tomato sauce. Great for breakfast or brunch. In this version, I added some bacon and sausage.

Author: fmed

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

500 ml tomato sauce, recipe below
8 whole eggs
60 ml olive oil/porcini oil/hazelnut oil/truffle oil
salt and pepper to taste
pecorino to finish
basil or arugula for garnish
olives, pitted but left whole (optional)
bacon/sausage(optional)
fior di latte/bocconcini(optional)

For the Tomato Sauce

1 can DOP San Marzano* / peeled whole tomatoes
2 tbs olive oil
¼ cup Spanish/walla walla/sweet onions, finely chopped/diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped(optional)
2 tbs parsley
basil, chiffonade

Instructions

Make the Tomato Sauce

strain the juice from the canned tomato, reserve the juice for another use. crush the tomato by hand
on medium heat warm a saucepan, then add the olive and saute the onion for about a minute.
add the garlic and parsley and stir it for another minute. then add the crushed tomato.
turn heat to low and let simmer for about 5 minutes, transfer to a heat resistant container with lid. Add basil and some olive oil, cover and let sauce infuse. Refrigerate till needed.

Assemble the Dish

in a non-stick pan, layer the tomato sauce. Warm till sauce is simmering, set to low. If desired add the olives, cheese, bacon or sausage.
in a small bowl, crack the eggs careful not to break the yolk. add them to the sauce separately, spread them so they don’t touch each other.
cover with lid and let them cook till whites are set but yolks are runny. can be cooked stovetop or in the oven on low, approximately 3-5 minutes.
season with salt and pepper, sprinkle basil, grated cheese, drizzle oil and serve from the hot pan on the table.
served with ciabatta bread/creamy polenta/slice toast

Notes

*use San Marzano tomatoes from Italy, NOT Chile or California. The key is to use really good tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are used in VPN Neapolitan pizza, uncooked. It is naturally sweet. I use very low heat as I find the tomatoes turn tart when cooked.