This simple dish, called eggs in purgatory because the sauce the eggs float in bubbles hotly as they’re simmered, is an amazing, flavorful dish as long as you use the very freshest eggs and the best good quality tomatoes. This is no place to use generic canned tomatoes!
Instead of cooking the eggs whole, you may also scramble the eggs into the tomato sauce and serve as they are.–Gianni Scappin and Vincenzo Lauria
Eggs in Purgatory Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 8 basil leaves, fresh, torn in pieces
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed
- 8 large eggs
- 8 slices grilled or toasted bread
Directions
- 1. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, shock them in cold water, then peel the skin. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove most of the seeds, and then cut them in large dice; set aside.
- 2. Heat the oil in a saute pan or saucepan that has a cover over medium heat with the garlic. Just before the garlic starts to take on any color, about 1 minute, add the tomatoes, parsley, and basil. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a simmer over low heat, and let cook for 10 minutes, until tomatoes become “saucy,” but are still a little chunky.
- 3. Break the eggs, one at the time, into a cup or dish and then gently slide them, one at the time and without breaking the yolks, on top of tomato sauce. Try to keep them separated.
- 4. Cover the pan and let cook gently for 3 to 4 minutes, until the eggs are done, but still soft. Immediately serve them on a large round plate with the tomato sauce. Serve the grilled or toasted bread on the side.
Eggs in Purgatory Recipe © 2009 The Culinary Institute of America. Photo © 2009 Ben Fink. All rights reserved.
[Sue Epstein] This is a very common dish in Israel, called shakshuka, and I’ve made/eaten it too many times to count. It is often served here in the mini cast-iron frying pan in which it was cooked. This is an excellent recipe for it, well worth the trouble of using fresh tomatoes rather than canned. It looks lovely, has a punchy, delicious, spicy, tomatoey taste and makes an excellent dish for brunch, lunch, or a light weeknight dinner. My only advice is that if fresh, ripe, good-quality tomatoes aren’t available, you may use canned crushed tomatoes (not tomato sauce or paste). If using canned tomatoes, you might add a drop or two of Tabasco Sauce to add zest to it. The fresh tomatoes, however, give this dish a real punch, take it out of the ordinary, and really make a difference.