Eggs in Purgatory

Saving money!!! Why is that always so hard for me? It seems like every time I try to save money a million things come up that I need (maybe a little want but mostly need). Right now, I am trying to save money by not buying any clothes (so sad) and eating cheaply. I saw this dish originally in a Portuguese cookbook; it is a great idea and delicious, as long as you don't over-cook the eggs. Also, it is dirt cheap, the only thing that might be cheaper would be beans and rice. I'll make this tonight!


Eggs in Purgatory: "

I’m not the only blogger that thinks that about 2/3s of dishes can be easily improved by adding an egg of some sort. Soup is no exception. This dish is classically called eggs in purgatory and there are a lot of different variations on it. Almost always a tomato broth is used to cook the eggs in but sometimes the eggs are scrambled.

I used a spicy, kinda rustic tomato soup for my version and went with a poached egg. This was a really healthy dinner and Betsy and I loved it.

The soup is good. The egg is great.

I found this recipe in a Body and Soul magazine actually. But I couldn’t find it again when I was trying to look it up to write this post. I made some changes to the original anyway though.

Eggs in Purgatory (Adapted from a Body and Soul recipe)

Serves 2-4

- 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes (I used fire roasted, but you can use your favorite)

- 4 large fresh eggs

- 3 cloves garlic, sliced

- 1-2 Teaspoons red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you want it)

- 1 Cup water or stock of your choice

- 3 Tablespoons olive oil

- Fresh basil, chiffonade

- 4 thick slices toast

- Salt and pepper

Preparing Everything. The only thing that’s somewhat important about this recipe is to make sure you get everything prepped before you start cooking. Once you start cooking, the dish comes together really quickly.

To start, chiffonade your basil. Don’t worry. It’s sounds fancy but it’s actually just the most efficient way to cut basil or any leafed thing really. Just stack up your leaves on top of each other and then roll them up tightly.

This is how you do it.

Then slice the leaves very thin and you’ll end up with these great strips of basil. It’s perfect to finish off a dish like this.

It's called a chiffonade.

Set aside your basil for later and slice a few thick pieces of bread. I’m a fan of using no knead bread for this because it produces a really thick and crusty toast that holds up great against the soup. If you used crappy store bought white bread, you’d end up with soggy little bits in your soup.

Good bread is very important to this dish.

Also, peel and slice very thinly your garlic and measure out your red pepper flakes. You could use up to 2 Teaspoons of red pepper flakes or mix in some cayenne if you want the soup to really pack a punch. I used about 1 teaspoon I think and it was a good amount of heat.

Just some more prep.

Also, if your tomatoes aren’t crushed already, add them all to a bowl and crush them up with your hands.

Don't be afraid to get dirty.

Starting the soup. To start the soup, add your oil to a large sauce pan and add your garlic and pepper flakes. Fry these for a few minutes over medium-high heat until they become really fragrant and the garlic will start to turn lightly brown. Be careful not to burn!

You’re looking for something like this:

Watch this closely.

Then add all your crushed tomatoes, the water, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Give this all a start and bring it to a simmer. Be sure to actually taste the soup to make sure the salt and pepper levels are good to go.

Now would be the perfect time to start the toast for this dish. Just add your bread slices to a 400 degree oven and let them toast for about 10-15 minutes. You want them to be really crispy.

Poaching the eggs. Cooking the eggs is about as easy as it gets. The only tip I have is to not get fancy and try cracking the eggs straight into the soup. That’ll lead to disaster almost certainly. Instead, crack all your eggs into bowls and gently slide them into the soup one by one. You can cook all the eggs at the same time, just spread them out over the soup.

The only other tip is to make sure your soup isn’t at a rolling boil. That would just break up the eggs. A light simmer is what you’re looking for.

Ready for a dip.

These will need to cook for 3 minutes for perfectly cooked poached eggs (runny on the inside).

Meanwhile, take your toast out and make sure it’s nice and crusty.

Toast ready

Putting Everything Together. You have two options to serve this dish. Either you can just serve the bread on the side or you can actually add it to the bottom of your bowl! If you want to add it to the bottom like I did, it’s really important that you have crusty toast (have I mentioned that enough times yet?) or else you’ll have a big soggy mess at the bottom of your bowl.

Also, if you serve the toast under the soup, you’ll want to eat it as soon as possible. In any event, once your egg is done, take it out of the soup with a spoon and add it to your toast.

Looking good.

Then ladle your tomatoes over the eggs and add a pinch of basil to the top. This is good stuff.

A great dish.

Start to finish this dish takes maybe 30 minutes. It’s really fast, healthy and tasty. Betsy and I ate it as dinner, but you could serve it for four people as an appetizer course (one egg per person).

I loved this dish and it’s on the make-again-soon list for me.

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