Eggs in Purgatory (Uova in Purgatorio) [Video]
Eggs in purgatory (uova in purgatorio) is a classic southern Italian dish featuring eggs poached directly in a spicy, savory tomato sauce, often served with crusty bread for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.This is the southern Italian version of the north African Shakshuka.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- 12-inch skillet
Ingredients
- 8 (¾-inch-thick) slices rustic Italian bread
- 7 Tbsp (105ml) extra-virgin olive oil divided, plus extra for drizzling
- 1 (28-oz/794g) can whole peeled tomatoes
- ½ small (3oz) yellow onion finely chopped
- 4 cloves (20g) garlic minced
- 3 Tbsp (45ml) tomato paste
- 2 tsp minced fresh oregano, or ¾ tsp dried oregano
- ¾ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (if using table salt use half as much by volume)
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust to your spice level)
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves plus 2 tablespoons torn
- 8 large eggs
- ¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat broiler. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet and drizzle first sides with 2 tablespoons oil; flip slices and drizzle with 2 more tablespoons oil. Broil the bread until deep golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use your finger to crush tomatoes until tomato pieces are no larger than ½ inch; set aside.
- Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper flakes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until rust-colored, about 2 minutes. Add basil leaves and cook until wilted, about 30 seconds. Stir in reserved crushed tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough that a spatula should leaves trail in the sauce that slowly fills in behind it, but the sauce should still move when the skillet is shaken.
- Remove skillet from heat and let sit for 2 minutes to cool slightly. In a small bowl, crack 1 egg (do not break the yolk). Using a rubber spatula or large spoon, clear a 2-inch-diameter well in sauce. Immediately pour in the cracked egg. (The well will hold yolk in place but may not fully contain egg white; this is ok.) Repeat with remaining eggs, evenly spacing the remaining 7 eggs in total around the skillet (7 around perimeter and 1 in the center).
- Season each egg lightly with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, cover, and cook, reducing heat as needed to maintain gentle simmer, until yolks film over, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue to cook, covered, until whites are just set (if skillet is shaken lightly, each egg should jiggle), 1 to 2 minutes longer for slightly runny yolks or 3 to 4 minutes for soft-cooked yolks.
- Off heat, sprinkle with Parmesan and chopped basil and drizzle with extra oil. Serve immediately with toasted bread.
Notes
Make-Ahead and Storage
The sauce can be cooked through step 3 and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.Bryan’s Notes
I made these for my lovely wife yesterday. I did it in a small 8-inch stainless steel skillet, and just used two eggs. We lacked whole canned tomatoes, and were out of fresh garlic, so we used some Pace Picante sauce that we have had in the pantry for a while. For the bread, we used some long Italian rolls we happened to have in the freezer, cut in half. I quickly fried them in butter, in a small skillet,with some garlic powder, to brown them. It turned out to be delicious, even if it wasn’t completely authentic.Video
Here is a video of how to prepare Eggs in Purgatory. It is not the same recipe as above.
