Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce

I love eggs. They're so versatile, healthy, an inexpensive - even if you buy the organic ones! (I definitely recommend organic eggs, there really is a difference in the flavor of the yolk!)

Anyway, I've been craving this dish all day. It's similar to shakshuka, because it's a touch spicy, and you poach the eggs in a tomato sauce, but I didn't have any feta or jalapenos (who keeps that sort of thing on hand???) so I mocked up my own version. It was so perfect - a touch spicy, and a little bit sweet because of some carrot puree, and once I cut the egg into the sauce, it took on an almost cheesy and creamy quality. Eggs poached in tomato sauce may seem strange, but I think it would make the most wonderful comfort food in the middle of the winter.

Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce

serves 2 (I only made one serving for myself!)

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup tomato puree

1/3 cup grated carrot

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

salt to taste

roasted red pepper flakes, to to taste

Directions:

1) Put olive oil in the bottom of a pan. Turn heat on LOW and add garlic, onion, and carrot. Cook about 5-7 minutes until onion is opaque but garlic is not browned.

2) Add tomato sauce and season with salt and red pepper flakes. Cover and simmer sauce another 5-7 minutes.

3) Break eggs into sauce - I find it easiest if you crack the egg on the side of the pan you're cooking with and then wait to open it until you're as close to the sauce as possible. Cover, and check egg every minute or so. Once egg white has cease to be clear and there is a white film of cooked egg over the yolk, you're ready! This took my egg about 5 minutes.

I served mine with sourdough toast - once I sat down, I cut the egg into small pieces and mixed the egg and the sauce together, using the mixture as a kind of bruschetta topping for the toast. It was awesome. 

I would definitely recommend serving this with a touch of grated parmigiano or even something a little more crumbly like feta. I didn't eat mine with cheese because I was out!

This would also be awesome as a kind of mock meatball sub - if you spooned the egg and sauce into a sliced open baguette. Actually, now that I thought of that, I kind of regret not trying it...