Uova in Purgatorio (Eggs in Purgatory)

Yesterday was Meatless Monday! If I'm observing MM, then it can only mean - I am officially on a diet! (This means John too. Well, maybe...He's not very obedient. He did eat this recipe like it was fatteningly tasty, however.)

John and I just got back from a vacation. We visited his brother J in Tallahassee, FL. No idea that the city and area were so beautiful! Northern, pan-handle Florida is an area of the US I'd never visited before. Would highly recommend the city for a visit. Interestingly we ate the best Indian food ever, at a restaurant called Essence of India. If you're in town, go.

On to the food! Eggs in Purgatory is a classic Italian dish. If you've never tried eggs in tomato sauce, OMG, you've got to. No, really. This is not a joke.

I used my Lazy Spaghetti sauce recipe. In this particular LS sauce I used a yellow bell pepper, half a large onion, 5 small fresh tomatoes and fresh spinach. Delicious, as always. And sooooo easy. I did use more than the normal quantity of wine in it, too. I pan-fried my garlic, onion and bell pepper, then added around 1/2 a cup of red chianti. Reduced to half.

This recipe comes from The Sopranos Family Cookbook, I'd never heard of placing eggs in spaghetti .sauce before find Uova in Purgatorio. I've changed it too my own tastes (of course!) There is so much to learn about cooking, it's rather mind numbing to think about.

Why is it called 'Eggs in Purgatory?' That's what I wanna know! (I've got this insatiable need to know ever more useless information.) Purgatory is a mostly defunct Christian belief, that involved this 'other' place, between heaven and hell, where dead souls went before judgement by Christ. (It's also a Kabbalah belief. Ever seen Lost, anyone?) Nowadays, I'd say that the belief is in pretty much instantaneous judgement - either your going down or up, based on your life's actions, on the moment of death. The eggs 'hang' in the sauce, just like purgatory. My poor eggs. Not sure what they did, I mean, they had such a short, short life, but it was sadly straight down for them! (And it was a quick journey, too.)

A few notes on making your uova:

Make the sauce first, in a wide pan like you see in my photo up top. Do two eggs per person eating. Place the first egg in a ramekin, like you see here. Holding a large serving spoon in one hand, egg loaded ramekin in the other, stand over your pot of bubbling sauce, set spoon in the spot you want the egg to go, and gently drop the egg onto the spoon. Slide spoon out from egg. Repeat for each egg. Voila.

Cover the pan, or else your eggs will cook completely from below. I cooked each egg for six minutes at medium heat. This left a runny yolk, which is how it should be. It can be adjusted for taste of course! You then mix the yolk in with your pasta and sauce, which is delicious and why you SHOULD NOT hard cook the egg. Just do as I say, m'kay?

I served this with whole wheat linguine on the side, mixed with a touch of Parmesan cheese.

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Eggs in Purgatory

Adapted from The Sopranos Family Cookbook January-22-2013

Judgment will be short in coming for these tasty eggs.

Ingredients

• 6 cups Lazy Sphaghetti Sauce (or any other tomato sauce)
• pinch+ of  dried organo
• to taste freshly ground pepper
• 4 eggs
• to taste Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Make spaghetti sauce, and plenty of it, in a large, wide rimmed pan. Heat until gently bubbling. Sauce should be thick. If too thin, add tomato paste.2. Break an egg into a ramekin or small cup. Take a large serving spoon in one hand, and set just on top of sauce. Holding the ramekin in the other hand, gently drop the egg onto the spoon, and let egg slide into sauce. Repeat until all eggs are in sauce.3. Cover and allow to cook for 5 to 6 minutes, or until eggs reach desired doneness. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2